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TOP STORY
UN aviation body pushes back CORSIA comment deadline, say sources, as concerns mount
UN aviation body ICAO is to give countries more time to respond to its draft rulebook for the CORSIA international offset market and may even postpone key decisions over eligible units for several years, sources told Carbon Pulse on Tuesday.
EMEA
UK ‘running out of time’ to plan post-Brexit climate policy -experts
The UK is running out of time to design its own policy should the country detach from the EU ETS as part of Brexit, business and regulatory experts said on Tuesday.
EU Market: Second straight bullish auction sends EUAs to fresh 6-year high
European carbon prices surged to a fresh six-year high on Tuesday after the daily auction posted a bullish result for a second straight day.
Germany reappoints EEX as its EU carbon auction platform
Germany has reappointed energy exchange EEX as the host of its weekly EU carbon allowance auctions.
ASIA PACIFIC
New Zealand plans ETS opt-in option for farmers -minister
New Zealand will allow farmers to opt in to the nation’s emissions trading scheme to reap benefits from any greenhouse gas emission reductions they achieve, Environment Minister David Parker said, according to local media.
Australia launches review of major offset methods
Australia on Tuesday launched a public review of two offset methods from which the government has contracted to buy over 95 million carbon credits.
SK Market: Korean CO2 price shackled amid market standoff
South Korean carbon allowances edged up 0.9% on Tuesday but prices remain shackled near 22,000 won ($20.43) as sellers hesitate to go lower while buyers wait for greater supply to emerge closer to the annual compliance deadline in June.
AMERICAS
Maryland House committee hears carbon tax proposal
The Maryland House Economic Matters Committee held a public hearing on Monday regarding a new carbon tax proposal that bears several similarities to other east coast US schemes introduced in recent years.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
In bloom – Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was announced yesterday as the Special Envoy for Climate Action to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The official press release states that Bloomberg will aid the UNSG in climate strategy and efforts ahead of a 2019 Climate Summit at the UN Headquarters, while bringing together stakeholders to rapidly implement emissions reductions plans under the Paris Agreement.
Keeping 1.5 alive? – A new study published in Nature Climate Change presents results from six different modelling forecasts as to how to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. To achieve this goal, all six scenarios require emissions to peak by 2020, decline to zero by 2050, and revert to negative emissions over the second half of the century. Yet, all the scenarios predict that the 1.5 C goal will be overshot during the 2040s before dropping to a 1.3-1.4 C range by 2100. All the models incorporate the widespread adoption of bioenergy carbon capture storage (BECCS) between 2030 and 2040, with global energy comprised of 60-80% renewables by 2050. (Carbon Brief)
Good fences make good lawsuits – A key part in defending the Clean Power Plan (CPP) from the EPA’s attempt to rescind the policy could rest on the agency’s interpretation of its authority to go “beyond the fenceline”. So far, EPA head Scott Pruitt has argued that the CPP’s goal of guiding a shift from fossil to renewable energy surpasses what individual plants can achieve by themselves, and thereby falls outside of the EPA’s mandate. However, two law professors countered in a comment on the CPP rollback and subsequent blogpost that the EPA’s interpretation would not hold up in court, because the CPP would only require coal-fired plant operators to dial down their output, rather than making larger regulatory changes. In turn, is done “inside the fence”. (Climate Nexus)
Coal hole delayed – The UK government has delayed a decision on whether to allow a new open cast coal mine to be built in northeastern England. Northumberland County Council agreed last year that developer, The Banks Group, could extract 3 mln tonnes of coal by cutting an open cast near Druridge Bay, Highton, but the minister for local government, Sajid Javid, called for a public enquiry. The minister was due to issue a final verdict yesterday, but this had been delayed without giving a new deadline. (Carbon Brief)
And finally… Rift revealed – The sudden removal of Fiji’s chief climate negotiator Nazhat Shameem Khan last week, despite praise for her leadership, has revealed a rift between the Geneva-based diplomat and the Pacific island nation’s capital Suva. At the centre of the fight is a group of Australian and European consultants brought in to assist the Fijian government to deliver its biggest diplomatic challenge. Shameem Khan had increasingly objected to the prominent role these outsiders had within Fiji’s presidency. In exclusive interviews with Climate Home News, insiders said this eventually led to her deposal, with prime minister Frank Bainimarama taking the consultants’ side. They raised concerns that Fiji ceding control to unaccountable professionals jeopardised a critical year of climate talks.
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