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TOP STORY

US voices support for UN’s CORSIA aviation scheme, quelling some worries

The US has voiced its support for the UN’s international aviation offset scheme and its draft rules, diminishing fears that the Trump administration would try to water down or decline to initially partake in the mechanism to tackle the sector’s growing impact on climate change.

EMEA

E.ON to acquire RWE’s Innogy in major shift for EU energy industry

E.ON has agreed to acquire Innogy from German rival RWE in a €20 billion deal that signals a major shake-up in Europe’s energy ownership and further distances E.ON from the EU ETS.

EU Market: EUAs hold steady despite retracing from new 6.5-year high

European carbon prices closed little changed on Monday, ending near their intraday low despite touching a fresh 6.5-year high earlier following a strong auction result.

Emitters’ share of German EUA auction buying shrinks in January

Big emitters in January purchased their smallest share in Germany’s EUA auction volumes in five months, according to government data

AMERICAS

Anti-carbon pricing populist Ford elected new Ontario PC leader

Carbon pricing opponent Doug Ford has been elected the new leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives (PC), the party announced late on Saturday, after a close race capped by disorganisation and allegations of voting irregularities by the other front-runner.

Citing environmental concerns, US senators propose Renewable Fuel Standard overhaul

A pair of Democratic senators introduced legislation last week to implement environmentally-oriented changes to the US Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2), the latest development in the multifaceted battle to reform or rescind the federal biofuels policy.

ASIA PACIFIC

Australia’s power firms want flexible CO2 trading to help meet NEG targets

Australia’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG) must allow for flexibility in trading CO2 intensity contracts and should place the responsibility for meeting emission targets on generators rather than retailers, according to several of the nation’s biggest power companies.

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CARBON FORWARD 2018

SAVE THE DATE: Carbon Forward 2018 – Survive and thrive in the global carbon markets

Don’t miss the 3rd annual Carbon Forward conference and training day. Spend two days with top experts, players, and decision-makers from the global carbon markets as they address today’s most attractive opportunities and pressing challenges. And join us for the EU ETS pre-conference training day organised by carbon market experts Redshaw Advisors, where you will learn how to effectively manage your carbon risk ahead of the looming overhaul of the bloc’s emissions trading scheme.

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Job listings this week:

• Senior Associate, Climate Policy and Communication, US Climate Alliance Secretariat – Washington DC
• Climate Change Policy Advisor, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario – Toronto
• Oregon Policy Manager, Climate Solutions – Portland
• Senior Climate Change Consultant, Mattinson Partnership – London/Bristol/Edinburgh/Reading

Or click here to see all our job adverts

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Germany backtracking – The incoming German government’s climate policy is not compatible with the Paris Agreement and takes “three steps forward and four steps back”, argues Niklas Hoehne of think-tank NewClimate Institute. The forward steps are increasing the 2030 renewables target, setting a coal phase out date in 2018, a new climate law in 2019, but the backward steps are turning away from the country’s 2020 emission goal, insufficient transport measures, no new ideas for cutting industry emissions, and no concept for buildings. (Climate Home)

Sun’s up – France will commit €700 million to the International Solar Alliance (ISA), President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday at the founding conference of the organisation in New Delhi, reiterating the European country’s commitment to the alliance and clean energy. The ISA aims to mobilise $1 trillion for future solar generation, storage and technology. Macron said France was more than tripling its commitment to the alliance, and its total monetary contribution to the alliance stood at €1 billion. (Reuters)

Ready to go – Manitoba’s provincial budget, tabled by Finance Minister Cameron Friesen on Monday, announced a Sep. 1 start date for the province’s flat carbon tax of C$25 per tonne. Over its first 12-month period, the tax is expected to generate C$248 million in government revenue, with net revenue expected to decline over the years as emission reductions are achieved. The 2018 spending plan details exemptions for the agricultural sector, as well as other large industrial emitters such as the Koch fertilizer plant in Brandon. If introduced today, Manitoba’s tax would be the third highest carbon price in Canada after BC and Alberta, though it risks breaking Canadian federal rules if the province doesn’t increase it to at least C$30/tonne by 2020 and C$50 by 2022.

Colourless – White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has reportedly dismantled an effort led by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to hold “red team, blue team” debates on climate change science, according to the New York Times. While President Trump had personally supported the idea, the military-style debate was opposed by many officials within his administration who worried that the move would be politically-risky and a possibly damaging spectacle. Kelly, a retired four-start general, is said to hold the position of other military leaders that climate change is not only real, but poses a real risk to national security.

And finally… Crank call – New emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Huffington Post show that a Department of the Interior (DOI) official spread studies by former coal industry executives and “crank blogs” to disprove evidence of anthropogenic climate change. Indur Goklany, a science and technology policy analyst at DOI, cited several studies in intra-department emails in 2017 and 2018 that downplayed or refuted the widely-accepted ramifications of climate change – one of which came from an oil-funded think-tank ran by former Peabody Energy executive Craig Isdo. This information comes as DOI, headed by Secretary Ryan Zinke, has moved to take a more open stance during the Trump administration in promoting fossil fuel extraction and lessening regulatory requirements.

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