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Carbon Pulse covered three North American carbon market conferences in the US and Canada over the past month.  Below is a summary of the articles we filed from these events:

*** NORTH AMERICAN CARBON WORLD – APR. 4-6 – Link ***

ANALYSIS: Beyond Ontario, political and regulatory risks still hang over WCI market

With all eyes on the political uncertainty stemming from Ontario’s upcoming election, experts say many WCI market participants are overlooking other risks to the programme.

California offset supply to swell through 2020 despite restrictions -analysts

The supply of California Carbon Offsets (CCOs) is forecast to balloon over the next few years regardless of looming post-2020 limitations on their use, according to analysts.

Biomass, industrial inclusion “hot-button issues” in Virginia’s RGGI plans

The regulated status of biomass and exclusion of certain industrial electricity providers are proving to be contentious “hot-button issues” in developing Virginia’s cap-and-trade programme, according to a state official.

Ontario cap-and-trade exit will be hard but new govt could “screw up” market, says former minister

Dismantling Ontario’s cap-and-trade scheme and exiting the North American WCI programme would be “pretty hard” for a new provincial government to do without incurring high costs or denting business and investor confidence, according to Ontario’s former environment minister.

When a carbon price of $100/t isn’t enough: California’s farming emissions dilemma

California faces many challenges in guaranteeing a carbon price to help livestock and dairy farmers struggling to cut emissions, despite having access to buyers willing to pay over $100/tonne for credits.

Experts raise doubts over new LCFS targets due to price, regulatory uncertainty

Achieving newly-proposed emission reductions goals as part of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) remains uncertain due to both market and regulatory concerns, which could impact the viability of the clean fuel standard as a whole.

Mexican carbon tax to operate alongside market, though stakeholders say offset rules must change

Mexico plans on keeping its domestic carbon tax and applying it to smaller emitters when it launches its national cap-and-trade scheme, a senior official said this week.

Alberta finalises plan to withdraw six offset protocols

The Alberta Climate Change Office (CCO) has confirmed that it will scrap six offset protocols, while also flagging another for withdrawal, according to a memo released on Friday.

ExxonMobil voids another big batch of Colombian CERs against country’s carbon tax, almost doubling total

US oil major ExxonMobil continued its brisk pace of Colombian CER cancellations this week, annulling another huge batch against the country’s carbon tax.

Hawaii carbon tax proposal dead, says lawmaker

Hawaii’s carbon tax proposal will not go through in 2018, a state lawmaker told Carbon Pulse on Thursday, marking the latest sub-national US carbon pricing proposal to fail to muster enough legislative support this year.

*** ONTARIO CAP AND TRADE FORUM – APR. 18-19 – Link ***

Depoliticisation crucial to preserving cap-and-trade, safeguarding climate investments in Ontario

Ensuring that a change in the Ontario government this June will not lead to the province’s exit from the WCI carbon market will require separating the political elements of cap-and-trade from the pragmatic need to act on climate change, according to stakeholders.

Economic and legal headache would follow doubtful Ontario exit from WCI -experts

Although stakeholders believe that Ontario is unlikely to abandon its cap-and-trade programme should the Progressive Conservatives (PC) win the upcoming June provincial election, an exit from the WCI market could yield multiple economic and legal problems.

ANALYSIS: Ontario, Quebec’s offset rules development back on track, but concerns persist

Ontario and Quebec’s offset protocol development is back on track after a policy debate delayed around half of the 13 being designed, but concerns remain on the approach the provinces have decided to take.

Lack of technical infrastructure hindering Ontario offset market investment, development

A lack of technical infrastructure and guidance from the Ontario government regarding its compliance offset programme is holding up the first investment and project submissions, according to stakeholders.

Nova Scotia cap-and-trade participants want auctions, more industry protection

Nova Scotia’s cap-and-trade programme should include auctions, while also providing for more industry protection and linkage opportunities, according to stakeholders.

World Bank announces new carbon pricing coalition co-chair, high-level competitiveness forum

The Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) on Thursday named a new co-chair, while the group’s managing body the World Bank announced a high-level forum on carbon pricing and competitiveness amid the release of a report on decarbonising the global power and chemicals sectors.

*** ARGUS CALIFORNIA CARBON & LCFS SUMMIT – MAR. 19-21 – Link ***

Cap-and-trade should take priority in California’s climate policy -industry

California should place more emphasis on its cap-and-trade system to guide the state’s climate policy and move away from complementary measures, industry representatives said Tuesday.

Mexico might face a 3-year delay to ETS launch amid policy uncertainty, expert warns

Mexico might delay the implementation of its emission trading scheme by up to three years as a result of a short preparation period and uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming election, an expert has warned.

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