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OUR TOP NEWS:

Alberta renews, updates CO2 levy but warns economy-wide scheme could replace

Alberta has renewed and updated its eight-year old carbon levy by doubling the price and raising the reduction target, but warned that these “interim measures” could be replaced by a more ambitious, economy-wide plan following a review of the Canadian province’s climate strategy.

Dutch would need 13m offsets to cover court-imposed CO2 goal

The Netherlands would need to buy around 13 million UN carbon credits if it opted to meet a court-imposed target with international units, at a total cost of just over €5 million at today’s prices, calculations by Carbon Pulse show.

EU carbon climbs to 8-day high on spec buying, stronger German power

EU carbon prices rose to an eight-day high on Thursday, lifted by stronger German power and speculative EUA buying ahead of next month’s European Parliament vote on the MSR.

US House passes bill to weaken climate plan

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 247-180 to pass a bill designed to prevent the EPA from implementing its Clean Power Plan.

EU ETS must work better with other climate policies -Sandbag

The EU ETS should be reformed to work better alongside complementary policies because lawmakers are unlikely to scrap the scheme altogether or get rid of all other climate measures, environmental campaigners Sandbag said in a report published Thursday.

Carbon consultancy Ecofys closes China office

Dutch consultancy Ecofys, among the most prominent foreign consultancies in the carbon space in China in recent years, is closing its Beijing office.

Bite-sized updates from around the world:

EU ministers seek ambitious, binding deal at Paris climate talks -draft – European Union ministers are seeking an ambitious, durable and legally binding deal to curb global warming, enforced through five-yearly reviews, a draft of their position statement for U.N. climate talks shows. (Reuters)

Big oil companies must work harder on climate, says U.N. – Oil companies should urgently intensify their efforts to fight climate change, the United Nations climate chief said in a letter replying to six European firms. (Reuters)

“When Pope Francis published his encyclical, many Australian responses played on Abbott’s status not only as a Catholic but what’s more, a so-called devout Catholic, or a famously Catholic Prime Minister. The implication was that Abbott had been wedged by the Pope, that is by virtue of his faith put in an internally contradictory position, from which it would be extremely difficult to extricate himself.” Read the entire column written for the Canberra Times by John Warhurst, emeritus professor of political science at the Australian National University.

Coal industry lobbies White House to back off on new power plant rules – The coal industry is making a last-ditch appeal to the Obama administration to loosen its strict proposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. (Inside Climate News)

NRDC: GOP leaders reveal major anti-environmental agenda in spending bills – Congressional Republican leaders have revealed— in bills moving now through the House and Senate—the fullest expression of the anti-environmental agenda they intend to aggressively pursue with majority control of Congress. And it’s a glaring example of ideology put into action that deserves much more attention than it has so far received. (NPR)

New EPA energy plan attempts to force Texans to pay $28 billion more each year – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Monday that the Obama Administration’s latest Environmental Protection Agency plan “is an example of the president forcing through what he couldn’t accomplish legislatively.” (Examiner)

EU climate chief criticises UK wind farm policy – The UK’s decision to stop subsidising new onshore wind farms will make it harder to meet renewable energy targets, the EU’s climate chief says. (BBC)

UK and Europe failing on technology essential to meet carbon emission targets – The technology that is essential for the UK to meet its carbon targets is making little progress and will put both Britain and Europe far from their climate goals, according a new Imperial College London study. (International Business Times)

Putin triggers EU energy rethink – Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine is driving Europe’s energy policy on everything from natural gas, renewables, energy efficency and electricity to building an EU-wide energy union, the bloc’s energy and climate commissioner told POLITICO.

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