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TOP STORY
California forestry offsets vastly overstate emission reductions, report finds
California’s forestry offset protocol inflates the amount of emission reductions that have occurred due to inaccurate assumptions built into the methodology, an academic report published Tuesday has shown in findings disputed as flawed by the state’s carbon market regulator and project developers.
EMEA
Grand Theft Europe: Pan-European investigation lifts lid on EU ETS tax fraud
German non-profit media organisation CORRECTIV has coordinated 35 newsrooms across Europe to open the lid on the €5 billion carousel fraud that shook the EU carbon market to its core nearly a decade ago, finding that tax authorities are still pursuing or have reached settlements with a number of major investment banks and brokers.
Utility Uniper’s Q1 operating profit almost halves as carbon costs take toll
Germany-based utility Uniper reported a 47% year-on-year slump in Q1 2019 EBIT to €185 million as power output dropped on warmer weather and amid higher carbon costs, it said in financial results on Tuesday.
EU Market: EUAs climb above €26 to recover from post-compliance slump
EUAs rose by more than a euro on Tuesday as prices reversed post-compliance losses amid higher gas prices, with traders predicting renewed supply tightness on expectations that industrials will hoard more of their newly-obtained allocations.
AMERICAS
Latest amendments to Oregon’s cap-and-trade bill set out changes to electricity sector allocations
Oregon electricity generators and system managers would receive a greater number of carbon allowances through mid-century under an omnibus amendment package introduced Monday for the state’s WCI-modelled carbon market proposal, as some groups began calling on lawmakers to pass the bill out of committee.
RGGI has not had formal discussions with Pennsylvania about potential carbon market -chairman
RGGI has not held formal discussions with Pennsylvania about potentially joining the northeast US cap-and-trade programme as the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently recommended developing a power sector ETS, the programme chairman told Carbon Pulse.
ASIA PACIFIC
Beijing delays ETS compliance deadline amid registry update
The Beijing municipal government has pushed back the annual compliance deadline for its emissions trading scheme by a month after partly shutting down the allowance registry for an upgrade.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Border busting – The EU will not intervene to impose tariffs on power imports from outside the bloc, though countries could individually tax them for environmental purposes, EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told the Spanish government, reiterating the bloc’s considerable institutional requirements to setting EU-wide border measures. “Applying a carbon tax at the border would require a unanimous decision by member states,” Canete replied by letter to a Spanish request for clarification regarding the country’s electricity imports from Morocco as coal-fired generation increases in the North African state. (Montel)
Frozen forum – For the first time since the establishment of the Arctic Council in 1996, a meeting of the foreign ministers from the eight Arctic states may end without a joint declaration to guide the work of the Council for the next two years. US objections to recognising climate change is the main sticking point, despite US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warning of Russian plans to open up new shipping channels in the region. (ArcticToday)
Natural response- French President Emmanuel Macron said his government will seek to increase the size of natural areas under protection and take tax and budget measures to support biodiversity, after hosting the session to publish IPBES’ comprehensive UN report outlining the alarming global decline of nature due to human activity. He also wants the EU to encourage the financing of sustainable crops as part of the next round of the EU common agriculture policy and will bring up the issue in talks within the G7, which France chairs this year. (Reuters)
Pipeline prediction – The Canadian government is likely to proceed with the controversial expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline when it announces its final decision on the project next month, government officials tell Bloomberg. Ottawa bought the pipeline from Kinder Morgan last year in a bid to save the project, only to see a federal court strike down the permit. That ruling set out a framework for an approval that would pass legal muster, including an already-completed regulatory review and consultation with indigenous communities. Last month, the federal government extended its decision on the project until June 18 to allow those talks to continue.
Climate call – Over a dozen Canadian environmental organisations on Tuesday released a set of 20 federal party platform recommendations that address climate, biodiversity, toxics, and water crises. Among the climate-related asks, the groups called on the parties to commit to increasing their emission reduction targets to align with keeping global temperatures within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels, as well as legislating their climate targets. The groups also asked the parties if they would maintain the federal ‘backstop’ carbon price in provinces and territories that lack a CO2 tax, along with raising that price by at least C$10 per year after the current rate stops at C$50 in 2022. In regards to Trans Mountain, the organisations asked the parties to commit to demonstrating how the project expansion aligns with Canada’s Paris Agreement NDC.
Terminal troubles – Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on Monday declined to certify the proposed Jordan Cove LNG terminal under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The decision is a blow for Canadian developer Pembina Pipeline Corporation, and makes Oregon the latest state to reject a fossil fuel project by using its authority under the law that the Trump administration is trying to limit. (Politico)
And finally … Coal takes a holiday – The UK went more than five days without burning coal, the longest streak the country has managed without burning the fuel since the Industrial Revolution, over its bank holiday weekend when demand is lower as factories idle. The previous record from earlier this year was 90 hours. Other sources have stepped in and on Saturday, wind generated as much as 27% of the country’s power followed by gas at 25% and nuclear at 24%. (Bloomberg)
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