**Due to a public holiday in the UK, no CPD will be published on Monday, Aug. 26**

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TOP STORY

Connecticut facing further delays to enshrine RGGI Model Rule changes

Connecticut’s revised RGGI regulation to implement the regional carbon market’s post-2020 Model Rule changes will not be heard as planned next week by a legislative committee and could face additional delays, a state official told Carbon Pulse.

AMERICAS

US presidential candidate Sanders sets out energy decarbonisation by 2030, $200 bln GCF contribution

US Senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders unveiled Thursday his wide-ranging environmental plan modelled on the Green New Deal, aiming to decarbonise the country’s energy supply over the next 10 years and ramp up America’s international climate commitments under the UN Paris Agreement and Green Climate Fund (GCF).

NA Markets: California allowances dip ahead of auction, RGGI units continue fall

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices declined this week ahead of the Q3 WCI auction, while RGGI allowances (RGAs) continued their bearish trend to remain at an 11-month low on the secondary market.

RINs continue bounce as Trump administration reportedly mulls biofuel waiver remedies

US biofuel credit prices (RINs) rose for a third straight day on Thursday on news that President Donald Trump’s administration was continuing to explore options to address the fallout from Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance waivers handed out this month.

ASIA PACIFIC

China urged to allow pilot ETS allowances in national CO2 market

China should allow the use of some CO2 allowances from its regional pilot emissions trading schemes in the national cap-and-trade programme in order to maintain market integrity and avoid a price crash in the pilots, according to a recent study.

NZ Market: NZUs hold steady above NZ$24 on fair demand

New Zealand carbon allowances are holding steady well above NZ$24 after the minor bull run earlier this month amid sound demand, although the contract has some way to go before it is back above the fixed price option level.

EMEA

EU Market: EUAs slump to 8-week low on ongoing technical weakness

EUAs dropped to an eight-week low below €26 on Thursday, defying steady auction demand and brighter economic data in another late sell-off.

CARBON FORWARD 2019

EU renewable credit prices stumble ahead of France auction debut

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

If you can’t beat them, join them – Australia’s Labor party went to the May federal election boasting an ambitious climate policy platform, but ended up losing, partly due to doing surprisingly poor in coal-heavy Queensland. The QLD state Labor government answered by approving the controversial Adani coal mine just days after the election, and this weekend it is set to approve a new policy platform that supports the coal and mining industries, making it “the backbone of our great state”, according to the Guardian. With the Coalition government firmly uninterested in climate and the main opposition now also dropping the issue, the outlook for any emission reductions or helpful climate policies in Australia looks dimmer than it has been for years.

Coal exit cash – German coal mining regions have welcomed draft legislation to support the states most affected by plans to phase out the fossil fuel by 2038 at the latest. The economy ministry presented an “investment law for coal regions” and other legislation ten days before crucial elections in eastern German coal states Saxony and Brandenburg. The laws would provide the two states with billions of euros to boost their economy, for example through infrastructure investments. (Clean Energy Wire)

Dem-nied – The US Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Thursday voted 17-8 to defeat a resolution to host a single-issue debate on the climate crisis. Some presidential candidates and campaigners Sunrise Movement had pushed for the DNC to hold a debate on climate change to highlight the urgency of the crisis, while top brass at the committee feared it could sow discord in the party’s base and hamper the eventual nominee for the general election. At Thursday’s meeting in San Francisco, the DNC voted in favour of another resolution to sanction a less-formal forum on the issue. (Huffington Post)

And on the seventh plan, he actually didn’t rest – After Washington state Governor Jay Inslee (D) released his sixth and final climate plan Wednesday morning in his bid for the US Democratic presidential nomination, he announced on MSNBC later that night he would drop out of the race. Inslee, who centred his entire campaign around climate change, stood at just 1% support in recent polls, and his fundraising of $3 mln during the second quarter left him well behind the top presidential contenders. However, Inslee turned around on Thursday morning and announced he would seek a third term as Washington governor during the state’s Nov. 2020 election. The governor succeeded this year in passing a suite of climate policies to decarbonise Washington’s electricity supply, phase-out HFCs, and improve building energy efficiency, but has not yet implemented a form of carbon pricing or low-carbon fuel standard after several years of trying. (CNBC)

Poor four – Texas-based Vistra Energy will shutter four Illinois coal plants under a deal brokered with Governor JB Pritzker’s (D) administration. However, Vistra’s four other Land of Lincoln-based coal plants that survived the cuts emitted 60% of the fleet’s CO2 emissions and 80% of asthma-triggering sulfur dioxide emissions in the state, according to analysis by The Chicago Tribune. Three of those four plants that will remain operating are also so old that they have been grandfathered from having to install modern pollution equipment, leading to criticism from green groups over the terms of the Illinois government’s deal.

And finally… I was saying Boo-lsonaro, part 2 – Following a recent surge in Amazonian fires and deforestation that led Brazilian environment minister Ricardo Salles to get booed at the UN’s Latin America Climate Summit in Salvador on Wednesday, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro accused non-governmental organisations of burning down the forests to hurt his government, Reuters reports. “Everything indicates” that NGOs were going to the Amazon to “set fire” to the forest, Bolsonaro said in a Facebook Live broadcast Wednesday morning. When asked if he had evidence to back up his claims, he said he had “no written plan,” adding “that’s not how it’s done”. Bolsonaro also suggested the slashing of NGO funding by his government could be a motive, while environmental groups attributed the conflagrations to the anti-environmental policies of his government. (Carbon Brief)

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