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TOP STORY

China carbon futures exchange set to get final nod before year-end

Guangdong province has begun consultation on its planned futures exchange, which will focus on CO2 permits initially, and expects to get central government approval before the end of the year, a senior provincial official said, according to local media.

AMERICAS

Fuel, power must ramp up GHG reductions to hit California’s 2030 goal -BAML

California’s transportation and electricity sectors will have to cut emissions faster in the post-2020 period to ensure the state reaches its 2030 goal, potentially putting bullish pressure on California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices, according to analysis from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML).

LCFS Market: California prices stretch all-time highs above $200

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits continued to set record highs through Friday as short covering drove values towards the pending price cap.

EMEA

EU Market: EUAs slip to near €24 as Brexit talks await major breakthrough

European carbon prices fell by as much as 4% on Monday, giving back some of last Friday’s big gains as weekend Brexit talks failed to yield a major breakthrough.

ICYM

EU nations scrambling to halt rising illegal trade in super-pollutants

The EU is battling to curb surging illegal imports in potent Chinese-made F-gases, with smugglers set to bring in products this year with more global warming impact than the greenhouse gas emissions of a mid-sized European country.

CDM hits dual milestones ahead of UN carbon offset scheme’s potential conclusion

The UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) passed two noteworthy milestones this month, as countries prepare to determine whether to wind up the project-based carbon finance programme.

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Back for more – Poland’s ruling and poll-leading PiS party easily won Sunday’s parliamentary election, taking enough seats to retain the absolute parliamentary majority it has held for the past four years, Politico reports. In the run-up to the vote, PiS tabled new legislation that would allow the government to open new coal mines without the approval of local authorities. PiS campaigned to secure coal miners’ votes and has said that reducing the coal’s use in power production to 50% by 2050 from around 80% now is all Poland can do without extra funding. The opposition Civic Coalition’s campaign included cutting out coal completely by 2040.

Decision time – Europe’s climate change credentials face an acid test this week when the bloc’s lending arm, the European Investment Bank, decides whether or not to stop funding fossil fuel projects beyond next year. The decision is due to be made on Tuesday by EU finance ministers and other top officials after an intense few months of discussion in European capitals and within the region’s energy industry. The EIB’s draft proposal in July to end oil, coal, and gas financing was widely praised by environmental groups and politicians alike as a strong signal from the world’s largest multilateral lender, but has since seen some pushback. The European Commission plus Germany, Italy, Poland, Latvia, and potentially Spain would like the bank to keep funding some types of gas projects to help the move away from coal or nuclear power, or for energy security reasons. (Reuters)

Clean quarter – In Q3, the UK’s windfarms, solar panels, biomass, and hydro plants generated more electricity than the combined output from power stations fired by coal, oil, and gas. This is the first-ever quarter where renewables outpaced fossil fuels since the UK’s first public electricity generating station opened in 1882. (Carbon Brief)

Carney warning – Companies and industries that are not moving towards zero-carbon emissions will be punished by investors and go bankrupt, the governor of the Bank of England has warned. Mark Carney also told the Guardian it was possible that the global transition needed to tackle the climate crisis could result in an abrupt financial collapse. He said the longer action to reverse emissions was delayed, the more the risk of collapse would grow.

Nice while it lasted – The government of Ecuador has decided to repeal the law ending fuel subsidies that was announced 10 days before and that sparked mass protests. The government will discuss with indigenous leaders a new law to ensure fuel subsidies are not used by fuel smugglers. Subsidies on gasoline and diesel were introduced in the 1970s and are estimated at around $1.4 bln, burdening the budget. The government had agreed to liberalise fuel prices under a $4.2 bln deal with the IMF. The announced removal of subsidies led to a nearly 30% increase in gasoline prices and to a 123% surge in diesel prices, prompting nationwide protests, and the declaration of the state of emergency. Earlier in Oct. 2019, Ecuador announced that it would leave the OPEC and planned to raise its crude oil production from around 516 kb/d in 2017 to 560 kb/d in 2019 and 590 kb/d in 2020. (Enerdata)

Make it count – Sri Lanka’s domestic voluntary carbon offset programme has attracted limited interest since it was launched in 2016, with the big emitters in energy and industry having cold-shouldered the scheme so far. That could change if the government puts in place economic incentives, such as reducing taxes and import duties for a wide range of green technologies, or giving low emitters priority in government procurement, two World Bank climate policy and carbon market experts wrote in a recent blog. They also said Sri Lanka needed to upgrade its MRV system in order to become attractive for potential foreign buyers. The country is planning to ramp up its domestic offset system as part of a plan to eventually launch a wider carbon pricing mechanism.

And finally…  Science says it’s fine – Almost 400 climate scientists from over 20 nations have endorsed the Extinction Rebellion (XR) civil disobedience campaign aimed at forcing governments to take rapid action to tackle climate change. In a joint declaration, they broke with the caution traditionally associated with academia to side with peaceful protesters courting arrest from Amsterdam to Melbourne that has entered the second week of its two-week “autumn rebellion”. (Reuters)

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