CP Daily: Thursday September 24, 2015

Published 19:28 on September 24, 2015  /  Last updated at 22:43 on September 24, 2015  / /  Newsletters

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

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Quebec issues first offsets as California batch made ‘golden’

Quebec has handed out the first carbon offsets under its emissions trading scheme, according to an update on a government website on Wednesday, while California’s market has seen its first batch of offsets shed their invalidation risk.

 

INDC Roundup: Slew of UN pledges sent ahead of Oct. deadline

Five nations submitted their long term climate pledges to the UN on Thursday, as the pace of INDC entries increases ahead of a soft Oct. 1 deadline for the contributions to a global climate pact.

 

Guangdong to add six sectors in carbon market expansion

Guangdong will add six industrial sectors to its pilot emissions trading scheme, the provincial government said, potentially more than tripling the number of companies facing a cap on their CO2 emissions.

 

Australia could allow UN carbon credits from 2016 -media

With Tony Abbott out of the way, Australia could be willing to let big emitters to use UN-issued offsets to meet government-defined carbon baselines from mid-2016, the Australian Financial Review reported on Wednesday, without saying where it got the information.

 

Chinese carbon firms turn to OTC equity market for fresh funding

Chinese specialist carbon companies are turning to the OTC equity market for external cash injections to stay afloat while seeking to gain a foothold in the emerging emissions market in its uncertain early days.

 

Hillary Clinton pitches North American climate treaty

If elected US president, Hillary Clinton would launch negotiations with Canada and Mexico on a North American climate compact that would build on the Clean Power Plan and regional emissions trading schemes, she said Wednesday.

 

Green groups issue checklist to ICAO for global aviation CO2 market design, urge on-time launch

A coalition of green groups has urged the UN’s civil aviation body and its member nations to next year deliver on their commitment to finalise a global market-based mechanism for the sector, setting a 10-point checklist for governments to ensure the scheme is robust.

 

EUAs slip towards €8 in calm trade after weaker auction

EU carbon prices kept just above the €8 mark for the second straight day in a calm session during which bullish speculators were deterred from buying by a weak auction.

 

US govt gives offset fund $1m to kickstart land-based offset projects

The US Department of Agriculture has awarded offset fund The Climate Trust a $1 million grant to kickstart its first investment fund to finance biogas, forestry and grassland conservation projects.

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Carbon market analysts have announced two webinars:

On Sep. 29, Thomson Reuters Point Carbon will host a session on expectations for the Paris UN climate summit and recent trends in the world’s carbon markets.

On Oct. 7, ICIS Tschach Solutions will host a session on the key elements of the EU ETS Phase 4 reform proposal.

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Bite-sized updates from around the world

The pressure is mounting on the EU to tighten rules on pollution from cars after Volkswagen admitted it built a system to undermine emissions tests in the US, Bloomberg reported. “We must assume that there are many tricks going on in Europe without us realizing because the Americans check more than we do,” said German MEP Peter Liese. “We need more realistic, stringent procedures not only for NOx but also for carbon dioxide and fuel consumption. We all know that our cars use more fuel than in the test cycle and people are losing patience.”  Separately, the Guardian, citing leaked documents, reported that Germany, France and the UK lobbied the European Commission to keep loopholes in car tests that would increase real world CO2 emissions by 14% above those claimed.

The UN’s new CER cancellation hub could spur demand for 50 million credits through 2020, one of the project’s advisers told Bloomberg.

US climate finance in limbo – A looming federal budget confrontation and Republican hostility to UN global-warming talks threaten a US down payment into a key climate-aid fund, money considered vital to a climate deal in Paris this December. (Reuters)

Just hours after the US Congress heard an address from Pope Francis calling for climate action, US lawmakers were due to begin debating a bill to streamline environmental analyses that includes a provision to bar consideration of the administration’s social cost of carbon assessments. (National Journal)

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