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TOP STORY

EU to withdraw another 330 mln carbon allowances from ETS after supply glut drops 16%

More than 330 million more carbon allowances will be withdrawn from the EU ETS through next summer and inserted into the MSR, the European Commission announced late Friday in its annual ‘TNAC’ update, with the market’s oversupply falling by over 16% from 2018 levels.

PODCASTS

CARBON PULSE CONVERSATIONS 008: New Zealand Climate Change Commission/Motu Research Institute

In this latest episode of our Carbon Pulse Conversations podcast, we speak to Catherine Leining, policy fellow at the Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Institute and a member of New Zealand’s independent Climate Change Commission, about the ongoing NZ ETS reform work and the prospects of the country accessing the international carbon market.

CARBON PULSE CONVERSATIONS 007: The Nature Conservancy

In the latest instalment of the Carbon Pulse Conversations podcast, we chat with Kelley Hamrick, policy advisor at US-based environmental organisation The Nature Conservancy (TNC), about coronavirus-related impacts on the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 negotiations and ICAO’s global aviation offset mechanism CORSIA.

EMEA

EU lawmaker raises climate law ambition, proposes carbon budget

The EU should set a 65% emissions reduction target for 2030 and work towards an 80-85% objective in 2040, aided by a union-wide carbon budget and the establishment of an independent scientific committee, the lead MEP steering the 27-nation bloc’s climate law has proposed in a draft report.

EU’s Just Transition Fund should be raised by €10 billion, says lead lawmaker

The EU Parliament’s regional development committee will on Tuesday debate its position on the proposed €7.5 billion Just Transition Fund (JTF), with the lead lawmaker proposing its size be raised by more than €10 billion.

EU Market: EUAs dip towards €19 in steadier trade for a 2% weekly gain

EUAs fell back towards €19 on Friday in trade thinned by a UK public holiday, with carbon notching a slight weekly gain as EU nations plotted their post-pandemic recoveries.

EU emitters ramp up Kyoto offset usage as cheap ETS compliance option enters final year

Companies regulated by the EU ETS exchanged over 27 million Kyoto Protocol offsets for EUAs in the past 12 months, ramping up the practice with just a year left for emitters to tap this cheaper compliance option.

AMERICAS

Oregon climate policy rulemakings to begin in earnest next year

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will largely commence rulemakings in 2021 to develop a cap-and-reduce programme and strengthen the state’s clean fuel standard, while several related efforts from Governor Kate Brown’s (D) climate-based executive order will begin sooner, the agency said Thursday.

WCI compliance entities increase carbon holdings as speculators shift positions out

Compliance entities have increased their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) positions on the secondary market as speculators moved their holdings further out on the curve, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data released Friday.

Virginia to revise RGGI regulation over the next month -source

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will make changes this month to its previously passed RGGI-modelled carbon market regulation to accommodate state-run auctions in 2021, a regulatory source told Carbon Pulse.

ASIA PACIFIC

South Korea signals rapid green shift in draft energy plan

South Korea on Friday released a draft energy plan for the next 14 years, proposing to shut half its coal power plants and nearly triple renewables’ share of electricity generation.

CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending May 8, 2020

Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China’s regional pilot carbon markets this week.

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Healed by hydrogen – Clean hydrogen proponents are spying a golden chance to drag the niche energy source into the mainstream of a post-pandemic world, with major economies preparing investments to kickstart growth while seeking to meet climate goals. The Netherlands, Australia, and Portugal have already begun investing, while the EU and others are being pushed to use their post-crisis recovery plans to support hydrogen in areas like trucking and heavy industry. (Reuters)

Bakersfield buy – Global Clean Energy Holdings (GCEH) announced Friday that through a subsidiary, it purchased California’s Alon Bakersfield Refinery from a subsidiary of Delek US Holdings, with a plan to convert the idled refinery to renewable diesel production. That process, which GCEH anticipates will take 18-20 months to complete, will see the 66,000-bpd facility generate fuels that produce credits under the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). GCEH added its plan is to have the renewable fuels that are produced at the facility sold to, and thereafter, marketed and distributed through various partnerships, including one with an unnamed multinational oil major.

Up the creek – Minnesota-based electric cooperative Great River Energy announced Thursday it intends to retire its Coal Creek Power Station in North Dakota in the second half of 2022, and replace the 1.2GW plant with low-cost renewables and market energy purchases. Great River plans to purchase more than 1.1 GW from new wind energy projects, and projects its renewable capacity will grow from approximately 660 MW in 2020 to more than 1.6 GW by the end of 2023. The company also plans to add capacity through purchases in the MISO wholesale electricity market. (Politico)

Green gash – The Manitoba government has cut funding to some environmental groups as part of its plan to deal with the fiscal fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The Green Action Centre, a Winnipeg-based non-profit that promotes recycling, composting, and other activities, received a letter from the Canadian province that says annual funding to the group worth C$200,000 is being suspended this year. The government said nine groups had requested and were denied funding this year, including the Green Action Centre and two others that received a total of C$360,000 last year. (The Canadian Press)

And finally… Unrelenting risk – People displaced by climate disasters face heightened risk from the coronavirus, a new report finds. The report from Actionaid International, which focuses on climate migration in South Asia, shows that migrants are forced to shelter in camps with minimal space, healthcare, sanitation, and access to clean drinking water, making them particularly vulnerable to the spread of the virus. In Afghanistan alone, about 1.2 mln people were forced from their homes by weather-related disasters at the end of 2019, and more than 3,600 people have contracted the disease with over 100 deaths since the crisis began, though the actual number of cases of and deaths from COVID-19 are almost certainly higher than official statistics due to low levels of testing. (Climate Nexus)

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