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Poland plans lawsuit against EU over MSR
Poland is to bring a case before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) seeking to annul the EU’s decision to introduce the Market Stability Reserve, the government said on Wednesday after its cabinet agreed the move.
Beijing brings 600 new companies into ETS
Beijing will more than double the participants in its emissions trading scheme by bringing in public transportation and halving the scheme’s threshold to companies that emit 5,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, the municipal government announced Friday.
EU Market: Carbon sinks to 3-mth low as analysts flag bearish start to year
EU carbon fell 2.1% on Monday to its lowest settlement since Sep. 29 as power prices dropped and analysts predicted prices would come under pressure despite a lack of auction supply.
KRX to list second carbon offset type from May
The Korea Exchange (KRX) will start listing Korean Offset Credits (KOCs) from next May, the bourse operators announced, hoping to boost trading activity in the country’s fledgling carbon market.
CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Dec. 31, 2015
Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China’s regional pilot carbon markets this week.
Voluntary market data from CTX for Dec. 29, 2015
A table of Verified Emission Reduction (VER) prices and offered volumes, based on voluntary market data from Carbon Trade Exchange.
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Job listings this week:
International Policy Officer, Carbon Market Watch – Brussels
Executive Director, Climate Change, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning – Melbourne
Natural Carbon Project Manager, Climate Friendly – Sydney
Energy Analyst, The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit – London
Or click here to see all our job adverts
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Bite-sized updates from around the world
Many of the world’s major oil companies poured millions of dollars into sowing doubt about climate change while quietly preparing their infrastructure for its effects, according to a joint investigation by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Los Angeles Times. The latest installment in a separate investigation by InsideClimate News also reports that Big Oil was aware of the negative impacts of fossil fuels on the global climate decades ago and decried climate science to protect their business models. (H/T Climate Nexus)
More than two-thirds of the world’s power plants may have trouble running at full capacity as the warming climate affects water supplies, according to a new study. (Bloomberg).
China will stop approving new coal mines for the next three years and continue to trim production capacity as the world’s biggest energy consumer tries to shift away from the fuel as it grapples with pollution. (Bloomberg)
95% consensus of expert economists: cut carbon pollution – A survey of economists with climate expertise finds a consensus that climate change is expensive and carbon pollution cuts are needed. (Guardian)
Steel making in Europe will become uncompetitive if EU plans aimed at reforming the EU ETS go into effect as they now stand, ThyssenKrupp Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger told Welt am Sonntag newspaper. The extra costs would burden European steel producers and aid less climate friendly, non-EU steel makers, for example from China, he said. (Reuters)
Indonesia has postponed a new levy on fossil fuels intended to support development of renewable energy and improve energy security, a day before it had been due to come into effect until an undeclared time when its annual budget is decided. It had planned a 200 rupiah ($0.0147) tax per litre on sales of gasoline and 300 rupiah per litre on diesel. (Reuters)
Norway has asked state-owned Statoil to conduct new CCS studies at three locations on the Norwegian continental shelf. (Reuters)
US state legislatures were mostly quiet in 2015 when it came to enacting significant climate change bills, with the notable exception of California. Other states that did take action in 2015 rolled back efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions or took steps to resist the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which requires states to curb carbon dioxide emissions from the fleet of existing power plants. (BNA)
Already among the two dozen US states suing to overturn new power plant emission rules, North Carolina is picking a separate fight with the EPA over its Clean Power Plan rules by adopting a strategy for compliance the agency is likely to reject. State officials hope that will create a shortcut to a federal appeals court and head off any attempt by the EPA to drag out the court case while its rules get further entrenched. (ABC)
Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton was in November asked whether the state, if it continues current policies without taking new action, would meet its legal obligation to make substantial cuts to its carbon emissions by the end of the decade. “Not a chance,” he told members of the state Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change. That answer, which alarmed some lawmakers, has been cited as evidence in briefs to the Supreme Judicial Court that the state has failed to take sufficient action to comply with the state’s 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires the state to cut its greenhouse gases 25% below 1990 levels by 2020. (Boston Globe)
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) will on Jan. 15 host a webstreamed public workshop to discuss an economic analysis of the US state’s 2030 emissions target and its scoping plan update, including on the potential policies for meeting the goal.
RGGI will hold its 2nd webstreamed public meeting on its program review on Feb. 2.
And finally… Bryony Worthington, founder and director of carbon market-focused environmental campaigners Sandbag, is to leave the organisation this month after eight years to take up a new role at green group EDF. Sandbag is also looking to hire a new managing director.
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