Just over a month until Carbon Forward 2022 – Europe’s leading environmental markets conference. Taking place in London and online from Oct. 12-14, don’t miss the chance to hear about the risks and opportunities presented by the world’s largest carbon markets – compliance and voluntary. Or come network with your industry peers and meet our sponsors and exhibitors.
Early Bird discounted tickets available until Sep. 12. Register Now!
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TOP STORY
PREVIEW: EU ministers to rule on emergency interventions to stave off energy crisis
Energy ministers will meet later this week in a scramble to agree on a rapid fix to soaring energy prices, when options on the table will include establishing price caps, suspending power derivatives markets, taxing windfall profits by clean energy firms and fast-tracking the sale of EU ETS units held in the MSR.
EMEA
Germany freezes domestic carbon price in bid to ease energy burden
Germany will freeze the price increases of its domestic carbon pricing mechanism for one year as part of a monster €65 billion relief package it hopes will ease the strain of sky-high energy prices on its industry.
Brussels commissions study into how emitters trade, barriers to participation in EU ETS
The European Commission is analysing how emitters partake in the EU ETS in order to better understand their motivations for using certain trading channels and to identify any barriers to participation.
EU countries make more progress over summer on 2022 free carbon permit allocations
A handful of countries made some progress this summer in handing out their share of this year’s free carbon permit allocations under the EU ETS.
AMERICAS
Nova Scotia proposes ditching cap-and-trade in favour of output-based system
The Nova Scotia government on Friday submitted an output-based pricing system (OBPS) as its proposal to meet Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau’s ‘backstop’ CO2 pricing requirement, which if accepted would mark an end to the Maritime province’s carbon market.
ASIA PACIFIC
Energy firm joins Hong Kong-China carbon market initiative
A Hong Kong-headquartered gas company with a major presence in Mainland China has joined an initiative that seeks to establish the financial hub as the main connection point between the Chinese and global carbon markets.
Australia hands CO2 storage permits to Santos, Chevron
Australia has awarded two permits to Santos and Chevron to explore potential CO2 storage sites off the coast of Western Australia, as the companies continue to pursue large-scale CCS opportunities.
VOLUNTARY
VCM Report: Offset prices slip lower to erase August gains
Offset prices slipped lower over the past week, wiping out August’s gains, and eroding hopes the voluntary carbon market was escaping the clutches of the inflation-induced global economic slowdown.
ICYM
ANALYSIS: Canadian Clean Fuel Regulations plagued by environmental, programme design concerns
The newly-minted Canadian Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) are in danger of not living up to their GHG abatement potential and continuing to incentivise fossil fuel production, while expectations for credit supply from CCS projects and overall prices remain uncertain, according to low-carbon transportation groups, analysts, and market participants.
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Job listings this week
- *General Manager of Commercial Development, NatureCo – Remote
- *Technical Specialist, Social Equity & Rights, Climate & Nature Linkages, Fauna & Flora International – Cambridge
- *Manager, Corporate Responsibility, Gold Standard – Remote, UK based
- Manager Carbon Policy & Markets, Santos – Adelaide
- Manager Carbon Policy, LMS Energy – Adelaide
- Carbon Farming Advisor, Carbon Link – Brisbane
- European Carbon Analyst, BloombergNEF – London
- Business Development Executive, AlliedOffsets – London
*Premium listings
Or click here to see all listings
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CONFERENCE
Just over a month until Carbon Forward 2022 – Europe’s leading environmental markets conference. Taking place in London and online from Oct. 12-14, don’t miss the chance to hear about the risks and opportunities presented by the world’s largest carbon markets – compliance and voluntary. Or come network with your industry peers and meet our sponsors and exhibitors. Early Bird discounted tickets available until Sep. 12. Register Now!
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Carbon Pulse has teamed up with CME Group to provide its clients with regular updates on the global carbon markets. Check out these briefs for the latest insights on pressing trends and events impacting markets, published every other week. Registration required
AMERICAS
It’s a no – Voters in Chile have rejected by 62% to 38% a new constitution which was due to replace the one drawn up under General Augusto Pinochet’s military rule, a larger-than-expected defeat for Chile’s left-wing President Gabriel Boric, who said he would now work with Congress and civil society to come up with a new constitutional process, BBC reports. The process to replace Chile’s military rule era constitution started three years ago after mass protests rocked the nation and led to the previous government being forced to host the COP25 annual UN climate negotiations in faraway Madrid. The defeat deals a blow to the government’s green credentials, with the proposed ‘ecological’ constitution seeking to recognise the inherent legal right of nature that would have meant affording greater protections in the mining nation. Read Carbon Pulse’s reporting on Chile’s “first green government” and analysis on the country’s carbon pricing plans.
Brazilian burial – Brazil’s state-owned oil major Petrobras is considering the potential of offering CCS solutions for third-party industrial emissions in the country as part of a potential diversification strategy away from the company’s key upstream oil and gas operations, Upstream reports, citing executive Rafael Chavez Santos speaking on the sidelines of the Gastech 2022 conference. Petrobras has already reinjected 35 MtCO2 to help enhance oil recovery offshore and is aiming in 2025 to start up the less carbon intensive Hi-Sep oil extraction technology on its producing Mero field.
EMEA
City call-out – Public-private innovation partnership EIT Climate-KIC’s initiative, NetZeroCities, is launching a two-year programme enabling cities to test and implement innovative approaches to rapid decarbonisation in Europe. The call for Pilot Cities runs under the auspices of the EU Mission Cities and offers €32 mln in grants and support and is open to all cities in EU member states and Horizon Europe associated countries. The Pilot Cities programme will identify cities or districts to support large-scale piloting activities to exploit, deploy and scale R&I and systemic solutions that combine social, cultural, technological, nature-based, regulatory and financial innovations, as well as new business and governance models to underpin the transition to the net zero.
Swede deal – Sweden will receive €155.7 mln in EU grants from the Just Transition Fund (JTF) programme to support the country’s efforts to achieve climate neutrality by 2045 and alleviate the impact of the climate transition. The country will mobilise a total investment of €311.5 mln to help making sure that this transition will not leave anyone behind in the local economy and society.
Greek storage – The European Commission has approved a Greek measure with an estimated budget of €341 mln to support the construction and operation of storage facilities in the electricity system under EU state aid rules. The measure will be partly funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), following the Commission’s positive assessment of the Greek plan and its adoption by the European Council. The measure aims at allowing a smooth integration in the Greek electricity system of an increasing share of renewable energy coming from wind and solar sources and will also contribute to the EU’s strategic objectives relating to the Green Deal.
Hercules himself – The buildout of Germany’s renewable power capacity is a “herculean task” that will likely take longer than planned and therefore make an early end to gas- and coal-fired power production very difficult to achieve, consulting firm McKinsey has found in its 2022 Energy Transition Index for the country. The consultancy said Germany will continue to depend on natural gas and that coal-fired power production will also continue to play a key role beyond 2030, the year by which Germany’s government said it ideally wants to exit the fossil fuel. Russia’s war on Ukraine had dramatically altered the situation for renewables in the country, the company said, and the Europe-wide decision to scrap Russian gas imports would have an impact on the power sector as well. (Clean Energy Wire)
ASIA PACIFIC
Great ambition – Sinopec, China’s largest refiner and fuel distributor, has announced plans to become the country’s biggest hydrogen producer with an installed annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes of hydrogen by 2025, South China Morning Post reports. The energy giant will focus on hydrogen refuelling and green hydrogen production to help the transportation sector reduce carbon emissions, according to the report. The move came after Beijing in March introduced the nation’s first hydrogen strategy between 2021 and 2035. Under the plan, the world’s largest emitter will have more than 50,000 hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles on the road and produce 100,000 to 200,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2025.
Branching out – South Korean conglomerate SK is expanding its green business operations in Southeast Asia, with three of its subsidiaries signing agreements with Malaysian energy firm Petronas, targeting CCS, blue hydrogen, clean fuel cells, and EV charging. Earlier this year SK has moved into Vietnam and Singapore, including a partnership with a Vietnamese solar power firm to start generating carbon credits.
VOLUNTARY
Taking Roo(t) – The Mexican state of Quintana Roo has submitted a proposal under the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) programme, according to the registry website, though no documents on the listing for The REDD+ Environmental Excellency Standard (TREES) were yet available. Some 15 national and subnational jurisdictions have now submitted REDD programmes under the standard.
SCIENCE & TECH
Cracked it – Chemical majors BASF, Sabic, and Linde have started construction of the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces that cut emissions drastically. By using electricity from renewable sources instead of natural gas, the companies reckon the new technology has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions of one of the most energy-intensive production processes in the chemical industry by 90% compared to technologies commonly used today. The demonstration plant will be fully integrated into one of the existing steam crackers at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The start-up of the demonstration plant is targeted for 2023, with the German government awarding €14.8 mln of funding.
AND FINALLY…
Pay up – In an interview with the Guardian, Pakistan’s climate minister Sherry Rehman has called for wealthy nations to pay “reparations” to countries facing large climate impacts. “Global warming is the existential crisis facing the world and Pakistan is ground zero – yet we have contributed less than 1% to [GHG] emissions,” she said. “There is so much loss and damage with so little reparations to countries that contributed so little to the world’s carbon footprint that obviously the bargain made between the global north and global south is not working. We need to be pressing very hard for a reset of the targets because climate change is accelerating much faster than predicted, on the ground, that is very clear.” Her interview comes amid unprecedented flooding in the country, which has killed nearly 1,300 people and washed away half the country’s crops. Elsewhere, Reuters reports that authorities in Pakistan breached the country’s largest freshwater lake on Sunday, “displacing up to 100,000 people from their homes but saving more densely populated areas from gathering floodwater”. (Carbon Brief)
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