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TOP STORIES

Australian minister flags potential use of Asia-Pacific forest carbon credits

If Australia decides to use international carbon credits to meet its Paris target, forest offsets from the Asia-Pacific region might be among its target markets, according to Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.

AMERICAS

National carbon price to shave 0.5% off Canada’s GDP by 2022 -report

A C$50 national carbon price will shave C$10 billion or 0.5% off Canada’s GDP by 2022, according to a parliamentary report published Monday.

LCFS stakeholders pressure California’s ARB on carbon intensity target, verification process

Several stakeholders to the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard have urged regulator ARB to adopt an even stricter carbon intensity (CI) reduction target than in its latest proposal, while others have expressed concerns with the proposed third-party verification process and CCS protocol.

US EPA deems biomass carbon neutral even as internal review undecided

The US EPA will begin treating CO2 emissions stemming from biomass combustion as carbon neutral, despite the agency’s own Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) having not settled on the issue.

EMEA

EU Market: EUAs sink again below €13 but stay in upward channel

EU carbon prices lost ground for the third straight session on Monday, but recovered from an intraday three-week low as observers flagged the potential for further losses should EUAs break below a key technical support.

Two men jailed for 26 years over UK-based carbon credit investment scam

Two men have been jailed for a combined 26 years by a British court for selling vulnerable investors illiquid carbon credits via a ‘boiler room’ scam.

ASIA PACIFIC

Australian offset issuance steady, but market supply stays limited

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator handed out 222,554 carbon credits last week, but fewer than 7,000 went to projects not already under government contract.

INTERNATIONAL

FIFA, UN kick off campaign to offset World Cup attendee emissions

Global football governing body FIFA has teamed up with the UN to encourage fans travelling to this summer’s World Cup in Russia to offset their carbon emissions.

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CARBON FORWARD 2018

SAVE THE DATE: Carbon Forward 2018 – Survive and thrive in the global carbon markets

Don’t miss the 3rd annual Carbon Forward conference and training day – Oct. 16-18, 2018 in London.

Spend two days with top experts, players, and decision-makers from the global carbon markets as they address today’s most attractive opportunities and pressing challenges. And join us for the EU ETS pre-conference training day organised by carbon market experts Redshaw Advisors, where you will learn how to effectively manage your carbon risk ahead of the looming overhaul of the bloc’s emissions trading scheme.

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Job listings this week:

• Environmental Advisor, Air Emissions and Greenhouse Gases, TransCanada – Calgary
• Program Associate, Linden Trust for Conservation – New York City
• Senior Origination and Sustainability Manager, ALLCOT – Madrid
• Corporate Trader (Italy), Vertis – Budapest/Madrid/Brussels
• Corporate Sales (Internship), Vertis – Brussels
• GCF Planning Officer, Competence Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Policy, GIZ – Eschborn, Germany

Or click here to see all our job adverts

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Finance focus – The EU has channelled 78% of its climate aid to middle income countries, with vulnerable least developed countries (LDC) receiving just 19%, according to analysis by the ACT Alliance coalition of development agencies. It called on the EU to revise its climate finance strategy to better help those most in need. Turkey and Ukraine were the two biggest beneficiaries. The report found over 40% of EU climate aid is delivered as loans. (Climate Home)

Driving in reverse – New cars sold in the EU in 2017 emitted slightly more CO2/kilometre than those sold in 2016, data showed. This is the first increase in average emissions of the new EU car fleet since monitoring began in 2010, the European Commission said. The average emissions from a new car sold in the EU in 2017 was 118.5 grams of CO2/km, 0.4 g higher than in 2016 but significantly below the 2015 target of 130 g, according to provisional data published by the EEA. Alongside a decrease in the share of diesel cars – which are generally slightly more fuel-efficient than petrol cars – sold in the EU, from 49% in 2016 to 45% in 2017, there was also an increased demand for heavier petrol vehicles. While sales of plug-in hybrid EVs and battery EVs rose by 42% from 2016 to 2017, the share of these vehicles in the new EU car fleet remained low at 1.5%. Since monitoring began, average emissions of new cars in the EU have fallen by 16% to  22 g CO2/km. Nevertheless, manufacturers will have to further reduce emissions in the coming years in order to meet the EU target of 95 g CO2/km by 2021.

Show your work – Canadian Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre will ask the House of Commons this week to force the government to show consumers how much more they can expect to pay for gas, heat and groceries once every Canadian will be charged a $50/tonne carbon tax. Poilievre says he knows the government has the information because access to information requests he filed produced a finance department memo that says there is an analysis of the potential impact of a carbon price, based on household consumption data across different income levels. However, he says the actual data from the analysis is blacked out. (HuffPost)

Shipping up – German container shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd has set a voluntary goal of a 20% reduction in its CO2 emissions by 2020 from 2016  levels. The world’s number five container company said it had already cut the CO2 emissions of its fleet by 46% between 2007 and 2016 through modernising its fleet. (Reuters)

CCS: Can create surplus – The expanded “45Q” tax credit for US carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facilities may be economical for nearly two dozen coal-fired and natural gas combined cycle power plants across the country to invest in the technology, according to new analysis. University of Texas research fellow Joshua Rhodes found that of the 27 power plants utilising coal and natural gas located within 10 miles of existing CO2 pipelines, at least 22 could see returns from deploying CCS. All nine coal plants within this category would earn profits from either directly sequestering the CO2 or selling it for enhanced oil recovery (OIR) processes, while natural gas combined cycle plants could generate revenue from the tax credit. (Axios)

New fund – IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, the EU, and Germany signed agreements on Saturday to support the Ukrainian government’s work in reducing energy waste and GHG emissions in the residential sector. They will set up a new multi-donor fund to help boost energy efficiency in Ukraine. Under the agreement, IFC will initially manage up to €53 million of funding from the EU (€43 mln) and Germany (€10 mln). Resources from the fund will co-finance programs of the Ukrainian Energy Efficiency Fund (EEF), a new initiative developed by the Ukrainian government, with combined support from the EU and Germany to provide grants to homeowners’ associations for energy-efficiency renovations in multi-family buildings. Ukraine has one of the largest housing stocks in Europe, but many homes are old and inefficient, with poorly insulated buildings that lose as much as 50 percent of their heat. Furthermore, energy is highly subsidised in Ukraine.

Mike’s pockets – Former New York mayor and media billionaire Michael Bloomberg said he will write a $4.5 million cheque to cover this year’s US financial commitment to the UN climate talks. His foundation Bloomberg Philanthropies said it will continue to provide money for the pact if the US does not rejoin the agreement. (Reuters)

And finally… Will make for good viewing – US EPA boss Scott Pruitt is scheduled to face questions from two House committees on Thursday for the first time since his swirling scandals emerged in March. He’ll appear before both the House Appropriations Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee to discuss his agency’s budget request for fiscal 2019, but of course lawmakers are planning to take Pruitt to task over his recent ethics and spending issues. Over the weekend, it was revealed that lobbyist J. Steven Hart, whose wife rented a $50-per-night condo to Pruitt, also lobbied the EPA while Pruitt was leading it, according to a Friday filing by his firm. The news came despite the denials from both Hart and Pruitt that the lobbyist did not have any business before the agency. Hart announced his resignation from his lobbying firm Williams & Jensen hours before the disclosure was published. Separately, as Oklahoma’s attorney general Pruitt ordered investigations agents from his office to work as his driver and bodyguard. And another report from The New York Times probed how Pruitt bought a historic house in Oklahoma from a top lobbyist with the help of a shell company. (Politico)

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