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TOP STORY
Canadian carbon tax of C$102/tonne by 2030 would help hit Paris target -report
Canada can meet its Paris Agreement goal by roughly doubling the price of its rising ‘backstop’ carbon tax to C$102/tonne ($77) and expanding the policy’s geographical and sectoral coverage, all at a relatively small economic cost, according to a government report released Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
China issues tender to build national carbon trading platform
The Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange has issued a tender seeking bids to build the trading platform for China’s national carbon market, one of the last pieces of the puzzle before the world’s biggest cap-and-trade programme can commence.
Queensland gives final go-ahead for Adani’s massive Carmichael coal mine
Queensland on Thursday approved Adani’s groundwater plan for its Carmichael mine, the final approval required to begin construction at what will become one of Australia’s biggest coal mines.
NZ Market: NZUs crash through NZ$23 as bearish sentiment takes hold
NZUs shed another 3.4% on Thursday, dropping below NZ$23 as demand remained minimal following the government’s lack of clarity over the market’s de-facto price cap.
EMEA
Poland to auction a further 50 mln unallocated EUAs in 2020
Poland intends to auction next year a further 50 million EUAs from its unallocated reserve of free ETS allowances that are earmarked for the country’s power sector, the European Commission announced late Wednesday.
EU airlines face CORSIA uncertainty as states order MRV rule re-write
EU airlines are being advised to continue monitoring their 2019 international flight emissions despite a lack of rules to govern the process due to bureaucratic delays.
UK’s Fiddler’s Ferry coal plant to close next year amid “challenging economics”
UK-based coal-fired power station Fiddler’s Ferry will close its remaining operational units by next year, owner SSE announced on Thursday amid toughening economic conditions for the plant.
EU Market: EUAs lift back to €25, remain stuck in Brexit-bound range
EUAs lifted back towards €25 on Thursday, with carbon barely responding to a jump in oil prices as the ongoing Brexit debacle helped to cap gains.
AMERICAS
Canadian federal govt won’t impose ‘backstop’ CO2 tax on Alberta until 2020
Ottawa will not impose its federal carbon tax on Alberta until Jan. 1, 2020 after the province’s new conservative government eliminated its C$30/tonne levy last month, allowing the country’s largest-emitting jurisdiction to avoid paying for some fossil fuel-related emissions over at least the next seven months.
California’s ARB defends forestry protocol, stops short of agreeing to technical review
California regulator ARB cited numerous errors in a recent policy brief criticising the state’s cap-and-trade forestry protocol, while refusing an independent technical review of the methodology requested by state legislators, according to a letter seen by Carbon Pulse.
NA Markets: California allowances continue retracement, RGGI dips despite increased buying
California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices plummeted by double-digits over the week, a move traders attributed to options positions and post-auction regrouping, while RGGI allowances (RGAs) also dropped despite a surge of activity on the secondary market.
New Brunswick offers weaker standards for output-based pricing system
The New Brunswick government proposed its own output-based pricing system (OBPS) for large emitters on Thursday, but the market’s less stringent facility-based industrial benchmarks and electricity standards could run afoul of the Canadian federal government’s ‘backstop’ mandate.
Ecosystem Marketplace loses long-time program manager to The Nature Conservancy
US-based environmental analytics firm Ecosystem Marketplace has lost its program manager to embattled green group The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Carbon Pulse has learned.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
CORSIA call – UN aviation body ICAO on Thursday announced a call for emissions unit programmes to apply for assessment against the CORSIA offset programme criteria by the scheme’s TAB expert panel. Through this assessment, the TAB will deliver recommendations on the list of eligible offsets for use under the international aviation carbon market, which will be considered by the ICAO Council. Application forms and more details can be found here, and are due by July 12. (See Carbon Pulse’s article this week on the scheduled timeline for the TAB to make recommendations on CORSIA programmes).
Making it permanent – Indonesia has decided to make permanent a moratorium on new forest clearing for palm plantations or logging operations, Reuters reports. The restriction, which covers an area of over 60 million hectares, has been renewed every two years for the past decade, but will now remain in place indefinitely.
Carbon charade – Ireland has spent €86.8 mln to buy carbon units to help it meet its 2020 EU emissions reduction targets, RTE reports. The details were contained in a June 10 letter from Mark Griffin, the Secretary General of Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, to the government’s Public Accounts Committee. Few details were given, including what types of carbon credits were purchased, when, and from whom, though the agency estimated that Ireland may need to spend a further €6-13 mln to fully meet its obligations to cut non-ETS GHGs by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. The PAC chair Sean Fleming called the news “horrific”, “a charade”, and “gross hypocrisy”. RTE added that the country may also need to pay €60 mln to meet its EU 2020 renewable energy target, which calls for sourcing of 16% by 2020. Ireland is understood to be on track to reach 13% by 2020.
Musical chairs – As the Western Australia government is putting their heads together with the local petroleum industry to figure out how to stop the EPA from introducing guidelines that would seek to restrict the skyrocketing GHG emissions from the LNG industry, green groups are wondering how this will impact the rest of the economy. Any special treatment of LNG industry carbon emissions by the state government could shift the burden to other sectors of the WA economy less able to bear the cost, warns the Conservation Council of WA. (The West Australian)
Shipping savings – Food commodities trader Cargill reduced emissions from its chartered shipping fleet by 350,000 tonnes last year as part of efforts to scale back its carbon footprint at sea. Cargill said it had cut CO2 output per cargo-tonne-mile by 12.1% in 2018 compared with its 2016 baseline, putting it on course to achieve goal of 15% reductions in 2020. It said its annual output fell to 7.382 Mt of CO2 in 2018 from 7.732 Mt in 2017.
What Brown can do for you – Former California Governor Jerry Brown (D) will head up a climate change think-tank at the University of California-Berkeley, according to the Sacramento Bee. Brown, who served as governor from 1975-1983 and again from 2011-2019, will launch the California-China Climate Policy Institute in July and also serve as visiting professor at the university. He will also act as visiting director at UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources and Berkeley Law School, as well as serving as California director of the institute. (The Hill)
And finally… Sun-to-Fun! – A project funded by the EU and Switzerland claims to have made a breakthrough in producing renewable jet kerosene from sunlight, water, and CO2, GreenAir Online reports. The SUN-to-LIQUID project follows on from an earlier project, SOLAR-JET, that developed the technology to achieve the first-ever production of solar jet fuel in a laboratory environment. Researchers have scaled up the technology for testing in the field and a unique solar concentrating plant in Spain, resulting in the first synthesis of solar kerosene. The partners claim a 90% reduction in net CO2 emissions compared to conventional fossil-derived jet fuel, and given the abundant feedstock that does not compete with food production, they say it can meet future fuel demand at a global scale.
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