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TOP STORIES
Oregon governor may explore executive action for future carbon market
Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D) will look into executive and regulatory action to implement a WCI-modelled cap-and-trade scheme in her state if future legislative efforts fail, she said Monday.
Oregon Senate sends ETS bill back to committee, killing 2019 passage hopes
The Oregon Senate voted Saturday morning to send the state’s WCI-modelled cap-and-trade bill back to committee, ending any hope that the proposal would pass during the current legislative session.
EXCLUSIVE: Oregon ETS bill would have created inequalities, says swing Democrat Senator
An Oregon Democratic senator and key swing vote opposed the state’s failed cap-and-trade bill because it would have treated businesses in her district unfairly and provided no benefit to low-income communities, the legislator told Carbon Pulse.
INTERNATIONAL
G19 holds together on climate despite US efforts
The Group of 20 major economies once again failed to agree a united line on tackling climate change on Saturday, but 19 of them held together despite US efforts to encourage others to join it in exiting the Paris Agreement.
EMEA
EU Market: EUAs rebound to re-test €27 as bountiful auction week begins
European carbon prices rebounded on Monday, re-testing the €27 level to kick off what might be the most plentiful auction week of the year.
Romania poised to shift from free EUA allocations towards Modernisation Fund use post-2020
Romania appears set to join a growing number of Eastern European in planning to shift away from offering utilities free carbon allowances next decade.
ASIA PACIFIC
Australia’s ERF cancels carbon credit contracts from coal mine waste
Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has cancelled contracts for nearly 900,000 carbon credits meant to be delivered to the government’s Emissions Reduction Fund from projects capturing methane from a NSW coal mine.
AMERICAS
Nearly two dozen new California CITSS accounts opened during Q2 for WCI programme
Twenty-two entities opened Compliance Instrument Tracking System Service (CITSS) accounts in the California carbon market during the second quarter as another two closed theirs, data from state regulator ARB showed on Friday.
ICYM
Canada releases federal offset paper as it finalises OBPS, delays CFS regulations
The Canadian environment ministry published a discussion paper on Friday for developing a federal offset programme for use under its ‘backstop’ output-based pricing system (OBPS), while it also finalised those regulations for the large emitter trading system and delayed draft regulations for the Clean Fuel Standard (CFS).
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Job listings this week
- Executive Director, Ecology Action Centre – Halifax
- Carbon Market Analyst, Nova Scotia Environment – Halifax
- Manager/Senior Manager, Climate Change Policy, Development Alternatives Group – New Delhi
- Manager, Climate Finance, Climate Policy Initiative – London or San Francisco
- Carbon Offsets Analyst, Yale University – New Haven, Connecticut
- Fuels Associate/Researcher, International Council on Clean Transportation – Flexible Location
Or click here to see all our job adverts
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Chubb choice – Chubb will become the first US insurer to phase out its coal investments and insurance policies, saying on Monday it will no longer do business with companies that take more than 30% of their revenue from coal mining. The company will also stop the underwriting of new coal-fired power plants. Chubb’s move follows similar decisions by some of Europe’s biggest insurers and financial institutions – including Allianz Finance Corp, AXA, Lloyds Banking Group and Zurich Insurance Group AG – which have placed restrictions on coal underwriting as part of an effort to combat climate change. (Reuters)
Let’s talk – German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze will be holding talks with counterparts in the four states that refused to back an EU-wide net zero 2050 emission goal last month – Poland, Hungary, Czechia, and Estonia. The European Council is expected to stick to its end-of-year deadline for the new target, with reports suggesting that Poland will ultimately get on board. (EurActiv)
Measure up – Brussels has for the first-time published information on the CO2 emitted by ships over 5,000 GT operating in European Economic Area waters. Around 10,800 ships of various types reported emissions of more than 150 million tonnes of CO2 in 2018. The information is intended as a first step to regulating the sector’s GHG output and the European Commission is due to publish a report towards the end of the year on the emission levels and related energy efficiency. (Bunkerspot)
Debate decision – The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is set to vote in August on whether or not to hold a US presidential debate centred on climate change after young protesters have spent months campaigning for one. At its Aug. 22-24 meeting, the DNC will vote on two proposals – one to have an official debate and one to a more informal forum on the topic. At least 15 Democratic presidential candidates have said they would take place in a climate debate, and last week’s inaugural debates saw climate change discussed for roughly 15 minutes over the course of four hours. (ThinkProgress)
Territory twins – The Canadian territories of Yukon and Nunavut became subject to the federal ‘backstop’ carbon levy on fossil fuels and output-based pricing system (OBPS) on Monday. In order to blunt the impact of the C$20/tonne carbon tax on the remote, northern jurisdictions, Ottawa has provided them with targeted relief from the fee on aviation fuels, diesel for electricity generation, and partial relief for greenhouse operators. The July 1 date was originally chosen to align with the Northwest Territories’ own carbon pricing plan, though that start date was pushed back to Sep. 1 due to a legislative backlog. (The Canadian Press)
Perdues and Per-don’ts – A dozen Republican senators are insisting that US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue stop intervening in government decisions over granting oil refineries exemptions from biofuel-blending quotas under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), warning the White House that his involvement is potentially illegal. The Republicans issued their demand in a letter to President Donald Trump following reports the Agriculture Department chief pushed regulators to pare the small refinery exemptions (SREs) and redistribute the waived quotas to other refineries, although they say federal law gives Perdue no role in the issue. The letter, led by Wyoming Senator John Barrasso (R), comes after biofuel credit (RINs) prices have risen in recent weeks on the rumours that the Trump administration will curtail the use of the SREs. (Bloomberg)
And finally… Polar plunge – The vast expanse of sea ice around Antarctica has suffered a “precipitous” fall since 2014, satellite data shows, and fell at a faster rate than seen in the Arctic. The plunge in the average annual extent means Antarctica lost as much sea ice in four years as the Arctic lost in 34 years, although the cause of the sharp drop is still unknown. However, researchers said the findings showed ice could disappear much more rapidly than previously thought, and that losing the bright white ice means the sun’s heat is instead absorbed by dark ocean waters, leading to a vicious cycle of heating. (The Guardian)
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