OUR TOP NEWS:

EUAs rise above €8.40 to new 33-mth peak

EU carbon prices rose on Thursday to match then later extend the previous session’s 33-month high of €8.38 as speculators bet on further gains while auction supply is curtailed.

Hubei reports 100% compliance year in carbon market’s first year

All 138 companies covered by Hubei emissions trading scheme have now handed over CO2 allowances to cover their 2014 emissions, the provincial government announced Thursday, although one in five missed the deadline.

CO2 permit surplus softens downturn blow for Beijing steelmaker

Shougang, one of China’s biggest steel makers, made a 19.5 million yuan ($3 mln) profit from offloading surplus CO2 allowances in the first two years of the Beijing emissions trading scheme, it said Thursday, plugging some of its shrinking profits in troubled times for China’s manufacturers.

Carbon unit surrender in NZ ETS plunges 36% as forestry loophole closes

Participants in New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme surrendered 36% fewer units for 2014 compared to the previous year, as fewer forest-owners reported emissions, government data showed Thursday.

Environmental group seeks to rescue US coal assets in carbon credit-linked deal

A US conservation group has reached a deal with bankrupt Patriot Coal to acquire some of its assets in a landmark move that involves restarting coal mining and earning carbon credits from planting trees.

UPDATE: EU utilities report hedging advances in H1, analysts spot a slowdown

Rises in power hedging rates from RWE and E.ON appear to outweigh drops among other major utilities over H1 compared to the first half of 2014, according to company financial updates, though in an update to our article first published on Wednesday, ICIS analysts said other data suggested the contrary.

Bite-sized updates from around the world:

German energy-intensive industries have been largely exempt from paying green energy surcharges, and they look set to be given a break by their government. A draft law seen by Reuters shows those using over 1GW/yr will have to pay a surcharge almost 20% lower than first envisaged to help fund efficient heat and co-generation plants. (Reuters)

Europe’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told journalists in Brussels that the EU could only back a strong UN climate deal in Paris, re-iterating the EU’s key demand (Reuters). He sets off on a tour of Latin America and the Pacific shortly, which he said will include “some elements to clarify” on Australia’s INDC with environment minister on Sep 2. He’ll be back in good time for a summit in Rabat, Morocco, on Oct. 12, 13 to exchange views with other nations and analysts on the collective adequacy of all INDCs. The meeting is held outside the UNFCCC process, after the EU last year failed to get one of its key demands for a formal upfront review of pledges.

Why we still need UN climate negotiations – You need to be either incredibly optimistic or just not paying attention to think that, after years of political impasse, the UN’s COP21 meeting in Paris in November can produce a binding global agreement to limit global warming to 2C, but the outcome from Paris really does matter, writes Seb Henbest of Bloomberg NEF. (The Interpreter)

A NAMA in Cambodia which will increase energy efficiency in the garment industry (a fifth of the country’s GDP), as well as reap additional co-benefits, is now seeking support. (NAMA News)

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