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CARBON FORWARD 2019
UK will update Paris NDC early next year, wants EU to follow -minister
The UK will update its Paris Agreement pledge early next year and is seeking the EU to follow in step or slightly later in encouraging other nations to act, UK climate minister Ian Duncan said Friday.
EU carbon prices set to droop after peaking early next decade -analysts
Analysts expect EU carbon prices to climb sharply over the next few years but to then fall back as demand from industrial emitters eases as factories invest in cleaner production methods, a conference heard on Thursday.
Veteran options trader sees binary Dec. expiry for benchmark EUA futures
Front-year EU carbon futures are likely to expire near €25 or €30 in mid-December, based on signals from the EUA options market, according to a veteran trader.
EMEA
EU Market: EUAs recede to notch 6% weekly rise, as British MPs set to vote on Brexit deal
European carbon prices fell back on Friday on a weak auction result and amid pessimism that the Brexit deal agreed this week between Britain and the EU would pass UK parliament, with bearish implications for EUAs in most outcomes, traders said.
CORRECTION: Russia scraps carbon tax plans after industry pushback
*A previous version of this article erroneously said that the original economy ministry plan had wanted to introduce an emissions trading scheme in 2025.*
Russia has dropped plans to introduce a carbon tax for major emitters, local media reported Thursday, electing instead to merely measure their carbon output.
ASIA PACIFIC
Regulator data shows Australian near-term offset supply sufficient, but question marks ahead
With more than 5 million carbon credits sitting in the national offset registry, Australian developers are likely able to meet demand for the 2019-20 financial year, but the market could tighten considerably as issuance volume might shrink next year while government demand has yet to peak, Clean Energy Regulator data showed Friday.
CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Oct. 18, 2019
Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China’s regional pilot carbon markets this week.
AMERICAS
PG&E bondholders, wildfire victims submit $29 bln alternative bankruptcy proposal
Competitors’ bankruptcy proposal for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) would funnel nearly $29 billion through two stock offerings to help cover the embattled California utility’s wildfire liabilities, according to a filing by bondholders and fire victims on Thursday.
UPDATED DOSSIER: Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial carbon pricing initiatives
With Canada’s national election occurring on Oct. 21, Carbon Pulse’s newly updated Canadian CO2 pricing dossier provides an overview of the current state of the country’s carbon taxes and emissions trading systems at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels.
ICYM
FEATURE: Canadian carbon markets, climate policy hinging on next week’s election
An erosion of Canadian voter support for the incumbent Liberals and poll-leading opposition Conservatives may open a range of minority government possibilities ahead of the national election on Monday, the outcome of which will have a significant impact on the country’s federal and provincial climate policies and environmental markets.
ECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE
Will small forest owners finally be able to tap carbon markets?
The Wong family of Peru amassed a fortune building up a chain of supermarkets, but much of their wealth today is in real estate – including the 220,000-hectare (543,400-acre) Madeacre forestry concession that family’s late patriarch, Erasmo Wong, cobbled together in the province of Tahuamanu.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Miami vice – Climate change will not be on the agenda at next June’s G7 meeting hosted by the US, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters Thursday. That marks a sharp break with G7 meetings dating back a decade, according to veterans of climate diplomacy. The meeting will also be held at President Trump’s Miami Doral golf resort, located in the state of Florida, which is experiencing sea-level rise and increasingly stronger Atlantic hurricanes fuelled by global warming. (Axios)
Creme Brouillette – President Trump announced via Twitter on Friday that he will nominate US Energy Department Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette to head the agency. It comes after current agency chief Rick Perry told Trump on Thursday that he will resign from his post before the end of the year, following months of speculation and media reports. Before joining the Trump administration, Brouillette was the senior vice president and head of public policy for the United Services Automobile Association, and a vice president at Ford Motor Company. He also is a former state energy regulator and worked as chief of staff to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (CBS News)
Power fail – California utility PG&E may need 10 years to install mechanisms that would minimise its need to shut off power during high wind events to reduce the chances of devastating wildfires in the state, President and CEO Bill Johnson told the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday. Johnson said his company is working to improve customer communication and beef up its systems to eliminate the need for Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) in the future. The utility, which filed for bankruptcy in January, turned off power to an estimated 800,000 customers earlier this month as a result of high winds, causing widespread criticism from stakeholders. Johnson said he believes that decision prevented a catastrophic wildfire from occurring, and that the company has learned from its recent missteps. Some California carbon market participants have questioned whether that power shutoff event could reduce the utility’s demand for CO2 units.
Dominion deal – Dominion Energy will supply the Virginia government with the state’s largest renewable energy procurement to date, the two parties announced Friday. Under the agreement, Dominion will supply the Commonwealth with 420 MW of renewable energy, including 75 MW from wind projects and four proposed solar projects totalling 345 MW scheduled to come online in stages over the next three years. The announcement follows a recent executive order from Governor Ralph Northam (D) that sought to power 30% of state agencies and institutions with renewables by 2022. (WTOP)
TCI talk – Several New York state agencies will hold four public meetings throughout the Empire State from Oct. 23-Nov. 7 to seek public input regarding New York’s participation in the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) cap-and-invest programme under development, according to a Department of Environmental Conservation email sent Friday. Although New York is part of the TCI collaborative, it has not formally signed on to participate in the regional scheme for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic transportation sector, with an initial spring 2020 cut-off date for states to signal that they will enter into the potential ETS.
And finally… Can’t see the forest for the… – Science Magazine on Friday published a series of critical responses to a July study that found planting 1.2 trillion tree saplings over a 50-100 year period could remove 200 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. One study posted Friday called the 200 bln claim “incorrect”, while another said that the original paper’s estimates of climate change mitigation are “inconsistent with the dynamics of the global carbon cycle and its response to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions”. A third critical response said the original sequestration figure was five times too large, and a fourth claimed the study neglected “considerable research into forest-based climate change mitigation during the 1980s and 1990s”. The original authors also posted a detailed “response to comments”, arguing that they did not suggest tree planting was “the unique solution to the climate crisis”. (Carbon Brief)
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