COMMENT: How the credibility of sustainable development impact claims can strengthen – or compromise – the voluntary carbon market
The success of sustainable development taking root in the voluntary carbon market has presented both tremendous opportunity and an important risk: SDG washing, writes Owen Hewlett of Gold Standard.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Has EU carbon rounded the corner?
We are now in the last four weeks of the Dec-20 EUAs’ reign as the front-year futures contract. There are fewer than 25 daily auctions left this year, and yesterday (Nov. 17) we were told that the European Commission won’t be starting 2021 EUA auctions until the end of January or even early February.
Read MoreMARC(U) MY WORD: The importance of the Article 6 Guidelines to the success of the Paris Agreement
The absence of the Article 6 Guidelines creates uncertainty for the accounting treatment of assets in the emerging carbon market under the Paris Agreement as well as for other related markets. The importance of the international accounting treatment cannot be overstated.
Read MoreCOMMENT: All change for the EU ETS
The worm is turning. European power economics are shifting in favour of coal, especially at the front of the curve, and this might be seen as being supportive of carbon. If coal’s more profitable than gas, then surely there should be more demand for carbon, right?
Read MoreCOMMENT: Autumn stock-take on EU carbon prices
It’s officially autumn; EU carbon allowance (EUA) compliance buyers are weighing up the choice between doing their 2020 buying now or waiting till the spring, fuel prices are on the rise as temperatures fall, and analysts have updated their price predictions for the rest of the year. Time for a stock-take.
Read MoreMARC(U) MY WORD: The vision for the EU ETS in the 2030 Framework – will it be up to the challenge?
With so many issues being brought to the table and put on the menu for possible EU ETS reforms and to embody the European Green Deal, there is a real risk of not being able to see the forest for the trees, argues Andrei Marcu. Any revision of the EU ETS needs to be put in the context of the role of the market in the 2030 timeframe and beyond, and the objectives of the review. If not, we may get wrong not only the review of the EU ETS but also, due to a lack of debate, its role going forward.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Bridging the gap in EU carbon prices?
EUAs hit a 14-year high in July before immediately nosediving as the market suffered altitude sickness. Now we’re back in the €25-26s, roughly where we were before the Great Covid Sell-Off, and it feels like prices aren’t sure where to go next. According to Alessandro Vitelli, August looks pretty finely balanced in terms of price outlook: a supply cut may mitigate some potential weakness, but there are darker clouds on the horizon.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Why BNEF thinks the EU ETS does not need a price ceiling
The price of EUAs topped €30 on July 13, the highest since 2006. At that point, EUAs had risen by over 60% since May 12, and had almost doubled compared to their March lows. The rally has prompted the discussion around additional stability mechanisms. Analysts at BloombergNEF discussed the concept of a carbon price floor after EUAs declined almost 40% in March. This time, the price spike has raised the question of the need for a carbon price ceiling.
Read MoreMARC(U) MY WORD: Carbon leakage and competitiveness – different objectives, different tools
The EU needs to broaden its debate beyond a proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism in order to deal with carbon leakage and competitiveness issues thrown up by its climate ambition running ahead of that pursued by its main trade partners, argue Andrei Marcu, Michael Mehling, Aaron Cosbey of think-tank ERCST.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Why low oil prices are good news for the environment, but not for the reasons you may think
Low oil and gas prices are no boon for the climate in the short term, but they give us a window into a future of ever-decreasing fossil fuel demand that may deter expansion an opportunity to put in place policies that get us paying to decarbonise the fossil fuels we dig up, argues Eli Mitchell-Larson of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute.
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