COMMENT: “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
The EU carbon market’s compliance season is almost over. A large proportion of industrials have by now completed their 2020 purchases, and the market seems to be on the verge of crossing €45/t at the same time. So we turn to the question of “what next?” Here are some of the factors that carbon reporter Alessandro Vitelli thinks are at play.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Climate action claims are the new frontier for robust carbon accounting
Instruments to reduce emissions need to be clearly ranked for their environmental integrity and associated with robust claims that provide an accurate representation of the impacts achieved, argues Marion Verles of SustainCERT, adding that having civil society formulate a consensus on what can and can’t be done with offsets would go a long way in reassuring corporates and citizens that the market is trustworthy.
Read MoreECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE – Shades of REDD+: The Risk of Diverting Carbon Finance from Nature to Technological Carbon Removals
Increasingly, engineered carbon removal technologies are pitched against nature-based solutions to tackle the climate crisis – particularly in the voluntary carbon markets. Will forests be passed over to benefit from carbon finance – again?
Read MoreCOMMENT: The mystery of the 2006 EUA price crash
The story goes that in 2006, the first set of verified EU ETS emissions data leaked out about a week before the due date, during the annual Carbon Expo event in Cologne. The data showed that the market was massively oversupplied in Phase 1 and the market crashed on this information. But with prices crashing well before Expo, what really happened?
Read MoreImpact investor Capricorn gives backing to venture building nature offsets portfolio
Impact investor Capricorn has taken a stake in a UK-based financier helping the venture to build a pool of nature-based offsets intended to be sold to buyers under long-term contracts.
Read MoreCOMMENT: New claims for a new era of private sector carbon finance
The voluntary carbon market can build a common understanding for a new financing claim beyond offsetting that represents the same commitment of taking responsibility for unabated emissions by mitigating carbon beyond boundaries, writes Sarah Leugers of Gold Standard.
Read MoreCOMMENT: We’re still in – let’s align the voluntary carbon market with Paris rather than play by our own rules
Corresponding adjustments will be needed in the future whenever a carbon credit is used to offset emissions, to help ensure the promise is kept that the atmosphere is no worse off, argues Hugh Salway of voluntary carbon market certifier Gold Standard,
Read MoreCOMMENT: Brussels gets twitchy about EU ETS speculation
EUAs endured a boisterous day on Thursday, first reaching a new record of €40.12 and then plunging more than 3% in the last 20 minutes on news the European Commission was considering limiting speculative positions. It’s not the first time the Commission or member states have reacted to price volatility in the market, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. But something doesn’t quite add up here.
Read MoreCOMMENT: May you live in interesting times
Well, this has been an interesting week. In the space of 72 hours carbon has risen 14%, reached a new all-time record and if things keep going like they have been, it’s just a matter of time before the EU ETS starts becoming the subject of $GME-type memes. There have been a number of explanations for the nearly €5 spike in EUA prices; I’ll list them and if I missed any, please shout.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Quality counts – scaling voluntary offsetting the right way
Owen Hewlett of Gold Standard welcomes the Taskforce to Scale the Voluntary Carbon Market’s intention to make sure companies can take responsibility for their emissions, but argues that scale alone should not be the marker of success.
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