COMMENT: High anxiety in the EU ETS
Summer seems a long time ago now. Back in August and September, EU carbon was setting almost weekly records, European gas was nicely positioned at the top of the merit order, the European Commission was talking about climate ambition, and all was right with the world. And just three weeks later, the EU ETS finds itself in a time of high volatility and of high anxiety.
Read MoreCOMMENT: “Nothing surpasses the beauty and elegance of a bad idea”
It hasn’t taken long for governments to notice the EU ETS, spitting out revenue at the rate of half a billion euros a week, and get the idea that here is a mechanism ready-made to be exploited at a time of crisis. But a new Greek proposal marks a “forehead-smacking moment” that betrays a worrying lack of understanding about the market and how it works.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Is the EU carbon price rally over?
So the latest peak in European carbon prices is over. EUAs climbed to a record of €63.35 on September 8 and have settled back at around €60 over the past week. I suppose the question is: is that it? Are we done for the year, or are prices going to stage yet another rally?
Read MoreCOMMENT: What does the current price of EUAs actually represent?
Despite all the excitement around EUA prices topping €60 for the first time and moving on to a new record above €63.19 this week, let’s remember that coal-fired power generation is actually more profitable in the near term than natural gas.
Wait, what? How did *that* happen?
Read MoreCarbon Pulse bolsters best-in-class reporting team with two more expert hires
(Free read) – Carbon Pulse has significantly strengthened its best-in-class news reporting team by bringing aboard two more expert hires – one previously the lead energy analyst with The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and the other a lead negotiator for Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Putting China’s carbon market in perspective
China’s recently launched national emissions trading system (ETS) has been both lauded and loathed by pundits. Some see it as hugely important, while others see it as little more than virtue signalling. The reality is somewhere in the middle, writes TransitionZero’s Matthew Gray.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Playing with fire – the EU carbon market for buildings
EU plans for an upstream cap on emissions from buildings and transport are both welcome and worrying, says Sanjeev Kumar of the European Geothermal Energy Council.
Read MoreCOMMENT: We need to talk about the EU’s carbon market
If Europe is serious about remaining a frontrunner in meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement, then it urgently needs an ambitious EU ETS reform to clean up its historic addiction to free handouts so the practices of sustainable frontrunners become the market norm, argues Leon de Graaf of #SustainablePublicAffairs.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Climate impact claims to crowd in private sector finance
There is growing interest in uses of the carbon market that do not rely on unique claims, and expanding the use of the voluntary carbon market to accommodate new claims can crowd in even more investment without being limited to a narrowing pool of options available for offsetting, writes Sarah Leugers of Gold Standard.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Voluntary carbon markets – broken more than breakthrough
The voluntary carbon market is supposed to be saving the world. Instead many carbon credit retailers are lining their pockets, warns market veteran and Redshaw Advisors founder Louis Redshaw.
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