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EUAs climbed another 3% on Thursday morning to top €47 for the first time ever, as speculators and last-minute compliance buyers continued to chase prices into new territory and observers saw room for further upside.

An environmental products trader is leaving oil major Shell to join commodities trading house Mercuria and its reopened London carbon desk, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Joe Biden’s target is strongest contribution yet towards meeting 2015 Paris climate agreement, say scientists

The US goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, will take the world closer to the reductions scientists say are necessary to hold global heating within scientifically advised limits, analysis has shown.

The target, announced on Thursday before a virtual summit of more than 40 world leaders hosted by the US president, Joe Biden, would result in emissions reductions of between 1.5 and 2.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, compared with the US’s current expected emissions, according to Climate Action Tracker.

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A federal court dismissed a US Department of Justice (DOJ) appeal on Wednesday that challenged the constitutionality of the California-Quebec WCI cap-and-trade programme linkage, according to court documents.

After rejoining the agreement, the US wants to show it is serious about climate change.

Joe Biden has confirmed the new climate target for the United States will be to slash emissions by at least half by 2030. Australia refuses to budge.

The post Biden pledges to slash emissions by at least half by 2030, Japan and Canada follow suit appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia's government keeps claiming that is it beating a selection of other countries on climate. We decided to check the numbers.

The post No, Australia isn’t beating other countries on climate appeared first on RenewEconomy.

US President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders to the two-day virtual Leaders Summit on Climate starting on Thursday, aiming to spur nations to ratchet up their Paris Agreement emissions pledges after bringing his country back into the 2015 UN pact upon taking office.

What could go wrong with this idea? Well, quite a lot

As we arrive at Earth Day, there is renewed hope in the battle to avert catastrophic climate change. Under newly elected president Joe Biden, the US has reasserted global leadership in this defining challenge of our time, bringing world leaders together in Washington this week to galvanize the global effort to ramp down carbon emissions in the decade ahead.

Related: 101 Nobel laureates call for global fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty

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With political pressure and these smart policy goals, a new sense of the common good could be within reach

Today is Earth Day, which should provide us with an opportunity to pause and confront the awful predicament humanity faces. We eat microplastics, breathe pollution and watch other life-forms decline to extinction. We face intersecting poverty, health, climate and biodiversity crises. Our global predicament is that consumption by the wealthy is driving us towards planetary disaster, yet billions live in poverty and need to consume more to live well. In this cycle, any version of “success” only hastens catastrophe.

Solving this conundrum requires much more than merely reducing the impact of high-consumption lifestyles. Similarly, if we focus on increasing efficiency this tends to increase resource use: make cars cheaper to run and people drive more. The core of any response that truly rises to this challenge will be interlocking policies that drive society on to an equitable and sustainable path.

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Trading firm Sumitomo Corp. and Boston-based Indigo Ag have agreed to explore a wide range of business opportunities related to generating carbon credits from agricultural technology and soil carbon projects in Japan and Asia.

Funds offered to persuade Jair Bolsonaro’s ruinous government to stop deforestation are meant well, but badly misjudged

• Marina Silva and Rubens Ricupero are former Brazilian environment ministers
  

As a candidate, Joe Biden built up the world’s hopes when he committed the US to rejoining the Paris agreement, confronting the climate denialism of his opponent and signalling that he was ready to treat the climate crisis as a strategic priority. So far, that hope has become certainty – and relief for those of us who are striving to find structural and global solutions to the crisis.

For the Brazilian government, presided over by the climate change sceptic Jair Bolsonaro, the promise to rejoin the Paris accords sounded like a threat, even more so because it was followed by a promise made during one of the debates to mobilise $20bn (£14bn) in international funds for tropical rainforests – including for Brazil – to stop the destruction of the Amazon. Bolsonaro reacted by calling the plans “coward threats”.

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Key energy market reform proposals that could recommend a scheme to subsidise coal and gas generators.

The post Taylor expected to release ESB vision for future energy market next week appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Financial services regulator issues draft guidance on the financial risks of climate change, flagging increased prospects of threats of climate litigation.

The post APRA warns banks will face lawsuits if they fail to account for climate risks appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Coles Group signs separate deals with Engie and Neoen to buy large-scale generation certificates from a range of operational wind and solar projects.

The post Coles signs two major new offtake deals with Neoen and Engie appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New rules will create a market that favours the fast response of battery storage, wind and solar plants, helping the transition away from coal and gas generators.

The post Big boost for battery storage in new rules that reward fast response on grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New initiatives mean Morrison will now go to Biden's climate summit with $1.1 billion of promised investment, but no new emissions targets.

The post Morrison’s last minute climate token: $70m a year for ‘international partnerships’ appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Toyota's go slow on the rollout of pure battery electric vehicles appears based on the assumption of a climate catastrophe.

The post The scary climate assumptions driving Toyota’s go slow on electric cars appeared first on RenewEconomy.

US president hopes prime minister Scott Morrison will commit to more climate change action echoing the global push

The Biden administration says Australia needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than planned and the US president hopes Scott Morrison will commit to doing more at a virtual summit on the climate crisis on Thursday night.

Although the Morrison government has promoted a “technology not taxes” approach to emissions reduction to convince allies that Australia is serious about making the transition, a senior Biden administration official told reporters Australia could not rely on technology alone to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

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The recent trend has been to relax guidelines on the safeguard mechanism, but that may soon change with a net zero emissions target.

The post Waking the sleeping dragon – why Safeguard Mechanism may soon be tightened appeared first on RenewEconomy.