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Global compliance-based carbon markets increased in value by nearly a fifth in 2020 to €229 billion ($279 bln), according to analysts at Refinitiv, flagging a fourth consecutive annual rise and a fivefold jump within three years as the programmes shrugged off the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A court rejected the Virginia Attorney General's motion to dismiss an industry lawsuit challenging the state’s RGGI-linked cap-and-trade programme, an government spokesperson confirmed to Carbon Pulse on Tuesday.

Alberta compliance offset values are climbing for future deliveries as market participants seek narrow discounts to the rising CO2 price under the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) regime, but some market participants fear the province’s shifting electricity profile could lessen demand in the coming years.

A new initiative from the world's energy agency promises to enhance action on just transitions and community energy.

The post Why consumers and communities should be at heart of clean energy transition appeared first on RenewEconomy.

How does Australia fare in the European renewable energy stakes? 2020 was a great year for renewables, so competition is tough.

The post Chart of the day: European wind and solar share vs Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

EU carbon prices may have already peaked for the quarter, analysts said, with January marking one of the months of 2021 with the largest year-on-year drop in new supply.

EUAs held above €33 on Tuesday in a choppy session that saw carbon weighed down by weaker gas before mounting a recovery on technical signals.

Chief executive Noel Quinn opines unconvincingly about staying out of politics, but it’s not that simple

• HSBC denies taking political stance in Hong Kong
  

Noel Quinn, chief executive of HSBC, had his line and he stuck to it. He was just a humble banker, obeying the rules in Hong Kong, even the draconian ones imposed by Beijing that stamp out the last knockings of democracy. “It’s not my position to make moral or political judgments on these matters,” he told the foreign affairs select committee. “I have to comply with law.”

One matter in question was HSBC’s freezing of the bank account of pro-democracy activist Ted Hui. It was the Hong Kong police that told HSBC to act, said Quinn, and any bank would have to do the same. Not complying, he argued repeatedly, could ultimately mean losing the licence to operate.

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Russia has approved a pilot carbon trading scheme for its gas-rich Sakhalin island, a rare sign of climate action for the world's fourth biggest emitter amid looming pressure from proposed EU border measures.

You might be surprised to find yourself in the company of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the world's richest 1%. This has big implications for planetary survival. Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

IETA is looking for a Policy Associate/Analyst to join its Toronto-based team, a critical policy role within IETA that could span across regional and global thematic Working Group activities.

The government gives its support to a project to use oral contraceptives to control grey squirrels.

US-based exchange operator CME Group has partnered with commodities trading and data firm Xpansiv and will launch a futures contract for offsets eligible under the CORSIA international aviation carbon credit programme, the companies announced Tuesday.

A law firm is working with the Utah state legislature on whether to allocate nearly $1.7 million for a legal challenge this year against California’s cap-and-trade programme and emissions performance standard (EPS), a partner at the company told Carbon Pulse.

Farmers protesting against new agriculture laws in India have broken through police barricades around Delhi and entered the grounds of the city’s historic Red Fort, in violent scenes that overshadowed Republic Day celebrations.

Police hit protesters with batons and fired teargas to disperse the crowds after hundreds of thousands of farmers, many on tractors and horses, marched on the capital.  One protester died in the clashes and dozens were injured

• Violent clashes as Indian farmers storm Delhi's Red Fort

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Japan’s cabinet on Tuesday cleared the way for a working group to set out a carbon pricing path for the country, but put the business-friendly Ministry of Energy, Trade, and Industry (METI) in charge of the process, relegating the environment ministry to observer status.

Elephant tusks and rhino horns "hidden inside African masks" were exported, US prosecutors say.

Virginia-based ICF has been awarded more than 80 government contracts in the last five years

• Debt and job losses as England’s green homes grant scheme ‘in chaos’

The American corporation running the UK green homes grant has been awarded multiple government contracts in the last five years.

ICF, based in Fairfax, Virginia, is a global consulting business, which promotes itself as “not your typical consultants”.

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Exclusive: firms out of pocket and losing faith in scheme administered by US-based corporation

• US firm running eco grants scheme has won multiple UK government contracts

England’s much-hyped £2bn green homes grant is in chaos, renewable energy installers say, with some owed tens of thousands of pounds and struggling to stay in business.

Members of the public have been left waiting nearly four months, in some cases, to take advantage of the scheme to fit low carbon heating systems. Some installers say customers are pulling out after losing faith in the green grants.

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Green campaigners attack further delay ‘to most important piece of legislation for decades’

The government has delayed the long-awaited environment bill, which redraws rules after the UK’s departure from the EU, provoking fury from campaigners who said it would harm action on air pollution and water quality, as well as other key issues. The proposed legislation would be the biggest shake-up of green regulation in decades.

Ministers said the delay, which means the flagship bill is unlikely to pass before the autumn, was necessary because dealing with the Covid-19 crisis left too little parliamentary time for debate. Trying to continue with the original timetable would have risked the bill falling and having to return to square one of the parliamentary process.

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