Carbon Pulse

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits continued to fade this week to levels not seen since last spring, while market participants noted several reasons for a lack of trades further out on the curve in recent months.

The EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund could be spent better as many national plans have “missed opportunities” for low-carbon investments, a Brussels-based green group said on Tuesday.

South Africa's government has proposed to tighten its 2030 emissions target by almost a third as part of a revised Paris Agreement pledge that sets out intentions for the export of correspondingly-adjusted carbon credits.

More than 2,200 power companies covered by China’s national emissions trading scheme will have to surrender allowances for their 2019 and 2020 CO2 emissions by Dec. 31, the government said Tuesday.

China’s Ministry of Ecology and the Environment (MEE) on Tuesday released draft legislation that aims to write the national ETS into law, a move that would bolster the scheme’s authority and enable the government to hand out stricter penalties for non-compliance.

Indonesia has launched a trial emissions trading scheme covering 80 coal-fired power plants that initially will run until August, according to the energy and mineral resources ministry.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

The Canadian environment ministry announced on Monday it will stand down the federal ‘backstop’ output-based pricing system (OBPS) in Ontario in favour of a provincially-run scheme from next year, leaving industrial emitters in the country’s most populous jurisdiction to face their third CO2 pricing system in six years.

Morgan Stanley has raised its near-term outlook for EU carbon prices to above €50 on “positive” political signals and continued inflow of new investor capital into the market.

Rising US vehicle miles travelled (VMT) this summer and build-out of renewable diesel (RD) capacity in the coming years could alleviate pressure on RIN prices under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), analysts with a major US investment bank said Monday.

RGGI member states anticipate stakeholders will push for revisions to the Northeast US carbon market’s interim compliance requirement during the upcoming programme review, potentially increasing liquidity on the secondary market.

Voluntary emission reduction (VER) prices dipped this week as market participants reported less activity in exchange-traded contracts, though restrictions on the eligibility of large-scale renewables projects are helping sustain voluntary carbon market (VCM) values across the spectrum.  

EUAs lifted slightly on Monday as last week's late comeback and a stronger auction encouraged to bulls that prices could re-test the record levels seen earlier this month.

The European Commission has launched a consultation on cross-border CO2 transport networks, which could get priority access for EU funding as the bloc intends to kickstart the first large-scale CCS projects by the end of the decade, while NGOs aim to expand the current scope to other modes of transport.

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The EU must maintain current national emissions targets for non-ETS sectors to ensure a “fair burden sharing” as Brussels moves to overhaul its climate policy framework, the leaders of five Central and Eastern EU nations said in a letter seen by Carbon Pulse on Monday.

China’s environment ministry on Monday released new rules designed to prevent false reporting of emissions under its national CO2 trading scheme, targeting dozens of state-owned enterprises that have tasked their own subsidiaries with verifying their CO2 output.

CO2 Value is looking for a Brussels-based Policy and Advocacy Manager who will play a key role in developing and implementing the policy and advocacy strategy of the association.

New Zealand could face steeply rising carbon prices and an illiquid secondary market for NZUs if the government implements the recommendations from the independent Climate Change Commission as is, fuel supplier Z Energy has warned.

Developers have delivered close to 1.5 million new credits to the Emissions Reduction fund (ERF) over the past month, according to Clean Energy Regulator data, while a private equity firm has taken a majority stake in Climate Friendly.