Carbon Pulse

A California Senate committee will hold a cap-and-trade oversight hearing next week to examine ways to improve the WCI-linked programme and its role in achieving the state’s long-term climate plan, a legislative source told Carbon Pulse.

Australian exporters risk huge additional costs and shrinking markets as the country’s main trading partners bring climate policy into trade negotiations, but it would be relatively pain free for the government to steer clear of such sanctions, according to two reports out this week.

China’s National Energy Administration has proposed to increase the share of renewables in the nation’s power consumption to 40% by 2030 in a move designed to ensure the world’s biggest-emitting nation meets its Paris Agreement obligations.

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

Madagascar signed an agreement last week with the World Bank-led Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, becoming the eleventh country to ink a REDD deal with the fund.

Romania’s second-largest utility CE Oltenia will begin to buy Phase 3 EUAs for 2020 compliance in spot tenders starting on Wednesday, despite a probe into the company’s restructuring plans launched by the European Commission last week.

Two members of California’s Compliance Offset Protocol Task Force (OPTF) stepped down on Monday, arguing that the majority of the group stands to financially benefit from expanding and deregulating the state’s carbon credit programme, contradicting the wishes of environmental groups and the environmental justice (EJ) community.

The European Commission must ensure the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will not “unduly” affect free EUA allocation through 2030, according to heavy industry representatives.

RGGI’s impending Emissions Containment Reserve (ECR) trigger price spurred a rise in allowance prices throughout Q4 2020, as the volume of units transferred between unaffiliated parties surged over the final months of the compliance period, according to a report released Tuesday.

EUAs slipped back below €38 on Tuesday as energy prices gave back some of the previous session’s gains, even as freezing temperatures continued to bite.

Landfill gas and beef herd management projects picked up the majority of credits in Australia’s latest offset issuance, as secondary market prices continued to firm.

The cumulative value of Southeast Asia-generated carbon credits surpassed $100 million last year, according to a report released this week, with projects in Indonesia securing around four-fifths of the total for their avoided deforestation efforts.

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

California regulator ARB should provide greater guidance and streamline its compliance offset issuance process, while also adopting new protocols, reducing the default invalidation period, and allowing for tradeable compliance limits, an expert group wrote Monday.

Voluntary emissions reduction (VER) values soared this week as more participants expressed interest in CORSIA-eligible credits following private sector efforts to scale up and standardise the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Two additional participants opened RGGI CO2 Allowance Tracking System (COATS) accounts on Monday, aligning with a growing trend of existing regulated entities opening new accounts in the power sector carbon market, programme data showed.

Verra is creating the new role of Director, Technological GHG Innovations, to lead the development and implementation of Verra’s strategy around Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and other technological GHG innovation opportunities.

EUAs continued their record-breaking rally into a fourth day on Monday, bolstered by higher energy prices as freezing conditions set in in parts of Europe and some observers predicted further gains for this week.

The EU should examine the potential for overlaps between sub-national and corporate emissions pledges and the bloc's climate policies to better understand their impact on the EU ETS and other initiatives, a report has found.

The Director of Policy & GR oversees government relations, contributes to policy development and helps manage relationships with external stakeholders. As Director, you will need to be/become an expert on climate change policy, especially the inner workings of carbon pricing. You’ll be the key contact with government staff, and other stakeholder organizations.