Carbon Pulse

Owen Hewlett of Gold Standard welcomes the Taskforce to Scale the Voluntary Carbon Market's intention to make sure companies can take responsibility for their emissions, but argues that scale alone should not be the marker of success.

While the ETS and carbon pricing are critical components of the EU decarbonisation process the functioning of the EU ETS has long been impacted by a what was seen as a “structural” surplus of emission allowances (EUAs), or what was labelled a “supply-demand imbalance”, explains Andrei Marcu of think-tank ERCST.

Laos and Fiji have secured deals with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility that would see them receive payment for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation over the next five years.

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Reporting to the VP of LNG, Gas, Power, Renewable Energy and Emissions, the successful candidate will be responsible for leading the development of power and emissions trading, with the primary objective of growing the trading P/L and the power and emissions business on a sustainable basis.

High-integrity offsets and standardised over-the-counter contracts should factor into efforts to scale up the voluntary carbon market (VCM), according to a roadmap published Wednesday by UN climate finance envoy Mark Carney’s private-sector taskforce.

California minted just shy of 1 million new compliance offsets during its second issuance of the year, with an Oregon-based forestry project earning additional credits tagged as providing direct environmental benefits to the state (DEBs), according to data published by state regulator ARB on Wednesday. 

Emissions output under Nova Scotia’s cap-and-trade programme in 2019 slightly overshot the initial allowance budget, while the provincial environment ministry on Wednesday set the auction dates and floor price for the scheme’s two permit sales this year.

EUAs bounced back from below €33 for the second straight session on Wednesday, as a late hike in oil prices helped lift the energy complex, while data showed the number of new participants in the market continued to rise.

Expanding the scope of the EU ETS to bring in shipping emissions will require a gradual adaptation period for shipowners to get used to the new system, industry representatives said on Wednesday.

An elder European Commission policymaker credited with helping guide the development of the EU carbon market has moved on from the Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA), Carbon Pulse has learned.

US President Joe Biden (D) issued a suite of climate-related executive orders on Wednesday including directing a speedy revision of the nation’s Paris Agreement NDC this spring, an effort to jump start his environmental agenda amid a closely divided Congress.

New Zealand carbon allowances edged up in Wednesday trade to reach a new all-time high, as traders prepare for major policy and market developments in the weeks ahead.

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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.

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.

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.