Carbon Pulse

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices rose slightly on the secondary market this week as traders continued to process the recent auction result, while RGGI allowance (RGA) prices saw minimal gains in front of the programme’s own quarterly sale.

EUAs dipped below €24 on Thursday, slipping for a second straight session as bulls remained on the sidelines following the previous day's slide in the energy complex.

At least two Eastern European nations are planning to give up their right to offer utilities free carbon allowances next decade, likely increasing sales of EUAs by hundreds of millions of tonnes as the supply is diverted to auctions.

Product and business development firm IncubEx has hired a senior vice president from an international biofuels brokerage firm to help expand the company’s offering into renewable fuel-based environmental products.

Criticism of California’s compliance offset forestry protocol misinterpreted an academic report on emissions leakage, according to the author of that research, who suggested state regulator ARB should fund further studies to gain a more accurate picture.

The Northwest Territories (NWT) government will delay the implementation of its C$20 carbon levy from next month until September as it requires more time to review the policy’s underlying legislation, but it added the Canadian federal government would not fill in the two-month gap with Ottawa’s ‘backstop’ CO2 tax.

Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rose again last year, according to new government data, as a massive increase in liquefied natural gas more than offset CO2e cuts from electricity generation and agriculture.

New Zealand carbon allowances fell to 10-month lows in Thursday trade as lingering questions about the fixed price option has muted demand.

South Korea on Thursday announced new regulations that will limit the amount of CO2 allowances emitters can bank into the future without offloading some of their surplus, in a bid to address concerns over liquidity in the nation’s emissions trading scheme.

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

Washington state lawmakers will engage with fellow legislators and stakeholders for the rest of 2019 as they restart efforts to pass a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) bill next year, while a Seattle-area clean air agency is planning its own rulemaking process for a regional clean fuels programme.

New Jersey could finalise regulations as early as next month as it works to join the US RGGI carbon market in 2020, a regulatory source told Carbon Pulse.

EUAs dipped back towards €24 on Wednesday as a drop in oil prices triggered a sell-off in key energy contracts, even as EUA demand prospects appeared to be improving.

Legislation eliminating Alberta’s C$30 carbon tax entered into force on Tuesday, but the timeline is still uncertain for the federal government to impose its ‘backstop’ fossil fuel levy on the Canadian province in response.

Ryanair, the largest emitting airline in the EU ETS, will start publishing monthly CO2 emissions output data, it said on Wednesday.

EU carbon prices will climb towards the top of the coal-to-gas fuel-switching range for Western European utilities by the end of this year, possibly to as high as €40, according to analysts.

A national US carbon tax could reduce the amount of coal-fired generation and cause power sector emissions to decline by as much as 22% in the short term, according to a study published Wednesday.

EU carbon prices will average €36.05 over 2021-2030, according to an annual survey of market observers and participants, marking a massive 63% year-on-year gain in expectations.

The Guangdong provincial government on Wednesday announced it had reopened the local carbon offset market following its suspension of the programme last August amid concerns over some of the project methodologies.

India on Wednesday launched a regional air pollution emissions trading market, marking a shift to a more market-based approach to dealing with environmental issues as a voluntary carbon trading programme is also on the steps.