Carbon Pulse

EU power sector emission cuts have had little to do with the recent trebling of the bloc's ETS prices and are more because of ever-increasing renewables deployment, ICIS analysts said on Thursday, adding this was likely to change over the next few years as prices push to €40.

A US federal appeals court should not accept a biofuel trade group’s motion to temporarily halt compliance waivers under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) because its argument is untimely and lacks merit, the EPA said in a court filing this week.

EUAs raced to an early peak above €27 on Thursday, but a weak auction and declining natural gas prices dented the confidence of bullish speculators, triggering a sell-off.

South Korean carbon allowances inched upwards in Thursday trade to hit new record highs for the fifth time in just over two weeks as sellers continued to sit on their surplus units rather than bringing them to market.

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Two US legislators unveiled a proposal on Wednesday to implement a federal Clean Energy Standard with an accompanying credit trading programme as they seek to almost fully decarbonise the country’s electricity sector by 2050.

EUAs rose for the fourth straight day on Wednesday as bullish sentiment was stirred by the market comfortably absorbing the day’s bumper auction and buoyant gas prices.

The EU ETS has performed better in its environmental aims as prices have more than doubled over the past year in anticipation of agreed reforms, but many challenges remain if the policy is to remain a ‘cornerstone’ of the bloc’s climate policy, a report found Wednesday.

California legislators have called on regulator ARB to undertake an independent review of the state's cap-and-trade forestry offset protocol, amid concerns raised by an academic report that the protocol inflates emission reductions due to lenient leakage assumptions, according to a letter seen by Carbon Pulse.

California regulator ARB granted 1.2 million California Carbon Offsets (CCOs) this week, reversing a recent trend of issuances below the 1-mln mark, according to state data.

US regional grid operator PJM is aiming to release a study on incorporating a CO2 charge into the wholesale power market by the end of the summer, coming after a committee recently endorsed utility requests to conduct analyses on the topic.

South Korean carbon allowances again rose to new record highs in Wednesday trade, but later in the day the monthly KAU auction settled 4.6% below the secondary market.

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Australia’s opposition Labor party would likely pursue bilateral agreements for carbon trading as part of a beefed-up Safeguard Mechanism if elected as an international market under the Paris Agreement will take time to develop.

New Zealand on Wednesday published its draft “Zero Carbon Bill” to make the country net carbon neutral by 2050, but included a separate target for methane from livestock, which accounts for more than a third of its greenhouse gas output.

The US-based Grantham Environmental Trust has agreed to invest up to A$2.5 million ($1.75 mln) in an Australian start-up seeking to generate carbon credits from soil carbon projects.

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Oregon electricity generators and system managers would receive a greater number of carbon allowances through mid-century under an omnibus amendment package introduced Monday for the state’s WCI-modelled carbon market proposal, as some groups began calling on lawmakers to pass the bill out of committee.

RGGI has not held formal discussions with Pennsylvania about potentially joining the northeast US cap-and-trade programme as the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently recommended developing a power sector ETS, the programme chairman told Carbon Pulse.

Germany-based utility Uniper reported a 47% year-on-year slump in Q1 2019 EBIT to €185 million as power output dropped on warmer weather and amid higher carbon costs, it said in financial results on Tuesday.