Carbon Pulse

A growing number of European lawmakers are considering measures to curb speculation or cap prices in the EU ETS, Carbon Pulse has learned, as allowances skyrocket towards all-time highs on what some participants say are attempts by hedge funds and other algo-wielding investors to “corner” the market.

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

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) should model its plan to decarbonise the global shipping sector on the CORSIA programme for aviation, but it should go further than its fellow UN body ICAO in setting a more ambitious carbon reduction target for sustainable fuels, according to a report published this week.

EUAs surged late on Wednesday to claw back above €29 following earlier losses, staying within reach of their last year's high in continued volatile trade that participants said was fuelled by speculation and short-covering.

The German government has launched a tender to buy 431,300 CERs to offset the emissions from a series of activities including those associated with its EU Council presidency.

A veteran carbon market journalist has sued Bloomberg over his dismissal, alleging it was based on him ‘whistle-blowing’ over the news agency’s “biased” coverage of climate change and the Paris Agreement.

California regulator ARB sought confirmation earlier this year from Wisconsin officials about whether compliance issues at a dairy farm were waste related, leading the agency to launch an offset investigation in June, according to emails obtained by Carbon Pulse.

Recent alterations to the emission reduction goals and publication schedule of the Canadian Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) will not threaten its environmental performance, but numerous programme design elements warrant further attention and analysis before the policy’s 2022 launch, stakeholders and researchers told Carbon Pulse.

California regulator ARB will classify offsets projects that automatically qualify as providing direct environmental benefits to the state (DEBs) at Wednesday’s issuance and will tag credits in the WCI Compliance Instrument Tracking Service System (CITSS) later this month, officials confirmed.

The European Commission wants to expand EU clean hydrogen capacity sixfold to 6 GW by 2024 and 40 GW by the end of the decade, according to its hydrogen strategy presented on Wednesday.

South Korea failed to sell out its monthly KAU auction for a third time in a row on Wednesday, while secondary market carbon prices fell to their lowest levels since June last year.

Japan’s environment ministry has picked 10 more projects it will co-fund under its Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), to help meet its emissions target under the Paris Agreement.

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

A new European energy and emissions trading platform is preparing to launch with committed participants representing more than 50% of the continent’s traded volumes.

EUAs came within a few cents of last year's peak near €30 on Tuesday but collapsed back in late trade to pause a six-week rally that has defied fundamentals amid a wave of 'speculative mania'.

The Ukrainian energy ministry is working on a proposal to create an energy efficiency modernisation fund for its heavy industries using revenues from the country's carbon tax.

Germany favours adding new sectors to the EU ETS, but recommends waiting for an EU study on the effects of a higher 2030 emission target before discussing new bloc-wide policies, its environment minister told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Switzerland’s emissions from transport fuels were little changed for the second straight year in 2019, while CO2 output from heating decreased by 2.5%, according to figures published Tuesday.

California regulator ARB published an application this week for out-of-state offset projects to qualify as providing direct environmental benefits to the state (DEBs), aiming to help the agency make a final determination on the post-2020 designation.

The EU is re-examining its climate policy for airlines, including a potential return to covering foreign flights in its carbon market after the UN’s CORSIA international aviation offsetting scheme was effectively put on ice last week.