Carbon Pulse

The European Commission is working on a legislative proposal to incentivise EU-wide GHG removals using nature-based solutions and plans to launch a certification scheme in 2023, a senior Commission official said on Wednesday.

Labor party leader Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said he would seek to negotiate with the Coalition government a flexible energy policy ‘mechanism’ that could drive emission reductions, and that his party would support offsetting for CCS projects in return for continued financial support for the renewable energy sector.

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

California regulator ARB is expected to publish guidance shortly on the criteria for offsets to be classified as having a direct environmental benefit to the state (DEBs), potentially giving clarity to emitters before the provision’s implementation in 2021, a regulatory source told Carbon Pulse.

California’s cross-border ETS linkage with Quebec does not present any conflict with the Trump administration’s decision to leave the Paris Agreement, and the federal government’s Foreign Affairs Doctrine challenge to the programme is rooted in unsupported speculation, according to court filings released late Monday.

Imposing a border carbon adjustment (BCA) on EU imports can be combined with continued free ETS allowances, an EU trade body said on Tuesday, seeking to soften the EU’s apparent hard line on the issue.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) granted an extension on Monday for regulators to craft an ETS rule aligned with the Northeast US cap-and-trade programme, with a state agency slated to use the additional time for collecting feedback from environmental justice and affected fossil fuel communities.

A number of EU environment ministers on Tuesday backed a 2030 EU-wide emissions reduction target of 55% below 1990 levels, with some nations even wanting to raise the bloc's ambition still further.

EUAs surged almost 4% early on Tuesday, racing to a new four-month high above €25 as wider markets rallied on better-than-expected economic data and reassurances about the US-China trade deal.

Two carbon specialist firms have partnered to develop cook stove carbon offset projects with co-benefits in Africa and Asia, for which they are still pursuing funding. 

An Australian project developer has delivered the first batch of carbon credits under one of the biggest contracts for the government's Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), nearly four years after the deal was signed.

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to weigh on ETS prices worldwide for the next two years, with price expectations for the coming decade also dropping, according to an annual survey of carbon market participants and observers published on Tuesday.

California officials on Monday removed a budget provision to require a cap-and-trade rulemaking by next year as part of a compromise between state lawmakers and Governor Gavin Newsom (D), though they will reassess changes by the Scoping Plan update, a legislative source said.

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

Sustainable economic recovery efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic should not only feature CO2 taxes or emissions trading schemes to stimulate a clean and just transition, but also avoid the pitfalls of weak carbon pricing rates that have persisted for years, experts said Monday.

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Mechanisms that help manage unexpected shocks in emissions trading schemes are a necessary consideration when weighing the linking of two carbon markets, however existing ones can also act as a deterrent to connecting systems, according to a study released late Friday.

Utah Republicans removed funding for a lawsuit to challenge the legality of California’s cap-and-trade programme and emissions performance standard (EPS) from the state’s revised budget, but legislators could still restore the allocation during an August special session.