Carbon Pulse

New Zealand carbon allowances fell to their lowest levels since August in Wednesday trade, with the NZ$25 FPO that was considered a price floor as late as last week barely even relevant anymore in the short term as a bearish outlook takes hold amid a flailing economy.

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Utility CEZ said Tuesday it had advanced its Czechia-based generation hedging position over Q4 last year, but that the rate still lags on the previous year even as the company expects its EU ETS-covered thermal output to rise in 2020.

California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) traded underneath the current WCI floor price for the first time in nearly three years on Tuesday, as participants continued to see the growing coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic turmoil as bearish drivers on the joint cap-and-trade programme.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) prices dropped markedly on Monday, finally succumbing to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and changes in the global economy.

EUAs fell over 8.5% to a fresh 16-month low below €18 on Tuesday as the first auction failure of the year spurred selling, even as wider financial markets held relatively steady following Monday's coronavirus-fuelled crash.

The EU ETS should be "scrapped" from next year to help keep EU economies afloat amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Polish deputy minister for state assets said on Tuesday, as other eastern EU countries called for work on the EU’s Green Deal to also be halted. 

One of the most bullish analyst teams covering the EU carbon market have once again cut their price forecasts for EUAs, this time due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Exchange EEX on Tuesday cancelled its Common Auction platform sale of 2.7 million spot EUAs due to lack of bids, as secondary prices continued to tumble on the coronavirus-fuelled sell-off.

New Zealand carbon allowances on Tuesday fell below the NZ$25 fixed price option for the first time since Dec. 19, as traders in need of cash added to supply.

A subsidiary of New Zealand’s state-owned grid company has added domestic carbon allowances to its listed products, it announced Tuesday.

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

The Climate Director will hone and implement a strategic program of work that builds on TNC’s growing role as a leader in tackling climate change.

Oregon can implement an ETS on direct and indirect sources of emissions using existing legislative authority, the state’s Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded, though its legal analysis did not address whether state-run auctions could occur.

A flexibility mechanism built into the global aviation offset programme CORSIA could dampen carbon credit obligations during the scheme’s pilot phase to address coronavirus-related impacts on the emission baseline, eliminating the need for any changes to the underlying ICAO resolution, according to a green group's analysis.

Germany saw its EU ETS-covered emissions from stationary installations fall by nearly 12% last year, according to government figures released Monday, as the EU’s top emitter replaced a significant amount of coal-fired power with cheaper gas and renewables.

Switzerland has closed its emissions trading registry and extended the ETS compliance deadline for emitters due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the government announced Monday, adding that it had also cancelled this month’s allowance auction.

The pace of EU legislative activity on climate policy is set to slow as the response to COVID-19 coronavirus takes the attention of the bloc's institutions and as non-essential meetings are postponed. 

EU carbon prices plummeted on Monday, falling below €20 for the first time in over a year as the coronavirus-fuelled sell-off in financial markets picked up pace despite governments ramping up emergency measures including the US Federal Reserve slashing interest rates to zero.

California Carbon Allowances (CCA) and RGGI Allowance (RGA) prices dove on Monday morning after the US Federal Reserve announced further rate cuts to bolster the stock market as the coronavirus pandemic spread across North America.