Carbon Pulse

European carbon prices lifted on Monday as observers eyed a resumption of gains ahead of the annual compliance deadline in the wake of the first weekly price decline of the year.

Achieving newly-proposed emission reductions goals as part of California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) remains uncertain due to both market and regulatory concerns, which could impact the viability of the clean fuel standard as a whole.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) proposed new amendments on Friday for its electricity sector cap-and-trade programme intended to operate in parallel to RGGI.

Australia has issued nearly 1.1 million carbon credits over the past two weeks, with around 40% of them going to landfill operator LMS Energy, data from the Clean Energy Regulator showed.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is grappling this week to secure an initial strategy to address shipping emissions, with countries edging towards agreeing a carbon-intensity goal initially and only later committing to absolute emission cuts and potentially using carbon markets.

China’s climate change office has asked for assistance from the power industry to develop realtime CO2 emissions data reporting for power stations covered by the national emissions trading scheme, a move that if successful would make it the world’s first carbon market to deploy such equipment.

A government-funded financing vehicle in China’s second-biggest coal-producing province has teamed up with the local carbon exchange to leverage public and private capital targeting carbon trading and clean industrial projects in a bid to cut its reliance on coal.

Green group coalition CAN Europe is urging the EU to eliminate billions of euros in subsidies to support energy intensive industries such as steel and cement, which they say are continuing to pocket public money while doing little to cut emissions.

Cement companies must double their rate of emission reductions to align with the 2C goal of the Paris Agreement, according to a report on Monday from non-profit CDP, which found EU ETS-regulated firms in particular lagging some rivals with operations in uncapped emerging economies.

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

Mexico plans on keeping its domestic carbon tax and applying it to smaller emitters when it launches its national cap-and-trade scheme, a senior official said this week.

Dismantling Ontario’s cap-and-trade scheme and exiting the North American WCI programme would be “pretty hard” for a new provincial government to do without incurring high costs or denting business and investor confidence, according to Ontario’s former environment minister.

Adopting the Canadian government’s 'backstop' carbon tax could lower emissions in the country’s Yukon territory by 5.4% over the next five years, according to report released by the territorial government on Thursday.

The Alberta Climate Change Office (CCO) has confirmed that it will scrap six offset protocols, while also flagging another for withdrawal, according to a memo released on Friday.

California carbon prices fell slightly this week on light volumes following the Easter holiday break and as a large portion of the market attended a major conference in San Francisco.

EU countries bumped up their allocations of free 2018 carbon allowances slightly over the past fortnight, data released late Friday showed.

EU carbon prices inched back towards €13 on Friday as a stronger auction raised hopes that this week's declines would not lead to a material correction.

Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

New Zealand carbon allowances notched a third consecutive day of gains on Friday, climbing to a 6-week high amid steady demand while sellers were few and far between.

Vietnam is finalising a plan that will impose CO2 caps on all sectors of the economy and possibly on individual major emitters, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) said, though it remains unclear if the South East Asian nation will go for an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax.