Carbon Pulse

EUAs extended their all-time high on Wednesday, breaking above €48 amid rising energy prices, surging investor interest, and as buyers approached their last possible moment to cover 2020 compliance.

A $40/tonne carbon price and a bump in variable renewable energy capacity could shave a quarter off CO2 emissions from Thailand’s power sector by the end of the decade, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Another planned huge coal-fired power plant in Japan was put to rest this week as the government’s more ambitious climate policy and overall dubious market outlook for fossil fuels put the country on a lower-carbon path.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator is moving forward with plans to set up an exchange for Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), in a bid to boost transparency and cut costs as the nation’s voluntary carbon market expands.

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

The world’s largest food conglomerate Nestle has joined the growing number of companies mostly shunning offsets in their quest for net zero emissions, though the Swiss-headquartered firm said it will make exceptions for its brands that want “move faster” towards carbon neutrality.

Companies with net zero pledges set decades into the future should begin planning and implementing emissions removal strategies now, both to ensure long-term credit supplies for themselves and to generate demand signals for market benefit, a conference heard on Tuesday.

Efforts to bring more price transparency to the voluntary carbon market (VCM) have split some North American voluntary emissions reduction (VER) developers, though they agree higher prices are key to greatly enhancing supply and satisfying heightened corporate demand, a panel heard Tuesday.

Sustainable development has been dropped from a private-sector taskforce’s list of attributes designed to help standardise the voluntary carbon market, a group member said Tuesday in remarks that may heighten observer fears about the process skewing towards cheaper offsets.

The US RGGI cap-and-trade programme should consider incorporating imported electricity into the scheme during its upcoming 2021 review, while also increasing overall stringency, panelists said at an industry event Tuesday.

The structure of voluntary carbon markets (VCM) is expected to change dramatically as financial institutions become ever-larger participants in the space and corporate purchasing decisions shift from marketing departments to finance, a conference heard on Tuesday.

EU coal power could be largely eliminated this decade as the bloc’s carbon prices rise to triple digits to incentivise a cleaner energy, analysts said in a report on Tuesday, a shift in line with UN aims to limit global warming.

US biofuel credits set an all-time high in the decade-old history of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on Tuesday, coming as refiners appealed a lower court’s decision to the Supreme Court regarding the curtailment of compliance waivers under the programme.

EU carbon prices recovered from earlier lows on Tuesday as gas prices surged on concerns over Russian supply into Europe.

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

If total greenhouse gas emissions in new or updated country plans offer a mere 0.5% reduction, greater ambition is needed from governments to fill this gap. Can a robust voluntary carbon market play an important role in this context?

California fuel consumption dropped year-on-year in January as COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Governor Gavin Newsom (D) continued to cause demand destruction in the transportation sector, according to state data released Monday.

The Canadian environment ministry on Friday announced that New Brunswick will be removed from coverage under the federal ‘backstop’ output-based pricing system (OBPS), instead allowing the province to apply retroactive compliance obligations to emitters under its alternative regime.

Voluntary emissions reduction (VER) values were largely unchanged week-on-week even with significant activity in a new exchange-traded, nature-based offset, while several forestry project developers have reportedly entered into long-term forward agreements with above-market price floors.

California Carbon Allowances (CCA) surged on the secondary market Monday morning amid further rises in outright and spread demand ahead of the May auction, as  some said the trend bore similarities to heightened speculative involvement over the 2018-19 period.