Carbon Pulse

A razor-thin majority of the European Parliament on Tuesday voted against a gradual phaseout of free allocation of EUAs to energy-intensive industries in light of the EU’s prospective carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).

The bull run that has lifted EU carbon prices to an all-time high to start this year has been mostly built on speculative buying rather than more traditional compliance demand, analysts said.

US biofuel credit (RIN) values under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) stormed higher on Tuesday as activity from gasoline traders lent support to expectations of a significant draw on the credit bank and a more stringently enforced programme under President Joe Biden (D).

The EU should be “cautious” about carbon market intervention and keep the supply-adjusting Market Stability Reserve (MSR) as main price stabiliser, a senior EU official said on Tuesday.

California is expected to ask a federal court for an extension in the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the WCI carbon market linkage, giving the government additional time to get political appointees confirmed, a lawyer told Carbon Pulse.

EU carbon prices rose on Tuesday to top €40 for the first time in three weeks, though some traders questioned whether EUAs had enough near-term momentum to challenge mid-February's record high.

EU Allowances will head towards €50 soon, an analyst has predicted, as gas and carbon play catch-up to rising crude oil prices.

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China should establish a mandatory emissions trading market covering Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, and use the platform to launch a carbon neutral Belt and Road Initiative, a National People’s Congress delegate and central bank official said Tuesday.

A group of 15 Japanese companies led by Tokyo Gas on Tuesday announced they had established the Carbon Neutral LNG Buyers Alliance to promote and improve processes for offsetting carbon emissions from liquefied natural gas.

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Compliance entities likely deferred RGGI allowance procurement at the Q1 auction due to losses in the Texas power market, while some regulated parties hedged demand prior to the quarterly sale, participants said.

Voluntary emission reduction (VER) prices spiked this week as CME Group launched its CBL Global Emissions Offset (GEO) futures contract, while African project developers also noted that voluntary carbon market (VCM) prices and volumes have increased on the continent in recent months.

Asia’s recent spurt of carbon neutral LNG shipments has spread to Europe, as British consumers spur efforts to green the country’s gas supply while direct solutions remain costly.

EUAs inched closer to €40 on Monday as observers eyed a revisiting of record levels on technical strength, chillier weather, and the expectation that a number of emitters could be forced into the market last minute to cover their 2020 emissions.

A RGGI speculator has purchased the only carbon offsets ever created in the Northeast US power sector cap-and-trade programme, the counterparties announced Monday.

Putting a price on greenhouse gases is the cheapest and most efficient method that legislators can employ to cut climate-warming emissions, according to new research backed by online retailer Amazon.

Quebec released two new draft offset protocols for its WCI-linked cap-and-trade system on Monday, as the environmental ministry intends to facilitate the adoption of additional protocols by shifting the credit programme regulatory text out of the emissions trading scheme.

Efforts to scale up the voluntary carbon market (VCM) could pose a “huge risk” for certifiers embedding gender equality practices into offset projects, experts said in light of International Women’s Day on Monday.

Organization: Commonwealth Secretariat Position: Adviser, Climate Change Duty Station: London, England, UK Deadline for Application: 11 March 2021