Carbon Pulse

UK utility SSE saw its ETS-covered thermal power output rise 16% over the six months through September as the company’s gas plants were called on more often to balance the grid, the company said on Wednesday.

A federal low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) is unlikely to materialise unless Democrats can win both Georgia Senate seats up for grabs in a January run-off election, a conference heard Wednesday.

Stakeholders drew competing views of the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) proposed policy statement last month on CO2 pricing, with wholesale power grid operators supporting the move and fossil-fuel heavy states encouraging a more cautious path forward.

More than 35 million additional carbon allowances left over from Phase 3 of the EU ETS (2013-20) could be auctioned next year, the European Commission confirmed on Wednesday.

Poland’s utility PGE posted a 3.2% year-on-year fall in CO2 output over the first nine months as its carbon costs weighed on the company’s coal generation.

The European Commission on Wednesday adopted its annual report on the functioning of the EU ETS, which covered the market’s developments in 2019 and into 2020, as well as summarising measures proposed or agreed this year.

The Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) jurisdictions are evaluating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the cost-benefit analysis of the proposed fuel sector cap-and-trade scheme, but regulatory sources do not believe support for the regional US programme is wavering.

We are now in the last four weeks of the Dec-20 EUAs' reign as the front-year futures contract. There are fewer than 25 daily auctions left this year, and yesterday (Nov. 17) we were told that the European Commission won’t be starting 2021 EUA auctions until the end of January or even early February.

EUAs leapt more than 5% to a two-month high on Wednesday on news that the start of the 2021 auctions would be delayed.

Switzerland has agreed a bilateral deal with Ghana to purchase carbon offsets under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6, in the second such agreement announced by the European nation in as many months.

The EU is not planning to include carbon removals certificates in the EU ETS, a European Commission senior official clarified on Wednesday as its climate department works on designing its first system to certify removals.

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

Washington state Democrats are optimistic that reintroduced low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) and cap-and-trade bills could pass in the 2021 legislative session, while a New York environmental advocate believes the state could implement a clean fuels programme as early as 2022.

The anticipated growth in electric vehicle deployment over the coming decades may eventually require California to drop the credit generator from the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), a board member of regulator ARB said Tuesday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday unveiled a 10-point plan to mobilise tens of billions of pounds in public- and private-sector investment and spark a “green industrial revolution” in the country.

EU carbon prices will continue on their upward trajectory through the end of the year, despite the ongoing pandemic and economy downturn, before EUAs average above €35 in 2021, analysts forecast on Tuesday.

The California-Quebec carbon market will experience further GHG abatement in 2020 due to a slower recovery in gasoline and electricity demand than previously expected and more efficient gas plants running in the Golden State, analysts said in a report published Tuesday.

European carbon sank on Tuesday on profit-taking and policy and coronavirus concerns, as a late decline saw prices give back all of the previous day’s gains, though traders said EUAs could spike tomorrow on late-breaking bullish supply-related news.

A clerical error caused a Virginia business group to fail to pay the appropriate filing fee on a lawsuit challenging the state’s RGGI-modelled carbon market regulation, but the mistake should not void the case, according to court records.

Nations agreed a global maritime deal at the UN’s IMO on Tuesday that would allow the sector’s emissions to rise for another decade, a move that could strengthen the EU’s resolve to take tougher action in its own waters.