Carbon Pulse

Compliance and financial entities held their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) positions mostly flat ahead of next week’s WCI auction, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

British Columbia’s carbon levy and Alberta’s former output-based pricing system failed to stimulate GHG abatement over their respective histories compared to the success of the EU ETS and the linked California-Quebec WCI cap-and-trade programme, a study has found.

Northeast US electricity consumption returned to historic levels over the past several months as warmer weather increased residential usage, likely curtailing the impact of COVID-19 on RGGI compliance obligations, according to grid data.

Germany is set to hit its domestic 2020 GHG reduction target of 40% below 1990 levels this year, a study released on Friday found, as coronavirus restrictions limited output to bring the goal back within reach.

More than 900 EU ETS-covered installations in Germany face a liquidity squeeze following the launch of the national emissions trading system (nEHS) next year as the two schemes will impose a ‘double burden’ that may not be compensated until a year and a half later, an analysis has found.

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

EUAs fell below €25 early on Friday as wider markets sank on heightened prospects of a second European lockdown and power markets softened cooler weather forecasts.

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Income from the sale of Brazilian biofuel credits under the country’s RenovaBio programme will face a much lower tax rate after lawmakers on Wednesday quashed a veto by President Jair Bolsonaro.

RGGI allowance (RGA) prices rose on additional secondary market compliance buying this week, as California Carbon Allowance (CCA) values nudged higher ahead of the Aug. 18 WCI auction.

Carbon emissions across Pennsylvania and the eastern half of the US would decline if the Keystone State were to join the RGGI ETS in 2022 under its proposed cap level, according to a study published Thursday.

EUAs lost 2% on Thursday amid technical weakness and fading oil and equities, as concerns mounted about carbon's lack of resilience ahead of full-sized sales resuming in earnest over the autumn.

The Spanish government approved on Thursday the closure of three coal-fired power plants through 2022, slashing further the country’s coal capacity that has been in steady decline over recent months.

Germany-based utility RWE saw its ETS-covered thermal output drop by almost a third in H1, it said in quarterly financial results on Thursday, matching an EU-wide trend of big-emitting generators bearing the brunt of the coronavirus-linked demand drop.

The Shanghai municipal government will auction 2 million allowances for its emissions trading scheme before the end of the month, allowing speculators to participate for the first time after dismal sales to compliance entities in previous years.

New Zealand ETS participants used the NZ$25 fixed price option to meet around 21% of their total compliance obligations for 2019, EPA data showed Thursday, down from 51% the previous year, indicating a drop in surplus allowances carried into the next year.

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

Global coal power generation plummeted by 8.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 due to lower electricity demand and a rise in wind and solar generation, a study released on Thursday found.

The British Columbia government should feature carbon offsets as part of the province’s climate strategy and include protections for emissions-intensive, trade-exposed (EITE) industries that other countries and jurisdictions incorporate in their CO2 pricing approaches, an association of some 250 businesses said in a report published Tuesday.

A Wisconsin environmental agency concluded that violations at a dairy farm stemmed from a waste storage facility, rejecting the California-registered offset project owner’s assertions that a feed storage area led to the elevated ammonia levels, documents show.