Carbon Pulse

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has distributed 355,000 new carbon credits, keeping up its issuance rate amid the COVID-19 crisis.

NZUs rose slightly on Monday to their highest levels in a month as some emitters remain happy to get their hands on supply below NZ$25 and the government said its virus lockdown will be eased next week.

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

Speculators grew their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) holdings and reversed four consecutive weeks of declines, while compliance entities appeared to trim their positions this past week, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed Friday.

Marathon Petroleum announced Friday that it will idle its Martinez refinery this month because of lower demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially lessening the company’s compliance obligations under the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and WCI cap-and-trade programme.

EU carbon prices surged to a new one-month high above €22 on Friday, notching a 2.9% weekly gain as traders attributed the rise and accompanying volatility to more speculative short-covering and increased algo activity.

Members of the EU parliament voted on Friday in favour of aligning the bloc's coronavirus recovery measures with the EU Green Deal, dismissing efforts by right-wing lawmakers to ease the impact of the EU ETS.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will revise its existing RGGI-modelled cap-and-trade regulation to implement state-run auctions as the state eyes entering the Northeast US power sector carbon market next year.

EU countries have signed off on a sustainable finance regulation to establish criteria setting out what qualifies as a green investment, but several flagged concerns that may store up problems in future.

Pennsylvania’s House environment committee chair has called for Governor Tom Wolf’s (D) administration to scrap plans for crafting a draft RGGI-aligned ETS regulation, arguing the programme would be a detriment to residents and businesses in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

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

The EU’s coronavirus response has helped accelerate the bloc’s transition to clean power by a decade as more renewables than previously thought possible are able to balance the grid, an energy technology firm said on Friday.

In the latest Carbon Pulse Conversations podcast, we speak to Oslo-based carbon and power analyst Yan Qin from Refinitiv about the latest developments in preparing for China’s national emissions trading scheme and the outlook for getting that market up and running this year.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has released draft regulations that would open for allowing companies with state-level carbon obligations to generate domestic offsets.

Thermal power output in China fell 7.5% YoY in March, failing to pick up as the country began emerging from its virus lockdown while the economy contracted in Q1 for the first time in nearly 30 years.

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

The bottom fell out of the CORSIA international aviation offset market almost as soon as it began with the coronavirus fallout grounding airlines worldwide, yielding slim prospects for even limited test buying this year.

Major Virginia-based utility Dominion Energy has opened a RGGI Compliance Allowance Tracking System (COATS) account, enabling the company to purchase allowances at future auctions in the Northeast US ETS or take delivery from the secondary market.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices rose by nearly a dollar during the week as regulated parties were said to have ramped up their purchases, while RGGI allowances (RGAs) hit a one-month high on thinly traded volume.

A global environmental markets investment fund has notched an impressive 8% return in its first five weeks of operation, its managers said Thursday.