Carbon Pulse

Five refining-heavy states petitioned the US EPA to exempt them from requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), arguing that the coronavirus pandemic has made current blending mandates untenable.

Poland’s decline in domestic coal production is likely to have important consequences in the country’s energy transition and its attitude towards low-carbon fuels, according to a Warsaw-based think-tank.

Pennsylvania agencies are maintaining their timeline to finish a draft RGGI-aligned cap-and-trade regulation despite a statewide 'shelter-in-place' order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as green groups outlined numerous ways for the Keystone State to strengthen its existing proposal.

European carbon prices climbed back above €21 on Thursday, surging nearly 10% on what was seen as speculative buying and short-covering as French utility EDF announced a large cut to its nuclear generation output this year.

The European Commission is likely to release a feasibility study on increasing the EU 2030 emission reduction target by September as planned, even as officials consider delaying other climate initiatives as the bloc grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.

The Western Australia EPA on Thursday released guidelines allowing it to require major new projects to document how they intend to contribute to the state’s 2050 net zero emissions target, including plans to acquire carbon credits.

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

The EU will probably seek to add cement and power imports into its ETS as a border carbon adjustment before expanding to other sectors, a think-tank said on Wednesday.

A coalition of fossil-based and renewable electricity generators and trade groups petitioned the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Tuesday to host a technical conference on carbon pricing, as more regional grid operators debate the inclusion of a CO2 adder in wholesale power markets.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs have more than halved their forecast for EU carbon prices to €15 in 2021 in light of mounting bearish pressures including the coronavirus crisis, and have said further reforms to the ETS are urgently needed.

Ireland’s potential new government is pushing ahead with plans to raise the country’s carbon tax, calling climate change a more pressing crisis than the coronavirus.

Emissions in the EU ETS dropped by over 8% in 2019, according to nearly complete compliance data published by the European Commission Wednesday, confirming analyst estimates that last year saw the largest fall since the start of the global financial crisis.

Higher Canadian emissions in 2018 continued to take the country further away from its Paris Agreement target, as GHG growth in the oil and gas sector persisted and Ontario bucked its previous abatement progress, according to government data published on Wednesday.

EUAs slipped further below €20 on Wednesday, undoing more of the recent rally as wider markets fell.

New Zealand’s only oil refinery will be brought into the nation’s emissions trading scheme after its exemption agreement with the government expires at the end of 2022, the company said, while announcing a strategic review of its role in the domestic fuel market.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has issued almost 240,000 new carbon credits in its latest round of awards, with all of them going to vegetation-based projects in Queensland and New South Wales.

New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions fell slightly in 2018, official data showed Wednesday, but not as quickly as the government wants and carbon from agriculture continued to rise.

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

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has requested that a public hearing on the proposed post-2020 RGGI Model Rule updates be shifted into a written comment period due to the coronavirus situation.

Estonia has no intention of leaving the EU ETS, the country’s prime minister told national media on Tuesday, following a formal call from its finance minister to temporarily exit the bloc’s carbon market amid the coronavirus crisis.