Carbon Pulse

EU carbon prices cratered for a fifth straight day, crashing by nearly 18% to a near two-year low just above €15 as widespread selling due to the COVID-19 coronavirus continued to spare no market.

Switzerland’s carbon credit procurement agency this week selected five GHG-reducing activities for its second call for proposals, adding to three picked earlier in its efforts to tie up its first emission trade deals under the Paris Agreement’s market-based Article 6.

South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party has included a 2050 net zero emissions target and a new carbon tax as part of its platform ahead of next month’s parliamentary election, moves that would significantly increase the country's climate ambitions.

Chinese projects could generate some 40 million carbon credits eligible for the international aviation industry’s offset market, according to a report published on Wednesday, which stressed the programme would need improvements to remain competitive.

China’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 2.6% to almost 14 billion tonnes of CO2e last year, driven by an increase in energy-intensive manufacturing and oil and consumption, according to a study released Wednesday.

New Zealand carbon allowances fell to their lowest levels since August in Wednesday trade, with the NZ$25 FPO that was considered a price floor as late as last week barely even relevant anymore in the short term as a bearish outlook takes hold amid a flailing economy.

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

Utility CEZ said Tuesday it had advanced its Czechia-based generation hedging position over Q4 last year, but that the rate still lags on the previous year even as the company expects its EU ETS-covered thermal output to rise in 2020.

California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) traded underneath the current WCI floor price for the first time in nearly three years on Tuesday, as participants continued to see the growing coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic turmoil as bearish drivers on the joint cap-and-trade programme.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) prices dropped markedly on Monday, finally succumbing to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and changes in the global economy.

EUAs fell over 8.5% to a fresh 16-month low below €18 on Tuesday as the first auction failure of the year spurred selling, even as wider financial markets held relatively steady following Monday's coronavirus-fuelled crash.

The EU ETS should be "scrapped" from next year to help keep EU economies afloat amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Polish deputy minister for state assets said on Tuesday, as other eastern EU countries called for work on the EU’s Green Deal to also be halted. 

One of the most bullish analyst teams covering the EU carbon market have once again cut their price forecasts for EUAs, this time due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Exchange EEX on Tuesday cancelled its Common Auction platform sale of 2.7 million spot EUAs due to lack of bids, as secondary prices continued to tumble on the coronavirus-fuelled sell-off.

New Zealand carbon allowances on Tuesday fell below the NZ$25 fixed price option for the first time since Dec. 19, as traders in need of cash added to supply.

A subsidiary of New Zealand’s state-owned grid company has added domestic carbon allowances to its listed products, it announced Tuesday.

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

The Climate Director will hone and implement a strategic program of work that builds on TNC’s growing role as a leader in tackling climate change.

Oregon can implement an ETS on direct and indirect sources of emissions using existing legislative authority, the state’s Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded, though its legal analysis did not address whether state-run auctions could occur.

A flexibility mechanism built into the global aviation offset programme CORSIA could dampen carbon credit obligations during the scheme’s pilot phase to address coronavirus-related impacts on the emission baseline, eliminating the need for any changes to the underlying ICAO resolution, according to a green group's analysis.