Carbon Pulse

California regulator ARB should consider a rule-based mechanism to automatically adjust allowance supply based on surplus volume, as well as tweak ETS auction provisions to sell state-owned permits simultaneously with consigned volume, a government watchdog group said Wednesday.

Alberta’s large emitter programme will not significantly harm the Canadian province’s oil industry compared to a pre-coronavirus scenario, as some facilities may even come out ahead, according to new analysis published Tuesday.

New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released a draft RGGI regulation that aligns with the post-2020 Model Rule on Thursday, with enhancements that include coverage for peaking plants underneath the 25MW threshold for the regional ETS.

The EU should widen an industrial pollution law to cover greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, environmental campaigners have said, a move that would effectively put an additional layer of regulation on companies already covered by the bloc's carbon market.

EU power generators Vattenfall and Iberdrola have both reported substantial drops to their ETS-covered thermal power generation in Q1, with milder, wetter weather crimping demand even without account for coronavirus impacts.

Plunging EU ETS emissions due to the COVID-19 crisis and other market forces will balloon the scheme's allowance surplus this year to the equivalent of around two years’ worth of demand, analysts have predicted.

In our latest instalment of the Carbon Pulse Conversations podcast, we speak to Marcus Ferdinand, head of European power and carbon analytics at ICIS, about what's driving EUAs at the moment, how the coronavirus crisis is impacting the EU ETS, and his forecasts for allowance prices.

Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will begin taking comments on its revised post-2020 RGGI regulation on Wednesday after opting not to hold public hearings due to the coronavirus pandemic.

EUAs once again flirted with sub-€20 levels on Wednesday despite the market comfortably absorbing a bumper auction, as data showed speculators were further building their net short positions.

One of China’s leading bike-sharing brands has become the first in the country to earn compliance grade carbon credits for its business.

China on Wednesday promoted vice minister Huang Runqiu to be its new ecology and environment (MEE) minister, a move observers say means preparation work for the national carbon market can continue but limits the ministry’s ability to shape policy.

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

The EU ETS is 'fit for purpose' to deliver the bloc's current climate objectives, even despite the effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, but it will struggle to deliver the long-term ambitions under the European Green Deal in its current shape, according to a report released Tuesday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday reiterated her support for a more ambitious EU emissions reduction target for 2030, and along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged fellow lawmakers to ensure that the bloc’s Green Deal is a central and guiding component of Europe’s post-coronavirus recovery plan.

California gasoline consumption declined year-on-year in January while diesel sales rose over the month, but the statewide ‘shelter-in-place’ order implemented in March to quell the spread of the coronavirus is expected to cause those figures to plummet.

Emissions in the EU ETS this year will plunge by twice as much as previously thought, analysts have estimated amid predictions of a major economic contraction for the bloc in 2020 due to the coronavirus.

New England ISO (NE-ISO) electricity generation slid during the first quarter amid the COVID-19 pandemic, likely reducing entities' compliance obligations in the US Northeast RGGI ETS, data suggests.

Three dozen California lawmakers asked Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday to hold firm on environmental and public health regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic, citing industry attempts to utilise the virus outbreak to weaken those policies.

Brussels will delay its assessment of the bloc’s 27 National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) initially scheduled by June, as four countries have not yet submitted their own roadmaps, Croatia’s environment minister said on Tuesday.

EUAs dipped below €20 early on Tuesday amid a weakening technical outlook and sliding energy prices, but climbed back following a stronger auction.