Summary
In today’s edition, China could do so well in fighting emissions that it could face pressure to do more, predict Todd Stern. Still on China, operators of two local pilot carbon-trading programs in China are urging designers of a national trading scheme to avoid allocating more emissions quotas than the market needs in order to avoid some of the supply imbalances the European Union has experienced with its own program (in the Carbon section). Finally, in a weird post-mortem twist, we learn that Bin Laden called for Americans to rise up over climate change.
Quote of the day
“In 2020, if anyone can see clearly that China is going to peak its carbon emissions earlier than 2030 and that it will post well above a 65 per cent improvement in carbon intensity, then it will be up to the Chinese government to decide whether to increase targets. But obviously there are going to be a lot of public and international opinions looking forward to additional measures.”
Todd Stern, the US special envoy on climate change, in the South China Morning Post’s story China will face pressure to do more if climate goals ‘too easy’: US official
Lead stories
EU Sees Current Climate Targets as Priority After Paris Deal
By Ewa Krukowska – Bloomberg News
The European Union should focus on enacting rules to meet existing climate targets for 2030 rather than move to stricter goals in immediate reaction to a global pollution-reduction agreement reached last year, according to the EU regulatory arm.
http://jlne.ws/1TT5Gbm
China will face pressure to do more if climate goals ‘too easy’: US official
By Li Jing – South China Morning Post
A senior US climate official said countries that set climate goals that were “too easy” could face international pressure to ratchet them up.
http://jlne.ws/1WVuNtn
Bin Laden called for Americans to rise up over climate change
By Jonathan Landay – Reuters
Osama bin Laden wrote a letter calling on the American people to help President Barack Obama fight “catastrophic” climate change and “save humanity”, in the latest evidence of his worries about environmental issues, newly released documents show.
http://jlne.ws/21EgkZI
***LB: Also in this story “The letter was among materials that were seized in the May 2, 2011, U.S. raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan that killed the al Qaeda chief and which were released on Tuesday by the Obama administration.”
Events
The Wall Street Green Trading Summit
Columbia University Club, New York
March 14, 2016
http://jlne.ws/doFbLA
Northeast RECs Regional Thought Leader Round Table
March 23, 2016
Environmental Markets Association
Office of Dentons, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York
http://jlne.ws/1mg7iOT
Navigating the American Carbon World (NACW) 2016
Climate Action Reserve
May 4-6, 2016
San Diego, California
http://goo.gl/Ah5s1I
CARBON EXPO 2016
Global Carbon Market Fair and Conference
May 25-27, 2016
Cologne
http://jlne.ws/1mg8bqR
Cleantech Innovate Scotland
June 9, 2016
http://jlne.ws/1mg6nOG
Carbon
China Urged to Avoid Excess Carbon Quotas in National Trading
Bloomberg News
Operators of two local pilot carbon-trading programs in China are urging designers of a national trading scheme to avoid allocating more emissions quotas than the market needs in order to avoid some of the supply imbalances the European Union has experienced with its own program.
http://jlne.ws/1QMk0Nx
Natural gas / coal
Statistics From China Say Coal Consumption Continues to Drop
By Edward Wong – The New York Times
China has released new statistics indicating that it used less coal last year than in 2014, lending support to the view that the country, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, may be reaching a peak in coal consumption.
http://jlne.ws/1WVvkf0
Obama’s Not Really Waging a War on Coal — But China Is
By Jake Bleiberg – Vice News
Roughly 1.3 million Chinese workers will climb out of mines in the coming years and file out of coal-fired power plants for the last time.
http://jlne.ws/1TT7O2N
Greenpeace says China increasing coal-fired capacity
By Adam Rose – Reuters
Greenpeace East Asia said on Wednesday that China had a total of 210 coal power projects in the pipeline”for environmental assessment permitting at the end of 2015, despite overcapacity in the industry and pollution concerns.
http://jlne.ws/1SjdAuT
Thousands to march against coal plant threat to Bangladesh’s Sundarbans forest
By Jeremy Hance – The Guardian
Thousands of Bangladeshis will march from the country’s capital, Dhaka, to the world’s biggest mangrove forest next week in protest at plans to build two coal-power plants on the edge of the World Heritage-listed forest.
http://jlne.ws/1LWcA9e
Natural-gas futures sink to 17-year low
By Myra P. Saefong – Market Watch
Natural-gas futures dropped to their lowest level in 17 years on Wednesday with warmer-than-normal weather expected to contribute to a below-average fall in weekly U.S. supplies of the heating fuel.
http://jlne.ws/1Y2MvfQ
Power
This Huge New Solar Farm Near Las Vegas Provides Power—Even At Night
Co.exist
Solar power keeps getting cheaper, but there’s a reason why utilities still turn to fossil fuels: it’s expensive to store solar energy for use at night or on a cloudy day, times when solar doesn’t work.
http://jlne.ws/1QsybrX
China, U.S. Lead Global Boom in Wind Power
By Bobby Magill – Climate Central
Wind power had a big year worldwide in 2015 as China became the leader in wind power production capacity while the U.S. kept its top spot in electricity actually produced from wind turbines, according to new data released by the Global Wind Energy Council.
http://jlne.ws/1oQeeE5
Clean tech
Prime Minister Trudeau Commits $150 Million to Two Cleantech Funds
Cleantech Investing
Justin Trudeau is voicing his support for Canadian cleantech at the opening plenary session of the Glob clean tech conference in Vancouver, where Trudeau and B.C. Premier Christy Clark will discuss environmental innovation and the investment and job opportunities that come with it.
http://jlne.ws/1ninMqh
Citron exec: This is Tesla’s biggest problem
By Fred Imbert – CNBC
Shares of Tesla Motors will have a hard time going higher because of the news surrounding the company, Andrew Left, Citron Research’s executive editor, said Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/1RIg43I
Water
Billions of People Got Clean Water in the Past 25 Years
By Nicole Washington – National Geographic
Around the world, 663 million people don’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s about nine percent of the world’s population.
http://jlne.ws/1WVwEhH