Summary
Today’s edition is mainly dedicated to carbon markets, with infos (in the Lead stories section) on the fact that traders expect EU prices to rise next year, and figures on initiatives in carbon pricing, valued at nearly $50 billion by the World Bank (in the Carbon section). And, last but not least, in the Natural gas / coal section, a thrilling story on solar power, poised to overtake shale as an energy source.
Quote of the day
“It is increasingly clear that traditional mechanisms, known technology, policy and rates of innovation will not deliver the change needed to balance energy security concerns within countries and meet global climate targets.”
Christoph Frei, secretary general of the World Energy Council (WEC), in the Guardian’s story Energy industry calls for new emissions targets to aid low-carbon growth
Lead stories
Climate rule would bring power sector’s carbon to historic low
By Timothy Cama – The Hill
The Obama administration’s climate rule for the power sector would bring that industry’s carbon dioxide output to its lowest level in decades.
http://jlne.ws/1RmOWGU
***LB: Also in this story “The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule would cut power plants’ carbon to about 1,500 million metric tons a year by 2025.”
EU carbon market prices expected to rise next year
By Devin Henry – The Hill
For the first time since 2011, traders in the European Union’s carbon emissions market expect the continent’s carbon prices to rise next year, according to a survey of market participants.
http://jlne.ws/1Axmii3
Obama administration pumps $32M into solar industry
By Devin Henry – The Hill
The Department of Energy announced a $32 million funding program to support jobs and research in the solar energy sector on Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/1FObGvA
Energy industry calls for new emissions targets to aid low-carbon growth
By Fiona Harvey – The Guardian
World governments must sign a clear new agreement on greenhouse gas emissions at a crunch conference in Paris this December, leaders of the world’s energy industry have urged.
http://jlne.ws/1ci0NGq
Events
Climate Strategies Forum
ACCO
Washington Marriott Hotel at Metro Center
Washington, DC
June 24-26, 2015
http://jlne.ws/1J3aeGO
EMA Annual Meeting
October 28-30, 2015
Omni Parker House Hotel
Boston, MA
http://bit.ly/192w3CR
Carbon
Carbon Pricing Is Expanding: Initiatives Now Valued at Nearly $50 Billion
World Bank
The new Carbon Pricing Watch compiles the latest data on formal carbon pricing initiatives around the world. Several carbon taxes and one of the world’s largest emissions trading systems started in the past year and a half, and more are planned in the coming years.
http://jlne.ws/1ArYwEn
World Resources Institute Report Outlines US Carbon Pricing Alternatives
By Sandy Dechert – Ecosystem Marketplace
This May, the World Resources Institute, a global research organization spanning over 50 countries, released Putting a Price on Carbon: A Handbook for U.S. Policymakers, an important reference guide that addresses decarbonization and its interaction with many other policy priorities.
http://jlne.ws/1JVbFHV
European Parliament committee approves carbon reform from 2019
Reuters
Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday approved a compromise deal to begin a new reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) from January 2019.
http://jlne.ws/1Bos5ld
Court rejects Kansas appeal in EPA air pollution case
By Timothy Cama – The Hill
A federal court has rejected Kansas’ challenge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) disapproval of an air pollution plan from the state.
http://jlne.ws/1LI0gdH
***LB: Also in this story “Kansas filed the case in 2011 after the EPA decided Kansas did not go far enough in ensuring that its air pollution did not blow to neighboring states as part of the agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.”
Why India is captured by carbon
By David Rose – The Guardian
Beneath a sky made opaque by billowing dust, a mechanised shovel driver steered his vehicle toward the vast wall of an open coal mine.
http://jlne.ws/1FOaQPt
World’s least-polluting nations aim to set Paris climate bar high
By Megan Rowling – The Nation
If your country were responsible for only 0.
05 percent of the world’s climate-changing emissions, you might not think it worth making a plan to curb that pollution – especially when you still need to get electricity to much of your population. But the Gambian government thinks otherwise.
http://jlne.ws/1HKkDrU
Edinburgh University to divest from major fossil fuel companies
By Jessica Shankleman – BusinessGreen
The University of Edinburgh has revealed plans to dump its shares in three of the world’s largest fossil fuel producers within the next six months, despite voting against plans to shift around £9m of investments away from oil, gas and coal into cleaner energy sources.
http://jlne.ws/1LHZai6
Natural gas / coal
Solar as Fastest Growing U.S. Power Source Rivals Shale Boom
By Naureen Malik – Bloomberg News
Move over shale. The sun is now the fastest growing source of U.S. electricity.
http://jlne.ws/1FCL9jx
Power
Energy oversight body to pay $16M penalty for 2011 blackout
By Devin Henry – The Hill
An electricity grid oversight body will pay $16 million to settle a dispute with the federal government over its role in a 2011 power outage in California, Arizona and Mexico.
http://jlne.ws/1GCDIe8
Low Carbon Gets $163 Million From Macquarie for U.K. Solar
By Louise Downing – Bloomberg News
Low Carbon, a London-based clean energy investor, received 106 million pounds ($163 million) of debt funding from a unit of Macquarie Group Ltd. to refinance part of its pipeline of U.K. solar-power plants.
http://jlne.ws/1dwQsb9
Water
In Texas, the Race to Build in Harm’s Way Outpaces Flood-Risk Studies and Warming Impacts
By Andrew C. Revkin – The New York Times
The holiday and the type of hazard have changed, but once again fast-growing Texas is seeing outsize (and tragic) impacts from extreme weather events.
http://jlne.ws/1J4sY8T
Nestle’s bottled-water plan faces fight in Oregon
By Alison Vekshin – Bloomberg News
Nestle’s plan to bottle Oregon’s spring water is stoking a fight with lawmakers and environmental activists who say a corporation shouldn’t be allowed to profit from a natural resource as drought spreads across the state.
http://jlne.ws/1At9ARK
Miscellaneous
Seven out of 10 companies would turn their backs on unethical investments, finds PwC poll
By Jessica Shankleman – BusinessGreen
Businesses seeking to raise money will increasingly have to prove their green credentials, according to new research by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) that shows that the vast majority of investors expect responsible investment to become more important during the next two years.
http://jlne.ws/1JVbn3T