Summary
In today’s edition, big news: Wind power is now the cheapest electricity to produce in both Germany and the U.K., even without government subsidies. It’s the first time that threshold has been crossed by a G7 economy. This doesn’t mean oil won’t exist. The leaders of eight of the world’s top oil companies will meet in Paris next week to explain how they will help combat climate change. Finally, rich countries are more than half way towards delivering $100bn per year to help poor countries tackle the worst impacts of climate change, with climate finance reaching $62bn in 2014. Keep going!
Quote of the day
“Yes, there used to be the poor guys and the rich guys, the polluters and the guys that are feeling the impact. It’s not us and the big guys anymore. It’s everybody together.”
Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum, in the ClimateWire’s story Paris Climate Accord Aims to Speed Transition to Clean Power for All
Lead stories
Paris Climate Accord Aims to Speed Transition to Clean Power for All
By Lisa Friedman – ClimateWire
By the time Ambassador Karl Hood took the microphone on a warm South African evening in December 2011, many hours into a marathon overtime U.N. climate change negotiation, he had just about enough.
http://jlne.ws/1hrjjyO
UN over halfway to $100bn climate finance target
By Jessica Shankleman – BusinessGreen
Rich countries are more than half way towards delivering $100bn per year to help poor countries tackle the worst impacts of climate change, with climate finance reaching $62bn in 2014, according to a major new report.
http://jlne.ws/1OYOeRE
South Korean Economist Selected as New Head of UN Climate Panel
By Iain Wilson – Bloomberg News
South Korean economist Hoesung Lee has been elected the new head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations body responsible for assessing climate science.
http://jlne.ws/1WNP05k
Solar and Wind Just Passed Another Big Turning Point
By Tom Randall – Bloomberg News
Wind power is now the cheapest electricity to produce in both Germany and the U.K., even without government subsidies, according to a new analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). It’s the first time that threshold has been crossed by a G7 economy.
http://jlne.ws/1No7MyA
Oil bosses to meet in latest climate change offensive
By Ron Bousso and Karolin Schaps – Reuters
The leaders of eight of the world’s top oil companies will meet in Paris next week to explain how they will help combat climate change, as part of an offensive ahead of a U.N. summit later this year.
http://jlne.ws/1JTlBgJ
Events
19th Annual Environmental Markets Association Meeting
October 28-30, 2015
Boston
http://jlne.ws/1m8VwTV
EMA Annual Meeting
October 28-30, 2015
Omni Parker House Hotel
Boston, MA
http://bit.ly/192w3CR
2015 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
November 12-13, 2015, Cambridge, MA
http://jlne.ws/1Uxkext
Call For Nominations: Environmental Markets Association
The Environmental Markets Association is calling for nominations for two (2) openings on the Board of Directors for 2015/2016.
If you are interested in running or would like to nominate someone, please call the EMA Headquarters at 202-591-2465
or email lauren@emahq.org
Carbon
California governor signs bill aiming to double energy efficiency
Associated Press
California’s governor on Wednesday signed an ambitious bill to combat climate change by increasing the state’s renewable electricity use to 50% and doubling energy efficiency in existing buildings by 2030.
http://jlne.ws/1jdGHBw
Head of VW in US will tell Congress he knew of emissions rigging in early 2014
By Jana Kasperkevic – The Guardian
Michael Horn, president and CEO of Volkswagen (VW) Group of America, will confirm he knew of the company’s emission rigging issues as early as spring 2014, according to a statement released ahead of a congressional inquiry on Thursday.
http://jlne.ws/1FTGeOY
Natural gas / coal
U.K. Said to Consider Closing All Coal-Fired Plants by 2023
By Alex Morales – Bloomberg News
The U.K. is considering whether to close all of its 12 coal-fired power plants by 2023 as part of its effort to reduce the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, an official with knowledge of the discussions said.
http://jlne.ws/1Pj2OT7
France urged to end coal projects in Turkey
Reuters
Environmental lobby groups on Wednesday urged French President Francois Hollande to force state-owned utility Engie to stop investing in coal projects in Turkey.
http://jlne.ws/1JTmypr
The Coal Market Is Even Worse Than People Thought, Glencore Says
By Ben Sharples – Bloomberg News
The slowdown across global economies is exacerbating a coal glut that’s driven prices for the fuel to the lowest level in eight years, according to Glencore Plc.
http://jlne.ws/1OXJDio
***LB: Also in this story “The market continues to re-balance amid weaker than forecast demand, said Peter Freyberg, Glencore’s head of coal, according to the e-mailed text of his speech delivered in Newcastle, Australia. The mining company, which in February announced it would cut Australian output by 15 million metric tons this year and delay some projects, will continue to review its operations to find ways of saving money, Freyberg said.”
Power
Wind and solar keep getting cheaper and cheaper
By Chris Mooney – Washington Post
A new analysis suggests that we continue to move into a world in which it makes more economic sense to draw electricity from the sun or the winds, rather than from fossil fuels.
http://jlne.ws/1QZZhHF
***LB: Also in this story “That presents an increasingly favorable comparison with fossil fuels — though it still depends greatly on where you are located. Coal-fired electricity cost $75 per megawatt-hour in the Americas, but $105 in Europe. Gas-fired generation cost $82 in the Americas and $118 in Europe, on average, the report found.”
GOP senator looks to end wind power subsidy
By Devin Henry – the Hill
A Republican senator wants to end a key wind power tax credit once and for all. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced a bill Wednesday to end certain renewable energy tax credits, including the Production Tax Credit (PTC) used by the wind power industry.
http://jlne.ws/1hrjLgt
G.E. to Spin Off New Energy Technologies in One Company
By Diane Cardwell – The New York Times
General Electric, which has been moving to shed a number of divisions and return to its roots as an industrial behemoth, is creating a company to house developing energy businesses, executives said Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/1FTHEsO
Li Ka-Shing’s CKI Sweetens Power Assets Bid to $12.4 Billion
By Aibing Guo – Bloomberg News
Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. raised its offer for Power Assets Holdings Ltd. to $12.4 billion in stock as Li Ka-shing seeks to combine his utility businesses for further expansion.
http://jlne.ws/1j9lVlV
Turbine maker Nordex to buy Acciona’s wind power business
Reuters
German wind turbine maker Nordex is buying Spanish firm Acciona’s wind power business for 785 million euros ($882 million) in cash and shares to create a global player in the wind energy market.
http://jlne.ws/1VEAxLJ
German households face rising green power surcharge
Reuters
A green energy surcharge levied on German consumers to support renewable power generation is likely to rise next year, despite government efforts to rein in the costs of the planned transition to a low-carbon economy, green energy group BEE said on Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/1FXt1Vc
Clean tech
Can Tesla downshift from $130,000 SUVs to mass market electric cars?
By Benjamin Preston – The Guardian
On 21 September, Tesla’s chief executive and founder, Elon Musk, used all the tricks in his showman’s book to launch the company’s latest all-electric vehicle, the Model X, at the company’s San Francisco Bay headquarters.
http://jlne.ws/1OYPsML
Water
U.S. court orders EPA to rewrite ship ballast water dumping rules
By Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
A federal appeals court in New York ordered the government to rewrite its rules regulating the discharge of ballast water by ships, in a victory for environmental groups that said the rules were too lenient and threatened the nation’s waterways.
http://jlne.ws/1Zdrhxz