BP in 4m Shenzhen permit buy-back, China’s biggest carbon deal to date

BP has signed a buy-back deal with a Shenzhen-based energy producer for 4 million CO2 allowances in what is the biggest deal to emerge in China’s carbon market so far, as some traders look for ways to bank in on the uncertainty surrounding the transition to a national emissions trading scheme.

The UK-headquartered oil major signed the contract with Shenzhen Energy Group at a conference on Saturday, according to an announcement by the China Emissions Exchange, which hosts trading in the city’s pilot ETS.

BP bought the Shenzhen Emissions Allowances (SZEAs) and will sell them back at a fixed price ahead of the June annual compliance deadline.

Read the full story here: Carbon Pulse

China likely to allow banking of pilot CO2 permits, reduce free allocation

China is likely to let allowances from the pilot carbon markets be banked to the national emissions trading system, but will compensate by reduced allocation levels.

Chinese carbon traders are awaiting clarity on what will happen to the millions of surplus allowances from the seven pilot markets when the national ETS launches next year.

Ruling them ineligible in the national market would likely see pilot prices drop to near zero for the next 15 months.

Read the full story here: Carbon Pulse

South Korean CO2 price hits new highs

Prices in the Korean carbon market surged to new all-time highs this week despite recent changes in the administration of the ETS that have brought widespread anticipation that supply will increase.

The offset contract on the Korea Exchange (KRX) rose 10% on Tuesday to close at 17,600 won ($14.59), with 8,300 Korean Carbon Units (KCUs) changing hands.

 

Read the full story here: Carbon Pulse 

South Africa plans to publish National offset scheme rules in April

South Africa aims to publish draft regulations in late April establishing which domestic offset types can be used to comply with the country’s planned carbon tax.

The draft will establish what offset standards – such as the UN’s CDM, Gold Standard or the VCS – will be eligible, as well as a list of project types that emitters are entitled to use, according to Cecil Morden, a senior official in South Africa’s finance ministry.

Offsets from domestic projects within South Africa are likely to be prioritised. 

Read the full story here: Carbon Pulse

JP Morgan strong stance on scaling back investments in coal mining & power generation

JP Morgan has aligned itself with Morgan Stanley & Bank of America in announcing that it will pull back from investing in coal mines and power plants, putting such transactions in the same category as those that support illegal logging or child labour.

The US-headquartered investment bank said it will cease funding new coal-fired power plants in high income OECD countries, adding that “the financial services sector has an important role to play as governments implement policies to combat climate change”.

However, JP Morgan said it would continue to provide financing to new coal plants outside of such countries that employed efficient, low-carbon “ultra-supercritical steam generation” technology.

Read the full story here: Carbon Pulse

GE to build world’s largest commercial biomass-fired power plant

GE recently announced that it has been selected by Mechelen-based Belgian Eco Energy to build the largest greenfield, 100 percent biomass-fired power plant in the world. The plant, which will be powered by wood chips and agro residues, will generate approximately 215 megawatts (MW) of clean energy for the industry and nearby households reaching over 60 percent efficiency when operating in cogeneration mode. 

BEE’s new plant also will be fitted with a district heating system of approximately 110 MW thermal energy to supply heating to industries and households in the city of Ghent, Belgium. Commercial operation is planned for 2019.

ead the full story here: Biomass Magazine 

Sumitomo invests in Cosan’s sugarcane pellet business

Sumitomo Corp. recently signed a contract to acquire up to 20 percent of Cosan Biomassa S.A., a subsidiary of the world’s largest sugar and ethanol company, Cosan S.A.Industria e Comercio, and producer of sugarcane pellets for power generation.

“Brazil is already among the largest producers and exporters of agricultural commodities in the world.  Pelletized biomass is a new commodity being created to serve the low carbon economy,” said Mark Lyra, Cosan Biomassa CEO.

Read the full story at Biomass Magazine 

 

 

Interest in US ethanol surges in Mexico

Interest from Mexican buyers in US ethanol imports is growing, with purchases increasing 1,756% from 2006 until last marketing year.

According to the US Grains Council (USGC), in 2006/2007 Mexico bought just 6.8 million litres of US ethanol, while during the 2014/2015 marketing year purchases were 126.5 million litres.

Read the full story here: Biofuels-news.com 

Death of US Supreme Court justice may improve odds for Clean Power Plan

The sudden death of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday has ended the court’s conservative majority, making it harder for opponents of President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan to block the measure through litigation.

The justices last week voted 5-4 , and in line with their ideological leanings, in support of a request from a coalition of nearly 30 mainly Republican-led states to stay implementation of the CPP until a handful of lawsuits against the plan had been decided, effectively putting a hold on the EPA initiative to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, the foundation of the country’s climate pledge under last year’s Paris Agreement.

Scalia was one of the court's most right leaning justices, openly questioning whether GHGs should be treated in a similar way to other pollutants. 

Read the full story here: Carbon Pulse 

Korean Carbon offset prices jump to record high in rare trade

Korean Carbon Units (KCUs), the offsets eligible for use in the nation’s emissions trading scheme, jumped 9.5% on the Korea Exchange (KRX) on Wednesday to close at 15,000 won ($12.24), a record high.

The main supply of offsets in the Korean carbon market comes from CERs that are cancelled from the UN registry and re-issued as Korean Offset Credits (KOCs), which can them be converted into KCUs. So far, near 6 million CERs have been converted into offsets for use in the Korean ETS.

Read the full story here: Carbon Pulse

 

North Dakota granted a request to delay enforcement of the U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan, EPA continues to stand firm.

On Feb. 9, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a request to delay enforcement of the U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan until legal challenges are resolved, but despite these challenges the EPA is standing firm.  

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest issued a statement on the Supreme Court’s decision on Feb. 9. “We disagree with the Supreme Court's decision to stay the Clean Power Plan while litigation proceeds,” he said in the statement. “The Clean Power Plan is based on a strong legal and technical foundation, gives States the time and flexibility they need to develop tailored, cost-effective plans to reduce their emissions, and will deliver better air quality, improved public health, clean energy investment and jobs across the country, and major progress in our efforts to confront the risks posed by climate change. We remain confident that we will prevail on the merits. Even while the litigation proceeds, EPA has indicated it will work with states that choose to continue plan development and will prepare the tools those states will need.  At the same time, the administration will continue to take aggressive steps to make forward progress to reduce carbon emissions.”

Read the full story here: Biomass Magazine 

SSE announces UK coal plant Fiddler's Ferry closure

Scottish utility SSE has announced plans to shut down three units at its Fiddler’s Ferry coal-fired power plant in spring 2016, with the fourth unit at Britain’s eighth biggest emitting installation potentially being closed in 2017.

With a total generation capacity of nearly 2 GW, Fiddler’s Ferry emitted 6.86 million tonnes of CO2 in 2014, according to EU data, or more than 3% of the UK’s total emissions under the EU ETS that year. The plant’s CO2 output has been on the decline, falling from 8.45 million in 2013 and a peak of 9.14 million in 2012, and its closure will further dampen already weak utility demand for carbon units.

Read the full story here: www.carbon-pulse.com 

 

Guangdong becomes China’s first carbon market to approve forward trading

The Guangdong emissions exchange has become the first in China to release rules for forward trading in carbon, though all deals must be negotiated over the counter (OTC) as screen-based forward trading is banned in the country’s regional pilot schemes.

The exchange published the rules on its website in a bid to formalise a trading practice that, according to sources, some market participants have already been informally undertaking as the markets in China grow.  

The National ETS in China is due to begin in 2017.

Read the full story here: www.carbon-pulse.com

Kingdom Pellet plans for a new Vermont plant

A new pellet miil is planned for the site of the former Gilman paper mill , reusing some of the existing assets and providing jobs for 21 new roles. The plant is designed at a “community scale" using local materials within a  30 mile radius at sustainable levels, and using the existent infrastructure of loggers and truckers. The plan is for a 30,000-ton, super premium-grade softwood pellet mill.

Read the full story in Biomass Magazine here: www. biomassmagazine.com

 

Tradition celebrates the launch of its new environmental markets group, Tradition Green.

London, 2015

Tradition, one of the world’s largest interdealer brokers in commodity and financial products, is pleased to announce the launch of Tradition Green, a business “hub” which brings together all environmental products brokered by Tradition under one brand.

Tradition Green will offer brokerage services in a range of environmental markets, including biofuels, CO2 allowances, US regional emissions programmes, and renewable energy certificates, and is expanding its services to include biomass, including wood chips and wood pellets. It will also offer execution services under the newly launched wood pellets contract on the Paris-based Euronext Exchange. 

In addition to brokerage services, Tradition Green will also offer specialist consultancy services within the environmental markets, and project finance for new renewable energy projects in Europe in co-ordination with its London-based affiliate, AllMerus Energy. 

Tradition Green has been established to provide client focused services under a broad umbrella, co-ordinating expertise from the established businesses, and introducing fresh opportunities to clients in the form of new products. 

Further information about the products covered are available on the new Tradition Green website www.traditiongreen.com. 

—

About Tradition

Compagnie Financière Tradition SA, one of the world's largest interdealer brokers in over-the-counter financial and commodity related products. Represented in 28 countries, Compagnie Financière Tradition SA employs 2,200 people globally and its activities are overseen by global regulators including the FCA, SEC and CFTC. Compagnie Financière Tradition SA is listed on the Swiss stock exchange. For more information, please visit www.tradition.com. Tradition Green is a registered trade mark of Compagnie Financière Tradition S.A. 

Abengoa Seeks Sale of Biofuels Assets

Abengoa SA, the Spanish renewable energy developer on the verge of insolvency, will seek to sell its biofuel business as part of a debt restructuring plan to avoid bankruptcy.

A plan presented Jan. 25 to the board establishes “the sale of all non-core assets including all the first generation biofuel ones," the Seville, Spain-based company said in an e-mailed statement. “The feasibility plan also establishes a company which will have revenues in the next few years of about two thirds those of 2014."

Read the full story here: http://www.bloomberg.com

Fossil fuel burning 'postponing next ice age', The Guardian

Climate change is altering global cycles to such an extent that the next ice age has been delayed for at least 100,000 years, according to new research identifying Earth’s deep-freeze tipping point

Humanity’s burning of fossil fuels is postponing the next global ice age for at least 100,000 years, according to new research that has discovered the tipping point which plunges the planet into deep freezes.

Showing that human activity, via climate change, can alter global processes like ice ages is compelling evidence that the planet has entered a new geological epoch, dubbed the Anthropocene, according to scientists.

Read the full story here: The Guardian