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Net-zero emission targets are the new normal for both governments and businesses. But achieving them is often a different story. Certain emissions are difficult to avoid easily, so neutralising them by investing into climate action projects in developing countries has become a fixture in many companies' climate plans.
The planned carbon border levy should be rolled out for imports of steel, iron, cement, fertilizers, aluminium and electricity, leaked EU draft documents read.
The European Commission’s formal proposal for the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is expected on July 14. Countries outside the European Union like Turkey are preparing for the tax, and some steps are also being taken by indivitual Western Balkan countries.
According to leaked documents obtained by Euractiv, the EU is considering a transitional period of three years. The start is set for 2023 and a full application for 2026. The draft is subject to change before publication.
Britain will start its own market for trading fossil fuel emission permits this week, but with no sign of a link to the European Union's market, prices could end up being more volatile than the EU's. When Britain left Europe at the end of 2020, it also quit the EU’s carbon market. The two sides agreed in a post-Brexit trade deal to give “serious consideration” to linking their carbon markets, allowing permits to be traded between them to create one shared carbon price. But with the British ETS about to launch, there is no sign of negotiations starting on a link – stoking fears among emitters that separate schemes could put British and EU firms on an uneven footing.
Carbon offsets offer a fantasy of capitalism without crises
Governments, companies and sometimes entire sectors are increasingly proposing to use carbon offsets in response to the deepening climate crisis. In theory, offsetting allows organisations to compensate for their own emissions by paying towards low-carbon projects elsewhere, but the practice has been mired in scientific problems and scandals, and it has been widely critiqued in the social sciences.
The European Parliament has rejected proposals to phase out free CO2 pollution credits for industries covered by the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), even as the bloc plans to gradually replace the scheme with a carbon levy at its border.
How should the EU reach its 55% emissions reduction goal for 2030: Strengthening the existing policy architecture with effort sharing and national targets, or moving to a European-wide carbon pricing system with no national binding targets? A new study explores how keeping the system of national sectoral targets would lead to greater reductions of GHGs and higher energy savings.
Public demand and spending can help with economy-wide decarbonization by creating market preferences for low-carbon products. The question is what will drive demand to favor such buying decisions.
The carbon economy amplifies racial, social and economic inequities, creating a system that is fundamentally incompatible with a stable future
There's a lot of delusional talk about how much "carbon budget" (or new emissions) are allowable that would still keep global heating to the Paris target.
Explicit carbon pricing systems - a tax or a carbon market - continue to develop around the world. In the 2020 edition of its Global Carbon Accounts, I4CE presents the main trends and provides an overview of these public policies: the countries that have adopted them, the sectors covered, the price levels, the revenues generated and what is being done with them. Find all this information in graphics.
Every country in Europe has seen electricity demand decrease by 2 to 7% week-on-week as coronavirus-related confinement measures were enforced, according to new research by Ember, a climate think tank. Some analysts are now calling for urgent measures to prevent the EU carbon market from collapsing.
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After years of debate, the European Commission has unveiled its proposed carbon border levy. It is bold, complicated, controversial – and its prospects are far from certain.
With voluntary carbon markets poised to grow exponentially this decade, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) aims to help ensure that credibility concerns are addressed so that these markets fulfil their potential to support the goals of the Paris Agreement.
VCMI will do this by working on a number of critical gaps in voluntary carbon market integrity – building solid foundations as the market scales.
Europe will apply its emissions trading scheme to buildings and transport, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a summit of world leaders on Thursday (22 April), setting the stage for the EU’s planned overhaul of its carbon market. The EU’s carbon market is the backbone of its plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The scheme forces power plants and industry to buy permits when they emit CO2, effectively putting a price on pollution. Companies can buy and sell these CO2 permits on the carbon market, known as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
An astonishing global shift is under way: 127 countries have now stated that by mid-century their overall emissions of carbon dioxide will be zero. That includes the EU, US, and UK by 2050 – and China by 2060. Companies are enthusiastically signing up to similar “net zero” goals. Finally the international community seems to have accepted the scientific fact that we need to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere to stabilise our climate. Dare we hope that the climate crisis can be brought under control?
What is the world’s remaining “carbon budget”? Or, how much more CO2 can the Earth take before we know we’ll miss our 1.5oC (and 2oC) goals for 2050. Making those calculations is not easy and IPCC benchmark estimates inevitably include levels of uncertainty in the final answer. Kasia Tokarska at the ETH Zurich Institute and Damon …
L'Allemagne lance deux projets phare de sa transition énergétique. Elle lance la facturation de chaque tonne de CO2 émise par les transports et les habitations et la sortie progressive du charbon avec la fermeture d'une 1ère unité de centrale thermique. Dans les deux cas, ces mesures sont le fruit de longues négociations politiques de la coalition d'Angela Merkel, sous la pression des défenseurs du climat qui jugent que les décisions ne sont pas assez ambitieuses.
For years, the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the EU’s flagship policy to tackle global warming, was considered a flop. Brussels had distributed too many free emission allowances…
Tradable Energy Quotas rationfossil fuel energy use for nations by either a contracting carbon emission budget or scarce fuel availability
According to a new report from the National Grid, the UK's electricity system could become negative by 2033 if carbon capture technology is used alongside renewable energy generation.
The electricity operator set out its vision for an “emissions negative” grid that would see 11m electric vehicles by 2030, and as many as 8m energy-efficient homes converting to heat pumps instead of boilers by 2050.
The main topic for the German Presidency - starting today – is the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. In its presidency programme, the German government promises to use the crisis in order to question the current status quo and to better prepare for the future. Topics prioritised in the programme are climate change, digitalisation and a changing work environment.
The Coalition for Energy Savings shares three comments on the programme of the German Council Presidency, on building renovations, carbon pricing, and sustainable digitalisation.
The United Kingdom has put forward its own new UK-wide Emissions Trading System (ETS) to replace the European Union’s system for trading carbon emissions, which Britain will leave at the end of this year as the Brexit transition period ends.
The COVID-19 crisis should strengthen Europe’s resolve to achieve the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement by triggering policies that maintain fossil fuel prices above a minimum level, French authorities have said.
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