News & Press
By Daniele Rao, Agnese Ruggiero on 30 Mar 2021
Making the industrial pollution law fit for the EU Green Deal
A recent Carbon Market Watch webinar discussed the upcoming revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive in the framework of the European Green Deal. Achieving the goals of the European Green Deal (EGD) will entail driving down greenhouse gas emissions as well as achieving zero pollution and a non-toxic environment by 2050. The upcoming revisions of…
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By Gilles Dufrasne on 23 Mar 2021
Five stories from new voluntary offsets data
The recent uptick in interest for voluntary offsets invokes certain concerns, but it also comes with a few benefits. One of these is the push for more transparency. A new public database tracking information about voluntary offsets from the four largest standards was launched by Trove Intelligence. It adds to similar platforms such as those…
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By Kaisa Amaral, Sam Van den plas on 25 Feb 2021
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger [1]
Two key elements to get right in the EU carbon market review The upcoming revision of the EU carbon market rules is an opportunity to ensure that industries covered by it cut their pollution in line with the EU Green Deal objectives and the Paris Climate Agreement. Agreeing on a faster pace at which emissions…
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By Gilles Dufrasne on 24 Feb 2021
Alternatives to offsetting are no longer fringe
Carbon market stakeholders are slowly moving beyond the zero-sum game of offsetting towards alternative ways of financing climate action. This positive development will make the existing market more robust, helping to shield it from reputational risks and environmental integrity scandals. Offsetting – paying someone else to reduce emissions instead of reducing one’s own – has…
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By Sabine Frank on 28 Jan 2021
The lengthened and stony road to Glasgow
A reminder of the tricky issues of agreement on global carbon market rules in the context of ratcheting up climate ambition Raising ambition is the primordial task for governments ahead of and at the next UN climate conference. But it will also be essential to finally agree on the rules that will govern global carbon…
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By Kaisa Amaral, Gilles Dufrasne on 28 Jan 2021
Companies can do better than offsetting
Relying on paying someone else to reduce emissions is risky and unsustainable. Therefore, private companies should stop “offsetting” and instead financially help poorer countries reach their climate targets and foster sustainable development. Voluntary carbon markets are booming as businesses across the world make climate-neutrality pledges. These plans often rely on the purchase of credits from…
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By Kirsten Sleven on 21 Dec 2020
What can we learn from the Dutch national carbon tax?
Guest article by Kirsten Sleven, Director, WISE As the first country in the world, the Netherlands is about to introduce a carbon tax on industrial pollution. The tax is part of a broader policy package (Dutch Climate Agreement) to stimulate major industrial polluters to ‘decarbonize’ their production processes and was drawn up in consultation with…
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By Agnese Ruggiero, Gilles Dufrasne on 25 Nov 2020
EU carbon market report underlines the need to end pollution handouts
While the EU carbon market is helping to clean up Europe’s power sector, industrial CO2 pollution remained stubbornly high, and that from aviation kept growing in 2019. This is partly due to overly generous handouts of pollution permits. These subsidies must be phased out to incentivise cleaner production and more sustainable transport as the scheme…
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By Kaisa Amaral on 25 Nov 2020
What should a carbon border measure look like?
A carbon border adjustment measure can support a clean industrial transition globally if it’s designed properly and fairly. It must replace all current EU pollution handouts and its revenues must be used wisely to drive innovation and to provide climate finance to countries that most need it. The EU Commission is preparing the law to…
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By Wijnand Stoefs on 29 Oct 2020
EU Commission waters down carbon market state aid rules to please large polluters
The final EU carbon market state aid rules will ensure massive handouts of taxpayer money to large polluting industries such as oil refineries and plastic producers over the next decade. The EU ETS state aid guidelines for 2021-2030 set the framework for EU countries to compensate their electricity-intensive industries deemed at risk of ‘carbon leakage’…
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