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…
As the global efforts to cut CO2 pollution from ships hit the wall, regions and countries must step up. In Europe, work to bring the sector under the bloc’s carbon market is ongoing, but slowing down. Earlier this month, the UN shipping agency International Maritime Organisation (IMO) approved a draft plan to cut CO2 pollution…
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…
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’…
Airlines have been hit hard by the pandemic induced economic slowdown and travel restrictions, but are also using the situation as an excuse to lobby even harder against climate regulations. As the EU works on its aviation climate package, it must ensure that – like other transport modes – the sector pays for its pollution…
Ambitious EU/China climate news muted amid COVID chaos Dear members, friends & colleagues, Welcome to this quarter’s edition of the Watch This, a civil society newsletter by Carbon Market Watch. In this edition we look at some big climate announcements that have struggled to get the recognition they deserve during these increasingly troubling times. In an interview with my…
Interview with Agnese Ruggiero In a ‘normal’ year last month’s big climate announcements by Europe and China would have been a major international talking point, sadly this year is nothing but normal! First, the EU Commission during the State of the Union speech set out a plan to raise the block’s 2030 GHG reduction target…
Extending the EU carbon market to cover buildings and transport would not reduce emissions but could undermine existing legislation and risk instability on the market. Last week, the European Commission published its proposal for a higher EU 2030 climate target of at least 55% along with a plan for getting there in practice. As a…
COVID recovery needs environmental strings attached Dear members, colleagues and friends, Recent months have been testing times for so many, as the global pandemic continues to pull on the very fabric of our societies. While many countries around the world continue to battle the health crisis, others are already looking at how their economies can start to recover from the impact. What should a COVID recovery…
Under the Paris Agreement coal phase out commitments are a necessity if we are to meet the goal of staying below 1.5C warming. In recent years the world has witnessed increased divestment from coal and several OECD countries have already committed to dates by which they will no longer use coal for electricity generation. For…
Kaisa Amaral, Communications Director
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