UK to set up green infrastructure bank

Spanish Market: Electricity, Emissions
03/03/21

The UK will set up a bank aimed at investing in green infrastructure, chancellor Rishi Sunak said today during his 2021 budget announcement.

The bank will be able to deploy £12bn of equity and debt capital and issue up to £10bn of guarantees. It should support up to £40bn of total investment, Sunak said.

The institution, which will be based in Leeds, will begin operating in an interim form later in spring 2021, the budget statement said.

Sunak also said the government would aim to position to city of London as the leading market for voluntary carbon offsets. A new working group will be established to this end.

The carbon price support will remain at £18/t of CO2 equivalent until 2022-23. The tax has accelerated the UK power sector's shift from coal to gas, and keeps the UK power market at a wide premium to continental European markets. The government will also set out additional proposals for expanding the scope of the UK emissions trading system scheme over 2021.

And it was confirmed the UK will issue its first sovereign green bond this summer and look to quickly build out a green yield curve. Green gilt issuances will be a minimum of £15bn in 2021-22, to finance projects aimed at tackling climate change and other environmental challenges.

The government's pledge of funding for new port infrastructure in Teeside and Humberside "to support the next generation of offshore wind projects" was welcomed by industry association RenewableUK as a "gamechanger." Teeside and the Humber were also announced as two of eight "freeports" that will have different customs rules and taxes than the rest of the country. This should drive investment in offshore wind manufacturing, RenewableUK said.

The budget included some smaller green initiatives, including the launch of a £20mn programme to support the development of floating offshore wind technology across the UK, the launch of a new £68mn UK-wide competition to implement several first-of-a-kind energy storage prototypes or technology demonstrators, and a £4mn UK-wide competition for the first phase of a biomass feedstocks programme.

Government advisory body the climate change committee's chief executive, Chris Stark, said there was "not much to say about this budget — a comment in itself."

By Killian Staines

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22/11/24

Cop: Singapore, Peru finalise carbon credit negotiation

Baku, 22 November (Argus) — Singapore and Peru have concluded negotiations on an implementation agreement for carbon credit co-operation aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, at the UN Cop 29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. The countries "substantively concluded negotiations" on 21 November, said Singapore's ministry of trade and industry. The collaboration is aimed at unlocking additional mitigation activities and scaling solutions to advance both countries' climate ambitions. Under the implementation agreement, a framework for the generation and international transfer of Article 6-compliant carbon credits will be established. The framework will include criteria and procedures for transfer between both countries. Negotiators in Baku appear close to a final agreement on Article 6 , which aims to help set rules on global carbon trade. Article 6.2 already allows countries' governments to form bilateral agreements for carbon mitigation projects, the outcomes of which can be traded to contribute towards climate pledges. Mitigation refers to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming. "When the agreement is signed, we look forward to the private sector utilising this agreement to develop carbon credits projects to actualise concrete environmental outcomes," said Singapore's minister for sustainability and environment Grace Fu. The minister is also one of the facilitators, alongside New Zealand, for negotiations on Article 6. Singapore also signed an implementation agreement with Zambia on 19 November at the summit. It has multiple carbon credit deals with other countries, but has only signed implementation agreements with Zambia, Ghana and Papua New Guinea so far. Singapore's National Climate Change Secretariat and the world's largest independent carbon credit registries Verra and Gold Standard last week released initial recommendations outlining the development of a carbon crediting protocol to implement Article 6.2. The recommendations are aimed at helping countries to use Article 6 to achieve their UN climate pledges and sustainable development goals, and provides recommendations on how governments can facilitate an effective Article 6.2 market. If such a framework is not established, "countries could take divergent approaches, which could hinder the implementation, scaling and integrity of co-operation under Article 6.2," said Verra. The protocol will be further developed and published once Cop 29 is concluded, said Verra. It will incorporate decisions from Cop 29 and will be implemented in 2025. By Prethika Nair Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Japan’s Taketoyo to resume biomass co-firing in 2027

22/11/24

Japan’s Taketoyo to resume biomass co-firing in 2027

Tokyo, 22 November (Argus) — Japan's largest electricity producer Jera aims to resume coal and biomass co-firing at the 1.1GW Taketoyo plant in 2027's first quarter, after a fire halted plant operations in January. Jera announced on 22 November that the thermal power plant in central Japan's Aichi prefecture would resume co-firing wood pellets with coal at a rate of 8pc, around the end of the 2026-27 fiscal year ending in March. This will come after its safety measures are completed. The plant's co-firing rate was 17pc before the serious fire, which was caused by an explosion of dust from wood pellets. The company will consider increasing the co-firing rate again in the future, provided safety can be ensured. But the plant will restart coal-only combustion in early January 2025, operating mainly during the summer and winter seasons, when electricity demand is high. Jera will keep operation rates low at Taketoyo and other coal-fired plants when electricity demand is low and rely more on gas-fired generation, to achieve its initial plan to cut CO2 emissions through co-firing at Taketoyo. Taketoyo started co-firing operations in August 2022 and burned around 500,000 t/yr of wood pellets imported from the US and Vietnam. It will burn 200,000 t/yr after it resumes co-firing at 8pc. The plant will slow down the speed of wood pellet conveyors to reduce friction as a part of safety measures, which means it must also reduce its coal and biomass co-firing rate. It is also currently working on other safety measures, such as installing air pressure conveying facilities dedicated to wood pellets and explosion suppressor systems to inject fire extinguishing agents. The outage at Taketoyo has encouraged Jera to boost replacement gas-fired generation, with the extra gas-fired costs accounting for most of the estimated cost resulting from the shutdown, which could be tens of billion yen in the 2024-25 fiscal year ending in March. By Takeshi Maeda Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Brazil congress approves carbon market legislation

21/11/24

Brazil congress approves carbon market legislation

Sao Paulo, 21 November (Argus) — Brazil's lower house approved the creation of a regulated carbon market, which is seen as an essential tool for the country to meet its emissions reduction targets. The senate approved the bill earlier this month . It now awaits the president's signature to become law. The legislation, which has been the subject of legislative debates for more than three years, creates the Brazilian emissions trading system (SBCE) and stipulates that companies with emissions greater than 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e)/yr will be subject to the cap-and-trade system. Companies with emissions from 10,000-25,000 tCO2e/yr will need to report their emissions but will not be required to offset them. The market will help Brazil reach its new nationally determined contribution (NDC), according to vice president Geraldo Alckmin. The new NDC , released earlier this month, stipulates that Brazil will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 67pc from 2005 levels by 2035. Roughly 5,000 companies will be subject to the cap-and-trade system, covering about 15pc of Brazil's emissions, according to finance ministry estimates. The new market will go into effect over a six-year period in five phases. The first phase involves defining the rules that will govern the market, which can take up to two years. In the second phase, companies will be required to measure their emissions, and in the third phase report emissions and present a plan to monitor and reduce them. In the fourth phase, the trading market will begin operating and the first carbon allocation plan will go into effect. In the fifth and final phase, the market will be fully operational. As expected, the agriculture sector was excluded from the regulated market and will not have emissions-reductions targets. The law also exempts waste treatment companies, including sewage treatment and landfill operators if they can demonstrate the use of technologies that neutralize greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation also addresses regulations for the voluntary market, helping finance decarbonization projects in the agriculture and forestry sectors. Brazil has the potential to generate up to $100bn in revenues from the carbon market by 2030, according to a study by think tank ICC Brasil. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Cost of government support for fossil fuels still high

21/11/24

Cost of government support for fossil fuels still high

London, 21 November (Argus) — The cost of government measures to support the consumption and production of fossil fuels dropped by almost third last year as energy prices declined from record highs in 2022, according to a new report published today by the OECD. But the level of fiscal support remained higher than the historical average despite government pledges to reduce carbon emissions. In an analysis of 82 economies, data from the OECD and the IEA found that government support for fossil fuels fell to an estimated $1.1 trillion in 2023 from $1.6 trillion a year earlier. Although energy prices were lower last year than in 2022, countries maintained various fiscal measures to both stimulate fossil fuel production and reduce the burden of high energy costs for consumers, the OECD said. The measures are in the form of direct payments by governments to individual recipients, tax concessions and price support. The latter includes "direct price regulation, pricing formulas, border controls or taxes, and domestic purchase or supply mandates", the OECD said. These government interventions come at a large financial cost and increase carbon emissions, undermining the net-zero transition, the report said. Of the estimated $1.1 trillion of support, direct transfers and tax concessions accounted for $514.1bn, up from $503.7bn in 2022. Transfers amounted to $269.8bn, making them more costly than tax concessions of $244.3bn. Some 90pc of the transfers were to support consumption by households and companies, the rest was to support producers. The residential sector benefited from a 22pc increase from a year earlier, and support to manufacturers and industry increased by 14pc. But the majority of fuel consumption measures are untargeted, and support largely does not land where it is needed, the OECD said. The "under-pricing" of fossil fuels amounted to $616.4bn last year, around half of the 2022 level, the report said. "Benchmark prices (based on energy supply costs) eased, particularly for natural gas, thereby decreasing the difference between the subsidised end-user prices and the benchmark prices," it said. In terms of individual fossil fuels, the fiscal cost of support for coal fell the most, to $27.7bn in 2023 from $43.5bn a year earlier. The cost of support for natural gas has grown steadily in recent years, amounting to $343bn last year compared with $144bn in 2018. The upward trend is explained by its characterisation as a transition fuel and the disruption of Russian pipeline supplies to Europe, the report said. By Alejandro Moreano and Tim van Gardingen Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Cop: Talks in Baku torn between mitigation and finance

21/11/24

Cop: Talks in Baku torn between mitigation and finance

Edinburgh, 21 November (Argus) — Developing and developed nations remain at loggerheads on what progress on climate finance and mitigation — actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions — should look like at the UN Cop 29 climate summit. But Cop 30 host Brazil has reminded parties that they need to stick to the brief, which is finance for developing countries. Concluding a plenary where parties, developed and developing, listed grievances, environment minister Marina Silva recognised "the excellent progress achieved" on mitigation at Cop 28. She listed paragraphs of the Cop 28 deal, including the energy package and its historic call to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems. "We are on the right track," she said, talking about mitigation, but "our greatest obligation at this moment is to make progress with regard to financing". "This is the core of financing that will pave our collective path in ambition and implementation at Cop 30," Silva said, adding that $1.3 trillion for developing countries should be "the guiding star of this Cop". Parties are negotiating a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) — a new climate finance target — building on the $100bn/yr that developed countries agreed to deliver to developing countries over 2020-25. But developed countries insist that a precise number for a goal can only be produced if there is progress on mitigation and financing structure for the NCQG. "Otherwise you have a shopping basket but you don't know what's in there," EU energy commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said. Some developing nations said they need the "headline number first". Some developing countries, including Latin American and African nations as well as island states, have also complained about the lack of mitigation ambition. Cop is facing one of the "weakest mitigation texts we have ever seen," Panama said. But they also indicated that financial support was missing to implement action. Developed countries at Cop 29 seek the implementation of the energy pledges made last year. "What we had on our agenda was not just to restate the [Cop 28] consensus but actually to enhance and to operationalise that," but the text goes in the opposite direction, Hoekstra said, talking about the latest draft on finance. Whether hints that Brazil has mitigation in focus for next year's summit will be enough to assuage concerns from developed countries at Cop 29 on fossil fuel ambitions remains to be seen. The communique of the G20, which the country hosted, does not explicitly mention the goal to transition away from fossil fuels either. The developed countries' mitigation stance grew firmer after talks on a work programme dedicated to mitigation, the obvious channel for fossil fuel language, was rescued from the brink of collapse last week. Discussions have stalled, but another text — the UAE dialogue which is meant to track progress on the outcomes of Cop 28 — still has options referring to fossil fuels. But in these negotiations too, divisions remain. "The UAE dialogue contains some positive optional language on deep, rapid and sustained emissions reductions and the [Cop 28] energy package, E3G said. But Saudi Arabia has made clear that this was unacceptable, while India, which worked to water down a coal deal at Cop 26, is pushing back on the 1.5°C temperature limit of the Paris Agreement. Negotiators are starting to run out of time. Draft after draft, the divide fails to be breached with no agreement on an amount for the finance deal. "We cannot talk about a lower or higher number because there is no number," noted Colombia's environment minister Susana Muhamad. The next iteration should have numbers based on the Cop 29 presidency's "view of possible landing zones". The fact that the draft text on finance has no bridging proposal is a concern, non-profit WRI director of international climate action David Waskow said. Finance was always meant to be the centrepiece of Cop 29. Parties have not formally discussed the goal in more than 15 years, and have been trying to prepare for a new deal through technical meetings for the past two years. But the discussion needs to end in Baku. By Caroline Varin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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