German China UER probe involves 6mn t CO2e
The German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) said today its investigation into possible fraud in the upstream emission reduction (UER) market involves certificates for around 6mn t of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), of which two thirds could be recovered if needed.
The UBA has been investigating UER projects in China since September 2023 on suspicion that many either do not exist or cannot generate the appropriate amount of certificates to be counted towards the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction quota. This has almost completely halted trade in UER credits.
The UBA has identified 45 projects with certificate capacity of around 6mn t CO2e. Of these, 1.3mn t CO2e have not been issued, and 2.6mn t CO2e have been issued but can theoretically be recovered. The remaining 2.1mn t CO2e are associated with completed projects that cannot be recovered or deleted.
The latter would be "cases for the public prosecutor's office," the UBA said.
Any reclaim procedure is dependent on irregularities being proven, and will mean the UER certificates are deleted, the UBA said. An issuer must purchase new certificates to compensate for its missing GHG savings or pay a penalty of €600/t CO2e.
But retrieving certificates that have been traded involves proving that the buyer, typically a fuel supplier, has intentionally acquired fraudulent certificates, the Federal Environment Ministry (BMUV) told Argus.
The UBA is examining 35 new project entries for 2024. It is unclear how many certificates will be available on the market in 2024 and 2025. The application for new projects ended on 1 July, and the crediting period for UER evidence ends on 1 September 2025, according to the UER regulation.
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US SAF stakeholders call for coordinated support
US SAF stakeholders call for coordinated support
Monterey, 16 September (Argus) — Government needs to provide stronger and more harmonized regulation to encourage sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production in the US, according to a number of industry stakeholders. The high cost of SAF compared with conventional jet fuel requires federal and state regulatory policy to help minimize risks for SAF plant investors, said Bruce Fleming, chief financial officers of SAF producer Montana Renewables at the Argus North American Biofuels, LCFS and Carbon Summit today. But while there is broad support, a "tapestry of different regulations, with important details materially at odds" is creating an unstable regulatory environment, he said. Producers have a roughly 10-year recovery period on investments, according to Fleming, so investors require long-term certainty of their return through offtake agreements and support from lawmakers, but this has thus far been inconsistent . On a federal level, there's a "donut hole" in the proposed switch in incentives from the current blenders' tax credit to the new 45Z clean fuel production tax credit which is due to be implemented from 1 January 2025, said Fleming. But detailed guidelines for the new credit have not yet been released, and it is only guaranteed until 2028, rather than for the 10 or more years that would smooth investors' risk profile. Meanwhile the Environmental Protection Agency has signaled it will miss its statutory deadline to [finalize 2026 biofuel blending targets , creating further confusion, Fleming said. Mismatch internationally, locally US policies are also somewhat at odds with other regions, notably the EU which is mandating 2pc SAF in the jet fuel mix from next year, which could draw US volumes away from the domestic pool. On a local level, different US states are going at different speeds with regards to their low carbon fuel standard programs and the feedstocks they will accept, injecting further complexity in the calculations for SAF producers and airlines. Illinois, for example, is implementing a $1.50/USG credit but is capping the volume of soybean-derived SAF and making it only available to airlines operating in the state rather than producers — at odds with similar schemes in California, Washington and Oregon. Tax incentives also need tweaking to encourage flexibility in manufacturers to produce SAF rather than renewable diesel, said Sean Newsum, Airlines for America Managing Director of Environmental Affairs. Renewable diesel consumption has grown so quickly in markets such as California because the mix of RINs and LCFS credits essentially meant customers are paying no premium for the product over fossil fuel diesel, Newsum said. Now even stronger incentives are required to lower the final cost airlines are paying for SAF to close the price gap over jet fuel, and push producers towards renewable aviation rather than road fuels. The uncertain regulatory environment means the US is due to fall far short of its SAF Grand Challenge target to supply 3bn USG/yr in the domestic market by 2030, according to speakers at the conference and Argus analysis, rising up to 35bn USG/yr by 2050. There is 3.5bn USG/yr of SAF production capacity planned by 2030, according to Argus data, but only around 90mn USG/yr is currently operational and 535mn USG/yr of the planned projects are categorized as "firm" — meaning there is a relatively high degree of confidence they will move forward. The rest are either seen as only "provisional" or "very provisional" given the difficulty in answering the risk questions posed. By Amandeep Parmar Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Judge blocks federal flaring rule in 5 states
Judge blocks federal flaring rule in 5 states
Washington, 13 September (Argus) — A federal judge has blocked the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from enforcing restrictions on the volume of natural gas that can be lost to flaring on federal lands in North Dakota, Montana, Texas, Wyoming and Utah. Those states were likely to prevail in a lawsuit that said BLM was "arbitrary and capricious" in finalizing a rule that limited the amount of natural gas that producers could flare on federal land, US District Court for the District of North Dakota judge Daniel Traynor in North Dakota wrote in an order on Thursday. The judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the rule in those states while the litigation is pending. BLM said it was reviewing the court's ruling. The ruling deals another blow to BLM's efforts to stop operators from flaring vast amounts of natural gas on federal land without paying any royalties. The agency tried to limit the practice through a rule in 2016, but a federal judge blocked those limits in 2020 for veering too far into climate policy, rather than focusing on a mandate to prevent waste of natural resources. BLM's latest attempt at the rule sought to limit leaks from oilfield equipment, in addition to imposing strict limits on "royalty-free" flaring that would have started to apply in December. The agency expected the rule would capture an additional 1.2mn cf/d of natural gas and generate an additional $51mn/yr in royalties. Traynor, in his ruling, said the flaring restrictions and other parts of the rule "add nothing more than a layer of federal regulation on top of existing federal regulation" and was not "reasonably explained". The judge faulted BLM for differences in the regulatory treatment of flaring and venting — releasing gas directly into the atmosphere — even though the two practices would result in the same volumes of natural gas lost to waste. Oil and gas producers largely opposed BLM's regulations, which they argued were duplicative of other regulations and would raise operating costs. US senator John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) said the court ruling was welcome for stopping "overregulation that is handcuffing our domestic energy producers". Routine flaring is set to be largely prohibited under a separate methane rule from the US Environmental Protection Agency, but that rule will not fully take effect until 2029 at the earliest. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Fulcrum Bioenergy files for Chapter 11 relief
Fulcrum Bioenergy files for Chapter 11 relief
New York, 13 September (Argus) — A US company that had set ambitious plans to convert garbage into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and attracted investments from major airlines and energy companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. Fulcrum Bioenergy and subsidiaries filed for relief before the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Monday, estimating outstanding obligations to over 200 creditors at more than $456mn. A lawyer representing Fulcrum, Robert Dehney, said at a Thursday hearing that the company was on the verge of declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which typically involves liquidation of assets, before a late-breaking bid from an interested company prompted a change in plans. Fulcrum chief restructuring officer Mark Smith said in a declaration to the court that the company wants to initiate the sales process and move through the chapter 11 process on an "expeditious timeline." Judge Thomas Horan on Thursday preliminarily approved various first-day motions, including a request to continue paying Fulcrum's handful of remaining employees. Fulcrum began initial operations at its flagship Nevada facility in 2022, becoming the first company to commercialize a clean fuels pathway based on gasifying garbage and signing offtake agreements with BP, United Airlines, and others. The process at the Nevada site involved receiving and sorting landfill waste, converting that to a synthetic crude oil through a gasification process, and then sending that feedstock to a Marathon Petroleum refinery to be processed into a usable low-carbon fuel. Fulcrum eventually wanted to be able to upgrade the synthetic crude into SAF on site. An archived version of the Fulcrum website, which is no longer online, also set plans for eventual biorefineries and feedstock processing facilities in Indiana, along the US Gulf coast, and in the UK and said its suite of facilities could ultimately support 400mn USG/yr of production capacity. But Fulcrum has reported few updates on its progress more recently, and there were signs of financial struggles. Multiple contractors have filed lawsuits alleging missed payments, while UMB Bank indicated in October last year that Fulcrum had defaulted on debt obligations. The Nevada site ceased operations in May and plans for other US facilities are apparently on hold, though filings indicate that Fulcrum has not yet determined whether to begin restructuring proceedings for any subsidiaries outside the US. Fulcrum's business "represents a revolutionary idea," Smith said in his declaration, but "as with all cutting-edge businesses, the cost of innovation has been born through delays in operations and the inability to anticipate issues based on prior ventures and experiences." There were necessary equipment changes after initial operations begun, but these were expensive and affected by supply chain delays, he said. It is unclear how much feedstock was successfully delivered to Marathon, which declined to comment. The Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific, which had signed an offtake agreement with Fulcrum, told Argus that it never received any SAF. Other companies that had signed offtake agreements did not immediately respond to requests for comment or declined to comment. Fulcrum had been soliciting interest from potential buyers for months and finalized an agreement with a company called Switch LTD, which agreed this month to offer a "stalking horse" bid to purchase Fulcrum's assets for $15mn and issue a loan of up to $5mn to fund Fulcrum's bankruptcy cases. A stalking horse bidding method is a way to arrive at a minimum bid price that other prospective buyers then must exceed. Filings before the court this week did not elaborate on the nature of Switch's business or its reasons for wanting to acquire Fulcrum's assets. Dehney described Switch as a "disinterested third party" and said that Fulcrum has received other interest from prospective buyers, some eyeing all of Fulcrum's assets and some just looking at physical property, intellectual property, or the UK subsidiary specifically. Failure to launch The idea of gasifying waste to produce fuel has long been attractive, since feedstock costs would be low and the Fischer-Tropsch chemical process to convert synthetic gas to liquids has been known for decades. Demand for low-carbon alternatives to jet fuel is high among major airlines, some of which have government mandates to meet or voluntary goals to rapidly scale up SAF consumption by 2030. While Fulcrum's Chapter 11 filing "was not really a surprise" given its recent financial troubles, it could give investors pause about future projects aiming to use similar technology, according to BloombergNEF renewable fuels senior associate Jade Patterson. The large majority of SAF capacity currently and the bulk of planned capacity additions through 2030 come from the more established method of hydroprocessing non-petroleum feedstocks like fats, oils, and greases, Patterson said. Efforts to build gas-to-liquids facilities, by comparison, have faced delays and financial challenges. Red Rock Biofuels had aimed for a refinery converting forest waste to begin operations in 2020 , but the company that later acquired the Oregon site at auction is now targeting a 2026 launch for its clean fuels facility. And Fulcrum's plans for converting waste into fuel go back more than a decade, having inked its first deal with a municipal solid waste supplier in 2008. Kickstarting a market for a novel fuel pathway has also not been helped by a dip over the last year for prices of US federal and state environmental credits, which function as a crucial source of revenue for biofuel producers. There is also uncertainty about how much federal subsidy certain fuels will earn when an Inflation Reduction Act tax credit for low-carbon fuels kicks off next year. But other gas-to-liquids companies are marching on — including DG Fuels, whose president told Argus last month that the company plans to reach a final investment decision by the first quarter next year on a potentially 178mn USG/yr SAF plant in Louisiana that will gasify biomass. The company has earlier-stage plans for similar facilities in Maine and Nebraska. By Cole Martin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
UK High Court rules Cumbria coal mine permit unlawful
UK High Court rules Cumbria coal mine permit unlawful
London, 13 September (Argus) — The UK's High Court has quashed planning permission granted in 2022 for a coal mine in Cumbria, northwest England, ruling the approval was unlawful. The court judgment found the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would result if the coal was burned — known as scope 3 emissions — were not properly considered during the planning process. The proposed mine's developer, West Cumbria Mining, said it would produce a "net zero coal product", using methane capture and abatement, renewable power, "tree planting… and offset of minor residual emissions". But the judgment found the secretary of state at the time, Michael Gove, acted unlawfully in accepting that claim. The UK's Climate Change Act does not allow reliance on international offsets to meet the country's legally-binding carbon budgets. The then-Conservative UK government granted permission for the mine — set to produce metallurgical coal, used in steel production — in December 2022 to West Cumbria Mining. Environmental groups Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change sought a judicial review, a challenge to the way in which a decision has been made by a public body, focusing on the procedures followed rather than the conclusion reached. The UK's Labour government, elected in July, said it would not defend the planning decision in court. The government will now have to reconsider the planning application, taking into account the "full climate impact", Friends of the Earth said. "West Cumbria Mining will consider the implications of the High Court judgement and has no comment to make at this time", the company told Argus . Today's ruling referenced a landmark June judgment from the UK's Supreme Court, which found that Surrey County Council's decision to permit an oil development was "unlawful because the end use atmospheric emissions from burning the extracted oil were not assessed as part of the environmental impact assessment". The outcome has prompted the UK government to develop new environmental guidance for oil and gas firms . By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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