Brazil eyes Cbios, CGOBs integration

Spanish Market: Emissions
02/12/24

Brazil is considering integrating its biomethane certificate of guarantee of origin (CGOB) to Cbio decarbonization credits, as biomethane plants will be eligible to generate both.

The fuel of the future bill's approval established a mandatory biomethane blend into natural gas pipelines, which can be fulfilled either with the physical molecule or by buying the newly proposed CGOBs.

As a result, natural gas producers and importers will have to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 1pc in 2026 through the mandate that starts at 1pc and may increase to up to 10pc in subsequent years. Oil and gas regulator ANP is now leading regulatory discussions on the law.

As biomethane producers are eligible to issue Cbios once authorized under the biofuels carbon credit Renovabio program — also mandatory in Brazil but aimed at motor fuel distributors — there are discussions on how to prevent double counting.

Brazilian biogas producers association Abiogas points out that Cbios and CGOBs represent different concepts: the first acts as a carbon credit, while the latter is a guarantee of origin, so there is no risk of double counting. Additionally, Cbios are not used in companies' GHG emissions reports. "This would not be any different from what happens in the US," Abiogas' president Renata Isfer said. "The low-carbon fuel standard, which is similar to Cbios, is not counted in the inventories, while the US Renewable Fuel Standard, like the CGOB, is." Abiogas said there could be transparency to consumers, so they can opt to buy CGOBs from plants that do not issue Cbios if that concerns them. Critics worry this can lead to double counting and less international acceptability.

The market is also debating whether this certificate will need to be retired to satisfy mandatory buying, as is the case with Cbios, or if buyers will be able to resell CGOBs after purchasing them. Participants again worry this might lead to double counting, as producers and importers would be reselling a credit that has been accounted for in the voluntary market. "Motor fuels distributors will want to do the same with Cbios," a market participant said.

ANP will also have to define biomethane volumes necessary for the target, determine which gas producers and importers are big enough to be a part of the compulsory market and specify how much biomethane a CGOB will represent.

By Rebecca Gompertz

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03/12/24

Treasury eyes 45Z guidance before Biden exit

New York, 3 December (Argus) — The US Department of Treasury said it still plans to issue guidance before president Joe Biden leaves office next year clarifying how refiners can qualify for a new tax credit for clean fuels. The agency "anticipates issuing guidance" around the Inflation Reduction Act's 45Z credit before 20 January to "enable producers to claim the 45Z credit for 2025", disputing a report today that the Biden administration planned on punting implementation to president-elect Donald Trump. The credit, set to kick off regardless on 1 January, will differ from some prior federal incentives by offering greater subsidies to fuels that produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Treasury did not commit to any definitive timeline for releasing guidance, and it did not immediately clarify how thorough any eventual rule would be. Companies in the biofuel supply chain say the current lack of clarity from Treasury — particularly on how it will calculate carbon intensities for various fuels and feedstocks — has slowed first quarter dealmaking. Government guidance could make or break the economics of certain plants, particularly for relatively higher-carbon fuels like soy biodiesel or jet fuel derived from corn ethanol. The US Department of Agriculture's timing for releasing a complementary rule to quantify the climate benefits of certain agricultural practices, envisioned as a way to reward refineries sourcing feedstocks from farms taking steps to reduce their emissions, is unclear. The agency said today that a "rulemaking process" in response to its request for information on climate-smart farm practices is "under consideration" but did not elaborate. Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack had insisted earlier this year that his department would release some package before the end of Biden's term. Some industry groups remain pessimistic that the Biden administration will answer all of the thorny questions still lingering around the 45Z credit, especially given signals earlier this year that other Inflation Reduction Act programs would take priority. The Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol producers, says final regulations around 45Z "seem highly unlikely" before the end of Biden's term but that it hopes Treasury releases at least some "basic information" or safe harbor provisions. Delays getting credit guidance could prod Congress to extend expiring biofuel incentives for another year, including a $1/USG credit for blenders of biomass-based diesel. Some formerly skeptical lobbying groups have recently come on board in support of an extension, fearing that biofuel production could slump next year given the lack of 45Z guidance and uncertainty about how Trump will implement clean energy tax credits. But four lobbyists speaking on background told Argus today that the proposal still faces long odds. Congress has various other priorities for its relatively brief lame duck session, including government funding and disaster aid, that take precedence over biofuels. A staffer with the Democratic-controlled US Senate Finance Committee said last month that Republicans have been reluctant to negotiate tax policy in a divided Congress this year when they are planning a far-reaching tax package under unified Republican control next year. By Cole Martin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Africa attempts to surmount clean cooking obstacles

03/12/24

Africa attempts to surmount clean cooking obstacles

Financial backing and carbon credits could be vital for making LPG more affordable as a clean cooking fuel, writes Elaine Mills Cape Town, 3 December (Argus) — Sub-Saharan Africa still has many of the same intractable challenges to overcome if it is to come close to achieving universal clean cooking access, delegates heard at LPG Week in Cape Town, South Africa. But government support, public-private collaboration, grassroots movements and carbon credits could pry open markets. The IEA is spearheading momentum behind the drive to clean cooking adoption in sub-Saharan Africa, expecting 45pc of the transition to be to LPG. A global transition would result in a net reduction of 1.5bn t of CO2 equivalent by 2030, of which sub-Saharan Africa alone would account for 900mn t, it says. "We can't imagine a more important global initiative in terms of our objectives of development, poverty alleviation, health and prosperity," the IEA's head of sustainable transitions, Daniel Wetzel, said during the World Liquid Gas Association event. Sub-Saharan Africa consumes less than 4kg/capita of LPG per year, according to South Africa's Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. This compares with north Africa's 35kg/yr, including Morocco, which has the highest in the world at 73kg/yr, Argus Consulting data show. The IEA estimates Africa requires investment of $4bn/yr to facilitate clean cooking. The continuing challenge for LPG penetration in southern Africa is "affordability, availability and acceptability", the International Finance Corporation's (IFC's) regional industry manager for manufacturing, Bambo Kunle-Salami, said. An average household needs to spend about $300-400/yr on LPG, while GDP per capita is just over $1,000/yr, he said. Government backing is essential, as "no LPG has grown on its own organically or reached desired levels [without] government intervention", the UN-backed Global LPG Partnership's East Africa director, Elizabeth Muchiri, said. Subsidies can solve cost barriers but many African governments cannot afford them, Kunle-Salami said. It might also encourage cross-border smuggling, so if used they must be targeted to low-income homes with a clear end goal, he said. Some countries have struggled to scale back their LPG subsidies, Wetzel said. But the IEA expects LPG prices to drop sharply later this decade as global demand peaks, allowing markets to reduce subsidies and emerging markets to expand. Kenya has distributed subsidised cylinders to low-income homes, scrapped LPG taxes and introduced mandates on new homes to include LPG infrastructure, Muchiri said. Some banks and retailers have offered microfinancing and pay-as-you-go smart meters on cylinders, she said. Ghana has also provided free cylinders and stoves to those most in need, its National Petroleum Authority director Akua Kwakye said. A cylinder recirculation model was introduced so consumers do not own the cylinders, which improves safety and reduces costs, she said. Logistics and their cost impact are a significant problem in Africa, Kunle-Salami said. "In a healthy market [logistics costs] should be 10-20pc, but in many African countries it is as high as 40-50pc," he said. A lack of storage infrastructure to protect from supply shocks is another issue. This requires significant investment that needs private-public collaboration, Wetzel said. But centralised solutions can only go so far — only grassroots initiatives create trust and acceptance, he added. Credits where they're due The IEA thinks carbon credits have huge potential in making LPG more affordable as a clean cooking fuel owing to the emissions savings and certainty of the verification. Such schemes might yield higher-quality credits than many other carbon-offsetting projects, Wetzel said. Many of the firms IFC finances struggle to understand, let alone access, the carbon market, Kunle-Salami said. But agreements on Article 6 at the UN's Cop 29 climate summit on establishing a global carbon market, and inclusion of clean cooking at the G7 and G20 summits, provide more hope such credits can become important, delegates heard. Nigeria LPG residential demand. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Denmark pledges DKr150mn to Brazil's Amazon fund

29/11/24

Denmark pledges DKr150mn to Brazil's Amazon fund

Sao Paulo, 29 November (Argus) — Denmark will donate 150mn Danish kroner ($21.3mn) to Brazil's Amazon fund, adding the Nordic country to a growing list of nations supporting the South American country's efforts to preserve the Amazon forest. The Amazon fund issues grants to projects that prevent, monitor and combat deforestation while promoting conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon. The fund was created in 2008 and is managed by Brazil's Bndes development bank. It has R4.5bn ($750mn) under management and has supported 114 projects to date. Norway is the fund's largest donor, having pledged R3.5bn, followed by German development bank KfW with R388mn and the US with R291mn. Other donors include the UK, Switzerland and Japan. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Cop 29 Article 6 deal ushers in new carbon markets era

29/11/24

Cop 29 Article 6 deal ushers in new carbon markets era

New NDCs will show how many countries aim to use Article 6 mechanisms towards climate goals London, 29 November (Argus) — Countries concluded nine years of negotiations on UN-level carbon market mechanisms at the Cop 29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month, opening up new avenues for carbon trading that will present both opportunities and challenges for existing systems. Cop 29 ended last week with agreement on the crucial outstanding elements to allow the full operationalisation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which includes two mechanisms designed to help countries co-operate on meeting their emissions cut targets, or nationally determined contributions (NDCs), through carbon trading. Article 6.2 provides for the bilateral trading of so-called internationally traded mitigation outcomes (Itmos) between countries, while Article 6.4 establishes the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM). The mechanisms distinguish themselves from existing carbon markets largely in the rules and methodologies underpinning the credits. Article 6.2 credits will be "correspondingly adjusted", meaning emissions savings cannot be double-counted by the buyer and seller. And Article 6.4 specifically requires the downward adjustment of emissions cut pathways over time, as well as providing environmental and human rights safeguards and a buffer pool to address any reversal of achieved mitigation. This offers potential guidance to other carbon markets, whether existing schemes in need of reform or newly established. The unregulated voluntary carbon market (VCM) has notably suffered a reputational crisis since last year, largely as a result of questions surrounding the integrity of its credits. Brazil's planned emissions trading system is "sure to benefit" from the benchmarks established by Article 6.4, Bruno Carvalho Arruda of the Brazilian foreign affairs ministry said this week. But Article 6 also potentially poses competition to existing systems, if the credits that it issues are perceived to be more robust. "The UN system will not be immune from the same criticisms as the VCM," Switzerland's lead negotiator on international carbon markets under Article 6, Simon Fellermeyer, told delegates at Cop 29. But its basis of legitimacy — an inclusive system, which has been developed over a long period of time — gives confidence to participants and could act as a "guiding star" that other markets could try to align with, he said. Healthy competition There is a role for independent carbon crediting registries, but they will be looking at the UN process for comparison, chair of the Article 6.4 supervisory body Olga Gassan-Zade said following the body's initial adoption of key rules for the mechanism last month. "It's healthy to have competition," she said. The submission of new NDCs under the Paris deal, due in February, should bring some more clarity as to how many countries intend to make use of Article 6 mechanisms towards their goals, as they set out how they intend to meet ever-stricter emissions cut targets, this time for 2035. Some parties, including the EU, have made it clear that they will not use Article 6 to meet their targets under the Paris agreement. But deputy director-general of the European Commission's climate directorate, Jan Dusik, still welcomed the agreement on Article 6.4 at Cop 29 as a "significant achievement", emphasising the "complementary role" it can play for individual member states that want to make additional emissions cuts beyond the bloc's NDC, as well as for EU companies. And the flow of money between regions through Article 6 mechanisms could become all the more vital in light of the $300bn/yr climate finance deal reached in Baku, which is widely regarded as inadequate by developing countries. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Cop: Baku mitigation outcomes disappoint

29/11/24

Cop: Baku mitigation outcomes disappoint

London, 29 November (Argus) — Parties hoping for higher ambition on mitigation — reducing emissions of greenhouse gases — left the UN Cop 29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, last week disappointed, after their attempts to reach an ambitious outcome were thwarted. Eyes now turn to next year's summit in Belem, Brazil, where an uncertain geopolitical context and US unwillingness to engage could make mitigation commitments all the more difficult to achieve. The conference achieved the operationalisation of article 6 of the Paris agreement , which allows for international trading of carbon credits. A new climate financing goal to follow on from the $100bn/yr promise for 2020-25 was agreed, although the amount on offer and terms left recipient countries deeply disappointed. Developed countries had pushed for the conference's outcomes to recommit to and build on the historic pledge made at last year's Cop in Dubai to transition away from fossil fuels. But the declaration of host Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev that fossil fuels are a "gift from god" may have set the tone for the following two weeks of negotiations. Hopes alighted on two texts to have Dubai outcomes reflected at Baku — the UAE dialogue on the global stocktake and the mitigation work programme (MWP). But parties fundamentally disagreed on what these texts should include. An "agenda fight" on the first day of the conference caused the opening plenary to be interrupted, with parties disagreeing on whether the global stocktake should be classed under matters related to finance. A fudge was agreed, leaving the text under finance, but with a footnote. This would "provide reassurance that the placement does not prejudge the outcome," Cop president Azerbaijan's Mukhtar Babayev said. The first draft text, which came out near the beginning of the second week, still contained diametrically opposed visions on what the dialogue could consist of. Reciprocal accusations of cherry-picking flew. Saudi Arabia insisted that "the scope of the dialogue is on finance, and [the draft text] is advancing mitigation-centric cherry-picking." The Arab Group would "never accept" a text centred around positions which attempt to draw mitigation into the UAE dialogue, Saudi Arabia said. New Zealand claimed that the UAE dialogue was advancing on all elements except mitigation, and said such cherry-picking was unacceptable. Parties could not reach agreement, rejecting the final draft presented in the early hours of 24 November, two days after the official end of the summit. Developed countries criticised what they called a lack of ambition, with Switzerland saying the text contained "attempts to backtrack on the commitments taken last year", and Australia saying "some bodies have sought to slow or stymie discussions." Vulnerable developing states opposed the text too, with Fiji calling the result an "affront" to the Paris agreement. The mitigation work programme (MWP) text — the result of a workstream set up at Cop 27 in Egypt to provide a forum for discussing means to reduce emissions — was gavelled through without objections, but significantly watered down from drafts. The final text excised references in the preamble to temperature targets and net-zero carbon emissions, did not refer to fossil fuels, and mentioned emissions reductions only in specific contexts. The MWP final text did not provide guidance or encouragement for high ambition on the upcoming round of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) — the documents in which states set out their climate goals for the coming decade. States have until February 2025 to publish the new versions of these documents, which will set out their plans for emissions reductions to 2035. Instead the text highlighted their "nationally determined" nature, a warning against attempts to impose top-down targets on emissions reductions on other states. Other initiatives on mitigation appeared to fall by the wayside. Azerbaijan in July announced its plans for a $1bn "climate finance action fund" to be provided by fossil fuel-producing states and firms. But the plan received no more mention at Baku. Another presidency pledge, to increase global power-sector energy storage and build or refurbish 25mn km of grid infrastructure made an appearance in a draft UAE dialogue text, but was cut for the final, non-adopted version. The outcome of Cop 29 leaves a " mountain of work " to be done at the next Cop in Belem in 2025, according to UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell. Countries will have published their latest NDCs by then, but without the spur of a strong outcome from Baku pushing towards high ambition. Developed countries had already set their sights on an ambitious outcome on mitigation in Brazil, and the lack of reinforcement of the Dubai outcome this year will make that all the more difficult to achieve. The likely role of the US in next year's talks offers little consolation. The election of Donald Trump in the weeks before this Cop opened threw a spanner in the works. Trump withdrew the US from the Paris agreement during his last term, and has indicated his intention to do so again. But with the withdrawal process taking one year from notification, and Trump not due to be inaugurated until January, the US will once again be present next year, but probably as an unwilling partner. By Rhys Talbot Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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