EU ETS review proposal earmarks €160 billion for Europe’s largest polluters

by CMWEU carbon marketPosted on Comments are Disabled

Just when everyone started leaving for their summer holidays, the Commission published a legislative proposal to revise Europe’s carbon market to make it fit for the post-2020 period. The proposal was heavily criticized for failing to tackle the fundamental flaws of the EU ETS and increasing pollution subsidies to €160 billion to the EU’s biggest carbon polluters. However, there is still a chance for the European Parliament and Member States to turn the EU ETS into an effective tool to tackle climate change.

New study adds pressure on UN climate talks to address hot air carbon credits

by CMWGlobal marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Brussels, 24 August. A new study by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) finds that bogus carbon offsets issued under the Kyoto Protocols’ Joint Implementation (JI) offsetting mechanism to date have increased global emissions by 600 million tonnes CO2 to date. The study come timely as countries gear up for the next round of UN talks next week in Germany; they will need to work to ensure the new Paris climate treaty is not undermined, as Kyoto was, by hot air carbon credits.

NAMAs

by CMWClimate financePosted on Comments are Disabled

Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) are a mitigation instrument for developing countries to take part in global efforts towards a long-term sustainable strategy for cutting emissions. NAMAs exhibit a great potential as they move away from traditional offsetting and focus on developing countries’ own contribution to global mitigation and sustainable development. They provide a good opportunity for sector-wide and sub-sector policy based emission reductions.

EU ETS review proposal earmarks €160 billion for Europe’s largest polluters

by CMWEU carbon marketPosted on Comments are Disabled

15 July 2015, Brussels. Today’s publication of the EU Emissions Trading System review proposes to increase pollution subsidies to industry to at least €160 billion after 2020. Carbon Market Watch strongly criticizes the proposal for watering down already weak provisions in the EU ETS directive and ignoring the polluters-pay principle.

New loopholes disguised as flexibilities threaten reduction efforts in non-ETS sectors

by CMW2050 climate strategiesPosted on Comments are Disabled

Last week Carbon Market Watch presented new analysis on how (not) to reduce the costs of tackling sixty percent of EU’s greenhouse gas emissions, covered by the Effort Sharing Decision (ESD). The report finds that a wrong design could significantly undermine reduction efforts in the transport, agriculture, buildings and waste sectors until 2030 by up to 28%. Early action on the other hand can lead to an extra one billion tonnes of CO2 reduction in the 2021-2030 period.

China and others announce INDCs more Parties must follow suit

by CMWGlobal marketsPosted on Comments are Disabled

China has announced its Intended Nationally-Determined Contribution (INDC) to the global climate effort, meaning that the three largest emitters – the US, EU and China – have now put their opening bids on the table in advance of the Paris climate talks in December. While it is good that more countries have submitted INDCs, the …

Read more “China and others announce INDCs more Parties must follow suit”

NEWS: Human Rights in the Climate Negotiations: 3 questions asked but much left unanswered – #SB42

by CMWGlobal markets, Human rights in climate actionPosted on Comments are Disabled

During the first half of June, climate negotiators converged in Bonn for two intense weeks of negotiations. With only 6 months left before the Paris COP-21 Conference, negotiations towards the 2015 climate agreement constituted the most important work on-going during this session. But many other key aspects of international climate policy were also on the agenda in Bonn. Throughout these two weeks, negotiators unfortunately made little progress on three main questions to address in relation to the integration of human rights in climate policies.

NEWS: NAMIGMA! – Unraveling the secrets of NAMAs (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions)

by CMWClimate financePosted on Comments are Disabled

For many stakeholders working on climate mitigation, the emerging concept of NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions) remains an enigma. Carbon Market Watch’s upcoming webinar “What are NAMAs and how can civil society organisations benefit from them?” aims to open the door to the many unanswered questions on how NAMAs work and what is the role of public participation in order to empower civil society to contribute and gain from the process.

NEWS: Forestry offsets could turn EU’s 40% climate target into merely 35%

by CMWLand use and forestryPosted on Comments are Disabled

A new report from the Öko-Institut shows that the use of forestry offsets to replace efforts in other sectors would undermine the EU’s 2030 climate target by 5%. The legislative proposal for the land use sector that the European Commission is expected to present early next year should therefore uphold the environmental integrity of the EU’s 2030 climate target by treating the emissions and removals from our forests and soils completely separate from the efforts of other sectors.