'Huge demand' ahead of carbon exchange: Australia’s CER

Market: Electricity, Emissions
23/02/24

Demand for Australian carbon credits and renewable energy certificates is expected to continue increasing rapidly over the coming years, including voluntary markets, officials at the country's Clean Energy Regulator (CER) said today as they unveiled details about the planned Australian Carbon Exchange.

Cancellations of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) are estimated to have reached around 1mn in 2023 in the voluntary market, a new high and up from approximately 855,000 in 2022, while those for large-scale generation certificates (LGCs) rose to an estimated 4.9mn last year from 3.4mn the previous year, CER's general manager Jane Wardlaw said during a webinar organised by the Australia-based industry group Carbon Market Institute.

While most of the demand for both products comes from compliance obligations under Australia's Renewable Energy Target and Emission Reduction Fund, including the revamped Safeguard Mechanism, companies can also make cancellations against voluntary certification programmes such as the federal government-backed Climate Active or under organisational emissions or energy targets.

The CER is expecting "huge demand" in the voluntary market stemming from Australia's planned stricter mandatory emissions reporting, especially for LGCs, executive general manager Mark Williamson said on 23 February.

Demand for ACCUs in the compliance market has been already increasing on the back of new safeguard obligations starting from the July 2023-June 2024 financial year, Wardlaw said.

The regulator has been working closely with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and technology solutions provider Trovio Group on its planned Australian Carbon Exchange. Trovio as a first step is developing a new registry for the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units, which is expected to come on line in the second half of 2024, with the exchange itself set to be launched between the end of 2024 and early 2025.

"We think it's time to move to an exchange-based market where participants can trade anonymously," CER chair David Parker said, noting the buying side of the market has become much more diversified in recent years.

"That's not intended to lock out the over-the-counter [OTC] arrangements," Parker said, adding the regulator hopes OTC trades will be cleared on the exchange.

Companies that operate existing trading platforms will be able to connect their systems to the new registry. But the CER will require them to "release some data transparency" such as volumes and prices, Wardlaw said.

New options

The registry and exchange will incorporate other existing certificates like LGCs and small-scale technology certificates, as well as new ones such as the proposed guarantees of origin for hydrogen and renewable electricity. It will also include the new Safeguard Mechanism credit units (SMCs), which will be issued by the government to facilities that reduce their emissions below their baselines. The CER plans to publish information about which facilities are issued SMCs.

While the exchange works with the CER on the new spot exchange, ASX's senior manager of issuer services Karen Webb said it is developing its own separate carbon futures contracts, which it is planning to launch in July 2024. The physically settled contracts will consist of ACCUs, LGCs and New Zealand units, for delivery up to five years ahead.

By Juan Weik

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24/03/25

Estonian climate ministry to push for EU ETS 2 repeal

London, 24 March (Argus) — Estonia's parliament has granted the country's climate ministry a mandate to push for the repeal or postponement of the EU's second emissions trading system (ETS 2) covering road transport and buildings, scheduled to launch in 2027. The Estonian parliament's EU affairs committee granted the ministry a mandate to begin consultations with the European Commission and EU member states on repealing the EU ETS 2 directive, because of the administrative burden and uncertainty posed by transposing the measure. If Estonia fails to garner sufficient support, it will join existing proposals by the Czech Republic and Poland to postpone the introduction of the new system for two years. This additional time could be used to find a way to limit the burden of imposing the measure, the committee said. These proposals would require a qualified majority of EU member states to pass. If not adopted, Estonia's climate ministry would instead start negotiations to postpone the launch of the system to 2028 or exclude road transport from its scope. The committee approved the mandate — which followed positions submitted by the government and subsequent amendments and opinions by the parliament's environment and economic affairs committees — "after a long and heated political debate", its chairman Peeter Tali said. The commission last year adopted a supply cap of 1.036bn carbon allowances in 2027 for the new system, which will cover upstream emissions from fuel combustion in buildings, road transport and small industry not covered by the existing EU ETS. For the first three years of operation, the system will have a price cap of €45/t of CO2 equivalent, adjusted for inflation, which if surpassed for a period of two months would trigger the release of 20mn allowances from its market stability reserve. By Victoria Hatherick Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Electricity drove surge in energy demand in 2024: IEA

24/03/25

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24/03/25

Electricity drove surge in energy demand in 2024: IEA

London, 24 March (Argus) — Electricity demand drove a jump in overall global energy consumption growth in 2024, lifting it well above the average pace of increase in recent years, energy watchdog the IEA said today. Global energy demand rose by 2.2pc in 2024 — higher than the average annual demand increase of 1.3pc between 2013 and 2023 — according to the Paris-base agency's Global Energy Review . Global electricity consumption rose by 4.3pc, driven by record-high temperatures that led to increased cooling demand, growing industrial consumption, the electrification of transport and from data centres and artificial intelligence, the IEA said. Renewables and nuclear covered the majority of growth in electricity demand, at 80pc, while supply of gas-fired power generation "also increased steadily", it said. New renewable power capacity installations reached around 700GW in 2024 — a new high — while renewable power sources and nuclear together made up 40pc of total generation in 2024, it said. Global gas demand rose by 2.7pc in 2024, with an increase in "fast growing Asian markets", the IEA said. It noted growth of more than 7pc and 10pc in China and India, respectively. But "growth in global oil demand slowed markedly in 2024", the organisation said. Oil demand rose by 0.8pc — compared with 1.9pc in 2023 — and oil's share of total energy demand fell below 30pc last year "for the first time ever". A rise in electric vehicle (EV) purchases was a key contributor to the drop in oil demand for road transport, and this offset "a significant proportion" of the rise in oil consumption for aviation and petrochemicals, the IEA said. The rate of increase in coal demand slowed to 1.1pc in 2024, half the pace seen in 2023. "Intense heatwaves" in China and India "contributed more than 90pc of the total annual increase in coal consumption globally", for cooling needs, the IEA found. Renewables limit rise in emissions The IEA repeatedly noted the significant effect that extreme weather in 2024 had on energy systems and on demand patterns. Last year was the hottest ever recorded, beating the previous record set in 2023. "Weather effects contributed about 15pc of the overall increase in global energy demand", the IEA said. Global cooling degree days were 6pc higher in 2024 on the year, and 20pc higher than the 2000-20 average, it said. But the "continued rapid adoption of clean energy technologies" restricted the rise in energy-related CO2 emissions, which fell to 0.8pc in 2024 from 1.2pc in 2023, the IEA said. Energy-related CO2 emissions still hit a record high of 37.8bn t in 2024, but the rise in emissions was lower than global GDP growth, it said. "The majority of emissions growth in 2024 came from emerging and developing economies other than China," the IEA said. Emerging and developing economies accounted for more than 80pc of the increase in global energy demand last year, it said. By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Low snowpack, rain may lift Italian summer power prices

21/03/25

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21/03/25

Low snowpack, rain may lift Italian summer power prices

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UNFCCC issues LOA template for Article 6 carbon credits

21/03/25

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21/03/25

UNFCCC issues LOA template for Article 6 carbon credits

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Australia's Simcoa may buy carbon credits until 2028

21/03/25

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21/03/25

Australia's Simcoa may buy carbon credits until 2028

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