Australia’s CER sees disinterest in carbon trading tool

Spanish Market: Emissions
07/05/25

Australia's Clean Energy Regulator (CER) plans to work with existing carbon credit trading platforms to potentially link them to its new registry, following a lack of market interest in a carbon credit trading tool proposed late last year.

The CER did not see "a lot of enthusiasm" for the use of a financial instrument developed by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) as a trading model for Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), chair and chief executive David Parker said on 7 May at lobby group Carbon Market Institute (CMI)'s Carbon Farming Industry Forum in New South Wales, Australia.

"What people did say was that they wanted us building up infrastructure… linking [over-the-counter] trading platforms into our new registry," Parker noted.

The CER had previously planned to develop and operate the so-called Australian Carbon Exchange for spot ACCU transactions, but had already indicated it pushed back on the idea when it consulted on the trading tool late last year.

Its proposal would see participants using a Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) Depository Interest (CDI) — a mechanism used by the ASX to allow the trading of interests in bonds and some international shares on the exchange. Under the proposed model, market participants would not be required to have a registry account to buy beneficial interests in ACCUs through CDIs. They would be able to trade the CDIs multiple times and would only need registry accounts if they needed to convert the CDIs into ACCUs for actual delivery.

Currently, climate solutions and markets firm Core Markets, brokerage firm Jarden, and environmental marketplace Xpansiv's CBL each have separate trading platforms for ACCUs. Exchanges ASX and CME last year launched separate futures contracts for physically-deliverable ACCUs, although trading interest has been very limited so far.

Core Markets is working on developing its platform so that it would be able to potentially link to the CER's registry in the future, chief executive Chris Halliwell told Argus on the sidelines of the event on 7 May.

The CER launched its new registry late last year. It started issuing the new safeguard mechanism credit units into the new registry, and plans to transfer ACCUs from the existing Australian National Registry of Emissions Units later this year. New units and certificates such as renewable energy guarantees of origin and biodiversity certificates under the nature repair market will be added to the new registry, while large-scale generation certificates and small-scale technology certificates will continue in the renewable energy certificate registry.

By Juan Weik

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18/12/25

US House passes bill to expedite permitting

Washington, 18 December (Argus) — The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill designed to fast-track permitting for energy projects and reduce related litigation risks. But a last-minute change Republicans made to exclude some offshore wind and solar projects led some Democrats and a major clean energy group to withdraw support, complicating the bill's chances of passage in the Senate. The Republican-controlled House voted 221-196 to pass the SPEED Act, with 11 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote for what would be the most significant changes to federal permitting in years. The bill will now advance to the US Senate, where proponents will likely need to agree to make significant changes if they hope to pick up the votes of at least seven Democrats to avoid a filibuster. The bill "finally brings common sense by cutting red tape that dramatically increases the cost and, in some cases, just makes it economically unfeasible to do projects", House Republican majority leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said. The SPEED Act focuses on revising project reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which is a source of delay and litigation risk for pipelines and renewable projects alike. The bill would require federal agencies to narrow those reviews and uphold those decisions even if federal courts find them to be inadequate. The bill would also provide permit "certainty" by limiting the government's ability to rescind prior approvals, averting a repeat of events like the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. "We applaud the House for advancing the SPEED Act, a bipartisan, commonsense step toward fixing a federal permitting system that's long been broken," oil industry group the American Petroleum Institute said. Republican leaders were hoping 30-40 Democrats would join them to support the SPEED Act. The bill had broad bipartisan support when it was drafted because of provisions meant to prevent permitting delays that have plagued both oil and gas pipelines and renewable energy development. But Republican leaders, to satisfy far-right conservatives, made a change to the bill earlier this week that would prevent its expedited permitting procedures from benefiting any project that Trump's administration has blocked or revisited since 20 January. The Trump administration has targeted multiple offshore wind and solar projects this year and has ordered the developer of the nearly complete 704MW Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island to stop construction. That change fractured a bipartisan coalition that had spent months working on technology-neutral permitting language. The American Clean Power Association, the largest industry group for US renewable energy, on Wednesday withdrew its support of the bill , arguing the "poison pill amendment" that Republicans made eviscerated bipartisan language that gave expedited permitting treatment for all types of energy resources. A number of House Democrats who had backed the bill also withdrew their support. American Clean Power plans to work with both parties in the Senate to make changes. "This is not the final draft," representative Scott Peters (D-California) said during floor debate Thursday, vowing to work with his colleagues in the Senate to address House Democrats' concerns. By Chris Knight and Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

2026 set to be among 4 hottest years: UK Met Office

18/12/25

2026 set to be among 4 hottest years: UK Met Office

London, 18 December (Argus) — The forecast for 2026 suggests that it is likely to be one of the four warmest years on record, in terms of global average temperature, UK weather agency the Met Office said today. The Met Office's central estimate for 2026 puts the global average temperature at 1.46°C above pre-industrial levels. The range the agency forecasts is between 1.34°C and 1.58°C above the pre-industrial average. The central estimate suggests that 2026 will be the fourth consecutive year that the average temperature will be at least 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels. "Prior to this surge, the previous global temperature had not exceeded 1.3°C", the Met Office's Professor Adam Scaife said. Scaife leads the team behind the global forecast for 2026. The global average temperature in 2024 was 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels, making it the hottest year on record , several international weather and science agencies agreed. The Paris climate agreement seeks to limit the global rise in temperature to "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and pursues a 1.5°C threshold. The Paris accord's temperature parameters work on a longer timeframe, of at least two decades, so a temperature breach across a year or a few years does not render the accord broken. The World Meteorological Organisation in March estimated that the current level of global warming is at 1.37°C above pre-industrial levels. And climate science "may be underestimating the magnitude of human-induced global warming", given a recent surge in global temperatures, the UN Environment Programme said earlier this month. This year is "on course" to tie with 2023 as the second hottest year on record, EU earth-monitoring programme Copernicus said earlier this month . The global average temperature anomaly for January-November this year is 0.60°C above the 1991-2020 average, and 1.48°C above the pre-industrial reference period of 1850-1900, Copernicus data show. By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Denmark pledges $9.5bn over 15 years for climate goals

18/12/25

Denmark pledges $9.5bn over 15 years for climate goals

London, 18 December (Argus) — Denmark has set aside 4bn Danish kroner ($630mn) annually for 15 years from 2034 in order to reach its climate goals, climate minister Lars Aagaard said today. The government has set the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target for 2035 — a cut of 82pc from 1990 levels, which Aagaard announced at the UN Cop 30 climate summit in November. Denmark aims to reach net zero emissions by 2045, and negative emissions beyond that. The government has since the end of November negotiated with all parties in parliament on the new 2035 climate goal, it said today. The target is set, although there was not "common ground to be able to make a broad agreement", Aagaard said today. "The door is still open for co-operation," he said. "I also think that there is a possibility of raising the target at a later date if the conditions change." The government has prioritised the "necessary financing" to hit climate goals, Aagaard said. "Everyday life must not become unnecessarily expensive for Danes and Danish companies," he said. "We are in a different place than we were in 2019, when the last target was set." Denmark's 2035 goal is one of the most ambitious in the world. It is similar to fellow northwest European oil and gas producer the UK , which has set a goal of 81pc GHG cuts over 1990-2035. By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

N Zealand proposes ETS governance penalties

18/12/25

N Zealand proposes ETS governance penalties

London, 18 December (Argus) — New Zealand's environment ministry is eyeing fines for failure to comply with new reporting requirements under the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), briefing papers published by the ministry this week show. Under the penalty regime, failure to report price and volume information to the government or market monitoring entities would result in fines of NZ$8,000 ($4,621) on the first instance, doubling to NZ$16,000 in the case of a second breach. Each additional breach would carry a NZ$24,000 fine. Those that fail to store trading information data would face first-time fines of NZ$12,000, which would double to NZ$24,000 in case of repetition. Additional infractions would be penalised NZ$32,000 per breach. The ministry's proposal, which was put to the climate change minister in October, follows the decision to implement stronger NZ ETS platform reporting requirements , agreed by the country's cabinet earlier this year. Additional proposals for NZ emissions units (NZUs) transacted on the secondary market would require trading platforms to keep records of trading information for seven years, and submit daily reports to the ministry with the price and volume of NZUs transacted on that day. Under the proposals, confirmed instances of NZU price manipulation could face criminal charges, potentially resulting in imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine lower than NZ$2.5mn. Misleading conduct without confirmed evidence would face fines proportional to the gain made or loss avoided. But they would not exceed NZ$1mn if an individual were facing the fine, or NZ$5mn in any other case. In addition to fines, the ministry would also publish the details of the entity committing the infraction and the status of the penalty, the briefing paper said. The penalty regime will be incorporated into a bill amending the country's Climate Change Response Act, alongside other market governance changes. The introduction of the bill to parliament was initially scheduled for late 2025 but has now been postponed, with a first reading expected in early 2026. By Kiara Campagne Nieva Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

EU's Hoekstra confident of CBAM export support

17/12/25

EU's Hoekstra confident of CBAM export support

Brussels, 17 December (Argus) — European climate and taxation commissioner Wopke Hoekstra is "absolutely" confident that EU member states will give "full" support to an EU-wide temporary decarbonisation fund for carbon leakage in industrial sectors covered by the bloc's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). This is despite the European Commission proposing that 25pc of CBAM revenues originally earmarked for national budgets now finance the CBAM fund. "We're not going to make this part of the EU budget. This is money that immediately is going to be spent on the companies of member states," Hoekstra told Argus , noting that the fund is helping EU states' own industries. Financing the fund may still be contentious, especially for EU countries. In addition to proposing that the fund be financed by revenues currently earmarked for EU states' budgets, the commission leaves untouched the remaining 75pc earmarked for the EU budget. Hoekstra said that CBAM's increased scope, expanded to downstream products, "roughly" equates to the financing required for the fund. "We did not try to design it exactly that way. But it is convenient because it makes the conversation with member states even easier," Hoekstra said. The European Parliament and EU member states are likely to amend the revised CBAM regulation and accompanying laws before adoption. Under the proposal, over 140 CN goods categories produced by EU-based manufacturers will receive support from the fund. The commission does not propose any differentiation between support given to manufacturers' EU exports and locally sold goods. The commission is proposing extending CBAM to certain steel and aluminium-intensive downstream products from the start of 2028. A further 180 CN custom duty codes will include some 7,500 new importers under the mechanism. A wide range of iron and steel products are proposed for inclusion, including stranded wire, ropes, cables, washing machines, sawing machines and even metal furniture. By Dafydd ab Iago Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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