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EU ETS benchmarks largely unchanged in latest update

  • : Emissions
  • 26/04/30

Preliminary benchmark values for calculating free allowance allocations under the EU emissions trading system (ETS) over 2026-30, presented to the European Commission's climate change committee today and seen by Argus, are largely unchanged from earlier internal figures.

Of the values for 54 sectors in the EU ETS, only five have been changed from the most recent unofficial updates seen by Argus in April.

The benchmark value for phenol and acetone recorded the largest proportional change — up by 26.6pc to 0.219 allowances/t. But this is still 4.8pc below 2021-25 levels.

Soda ash followed, with a rise of 15.6pc from previous figures to 1.122 allowances/t, up by 49pc from 2021-25.

Refinery products and aromatics benchmarks increased by 0.43pc and 1.31pc from the previous document, respectively. Companies in these sectors will now receive 0.0232 allowances/t, a rise of 1.75pc from 2021-25 levels.

The benchmark for synthesis gas rose by 1.06pc from the previous draft to 0.19 allowances/t, a 1.6pc increase from 2021-25 values.

And the lime benchmark has been revised up by 0.29pc from previous expectations to 0.693 allowances/t, a 4.41pc decline from 2021-25.

The commission also considered indirect emissions when calculating the average greenhouse gas emissions from the 10pc most-efficient installations for its benchmark values for the heat and fuel sectors. Unchanged from the previous draft, heat and fuel benchmarks are 34pc below 2021-25 levels at 31.2 allowances/t and 28.1 allowances/t, respectively.

The commission should reconsider its "mistake" of raising some benchmark values from 2021-25 levels, Austrian Green MEP Lena Schilling said today.

"At a time when Europe needs huge investments in decarbonisation, handing out billions in additional free allowances undermines the integrity of the ETS and delays the transition to clean industry," Schilling said.

It is "extremely shortsighted" to hand out additional free allowances in the middle of a fossil fuel crisis, Brussels-based non-governmental organisation Carbon Market Watch's policy director, Sam van den Plas, said.

"The ETS benchmarks are not fit for purpose and protect the status quo instead of incentivising clean breakthrough technologies in energy-intensive sectors," he added.

The regulation will be published and opened for feedback from early May to early June, the commission said, before a meeting of the climate change committee. The values are expected to be adopted in the second half of June, with free allowances to be available for issuance from the second half of July.

By Kiara Campagne Nieva and Dafydd ab Iago

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26/04/30

US House readies E15 floor vote in May

US House readies E15 floor vote in May

New York, 30 April (Argus) — The US House of Representatives is planning to vote next month on a major biofuel policy reform bill after months of delays on an issue important for crop demand and fuel prices. The chamber will vote on a standalone biofuel bill on 13 May, Agriculture Committee chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) said on the House floor Thursday, after an earlier plan to pass the bill and merge it with a larger farm policy package sputtered . The latest proposal would remove summertime limits on gasoline with up to 15pc ethanol (E15), potentially encouraging broader sales of the typically-cheaper blend. It would also standardize the often-unpredictable process by which some oil refiners can win exemptions from a separate program that requires annual biofuel blending. The plan for a House vote is just the latest turn for E15 legislation, which has struggled to pass Congress for years now despite strong backing from farm-state lawmakers of both parties and a recent push from President Donald Trump. A council of Republican lawmakers had hoped to have biofuel legislation ready for a House floor vote in February, but a bloc of refiners has resisted. The latest proposal, while offering small companies automatic partial exemptions from biofuel quotas, would cut off some larger enterprises that today can win relief for smaller units they own. Under current rules, refineries that process 75,000 b/d or less of crude can request hardship exemptions — but under the proposal, only companies with no more than 75,000 b/d of collective gasoline and diesel refining capacity could win relief. There is a limited carveout in the proposal for some facilities that can prove they are at risk of closing and a system to compensate some unnamed small refinery owners for past compliance by giving them special program credits that do not expire. The framework is backed by not just farm advocates but also oil majors, who have been frustrated footing the bill for blending biofuels while some of their smaller competitors skirt the requirements. Some independent refiners remain hotly opposed, including those that would lose their ability to win exemptions and others that want deeper reforms to the biofuel mandate to temper costs. The cost to comply with the program has spiked to all-time highs, according to Argus calculations based on current credit pricing, after the Trump administration last month set blend mandates at record-high levels. It is unclear whether lawmakers will consider new changes to the existing E15 proposal — especially after oil and farm groups alike reacted coolly to the House task force's prior ideas — or if the planned vote will be punted yet again. Some Democrats have endorsed the latest deal, seeing it as a way to help out corn farmers and temper pump prices that are soaring because of war in the Middle East, and criticized Republicans for their infighting. "Forgive my skepticism, but this certainly looks like every time we have a deal for a vote on year-round E15, there is an uprising in the Republican caucus," said House Agriculture Committee ranking member Angie Craig (D-Minnesota). There are also significant obstacles to any biofuel proposal in the US Senate. Agriculture Committee chair John Boozman (R-Arkansas), who has major power over the Farm Bill that biofuel advocates hope an E15 bill could be added to, has opposed efforts to restrict mandate exemptions that have benefited a refinery in his state. While the legislation would allow but not mandate year-round sales of E15, some longtime critics of biofuels in the chamber see the proposal as a stepping stone to steeper blend requirements. "Time to end ethanol tyranny," senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) said. E15 is not sold at the vast majority of retail fuel stations in the US, which ethanol advocates blame on regulatory uncertainty deterring retailers from investing in higher-blend infrastructure. The Trump administration last month issued emergency waivers allowing continued E15 sales this summer, but permanent access requires legislation. By Cole Martin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Cop 31 presidency takes focus off fossil fuels

26/04/30
26/04/30

Cop 31 presidency takes focus off fossil fuels

London, 30 April (Argus) — Electrification, clean cooking, methane reductions and climate finance are among the themes host Turkey and lead negotiator Australia will focus on at the UN Cop 31 climate summit in November, the two countries said today, but CO2 emissions reductions and progress in phasing out fossil fuels were lower down their list of priorities. Cop 31 president-designate Murat Kurum today presented the main themes of Turkey's action agenda — part of the Cop process outside of the formal negotiations, which includes contributions from civil society and industry. The action agenda will focus on a combination of energy security and demand, Kurum said, including increasing electrification, accelerating the buildout of renewable energy, and increasing energy efficiency. Countries must "cooperate to maintain both energy supply and prosperity as part of the transition," he said. Methane emissions reductions and clean cooking will also be a focus, as will implementing pledges made on climate financing at Cop 29 in 2024. The priorities of the Turkish presidency — electrification, clean cooking, zero waste and finance — are "themes we can all gather around," according to Stephen Jones, Australia's ambassador to the OECD. Australia is to lead the negotiations at Cop 31 while Turkey hosts the summit. Consensus on concrete actions to reduce fossil fuel consumption or drive down emissions can be difficult to find at Cops, where almost all countries are represented, including major fossil fuel producers. Australia itself is one of the largest coal and LNG exporters in the world. But "we should have no doubt about where our destination is," Jones said, even if action to maintain access to oil and traditional fossil fuel supplies is critical. And the country "strongly supports" the goal set at Cop 28 in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, he added. Last year's Cop 30 summit in Brazil ended without references to a move away from fossil fuels in the final text. The Brazilian presidency instead launched an optional process, annual conferences on transitioning away from fossil fuels, to be attended only by willing countries, and the first of which concluded in Santa Marta, Colombia , this week. Energy watchdog the IEA's director Fatih Birol pointed to progress on electrification and emissions reductions. The rise in emissions last year was the lowest since the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, while 75pc of new generating capacity installed was renewable, nuclear generation reached an all-time high, and sales of electric vehicles climbed. But former Cop presidents warned against excessive optimism. "Things are much bleaker" than they were five years ago, the UK's Alok Sharma, president of Cop 26 in 2021, said. And France's Laurent Fabius, president of Cop 21 in 2015, warned that hard topics such as transitioning away from fossil fuels and finance would have to be discussed. "Without financial concrete steps, there's no implementation, and it's all talk", he said. By Rhys Talbot Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Singapore, Philippines tighten Article 6 co-operation

26/04/30
26/04/30

Singapore, Philippines tighten Article 6 co-operation

London, 30 April (Argus) — Singapore and the Philippines signed an agreement on Thursday establishing the legal framework for the bilateral transfer of carbon credits aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, almost two years after the countries began collaborating on the arrangement. The Article 6 implementation agreement — the first signed by the Philippines — provides a legal framework for the generation and transfer of carbon credits aligned with the mechanism between the countries. Such credits will be correspondingly adjusted, meaning their emissions savings cannot be double counted. They will be eligible for use towards national climate plans under the Paris deal, the international credit quota under Singapore's domestic carbon tax, and other "international mitigation purposes" such as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Corsia), Singapore's trade and industry ministry said. Singapore will cancel 2pc of the credits authorised under the agreement on issuance as a contribution towards global emissions reductions. It will also put 5pc of its share of proceeds from the agreement's credits towards climate adaptation in the Philippines. Authorisation processes for projects and the eligible methodologies for credit generation will be published "in due course", the ministry said. The countries signed an initial agreement in August 2024 to work towards the legal framework. Singapore signed its first Article 6 implementation agreement with Papua New Guinea in 2023, followed by Ghana in 2024 . It significantly ramped up its agreements last year, signing with Bhutan, Peru, Chile , Rwanda , Paraguay , Thailand , Vietnam and Mongolia . By Victoria Hatherick Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Fossil fuel transition conference sets workstream plans

26/04/30
26/04/30

Fossil fuel transition conference sets workstream plans

Santa Marta, 30 April (Argus) — The first conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, held in Santa Marta, Colombia over 24-29 April, ended with participating countries agreeing to three workstreams to continue activities in the future. The first workstream will help countries develop their own roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels and align them with their nationally determined contributions — climate targets. These roadmaps will have to include emissions stemming from fossil fuel exports, which Colombian environment minister Irene Velez-Torres said was a "blindspot" in countries' climate strategies. This workstream will be spearheaded by the scientist-led panel announced earlier in the conference . Roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels were first mentioned last year. Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called on countries to create an international plan to move away from fossil fuels during a leaders' summit a few days before the UN Cop 30 climate summit held in November in Brazil. But the call did not make it to the summit's final decision despite backing from over 80 countries. Instead, the Cop 30 presidency pledged to create a roadmap on the issue outside of official negotiations. Colombia and France both presented official roadmaps during the Santa Marta talks. The Netherlands — which co-hosted the conference — has plans to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven said. Brazil also pledged to create a national roadmap this year, but that has been delayed and has no timeframe for completion , the environment ministry's secretary for climate change Aloisio de Melo told Argus earlier in the conference. The second workstream will support countries' needs to change their financial systems and unlock investment flows required for the transition, focusing on debt constraints, financial incentives and subsidies. "We have seen at least three different traps that we want to address: the fiscal, debt and subsidy traps," Velez-Torres said, implying that these factors limit countries' ability to transition away from fossil fuels. "And to address those, we are saying let's make an analysis but also let's be creative and innovative about what are mechanisms within the financial system that need to change to transition away from fossil fuels." The final workstream will study countries' trade balances and advance progress toward fossil fuel–free trade systems. That means organising, mapping and coping "with whatever trade is still producing emissions" and try to lean towards a "more green trade", Velez-Torres said. "We have to be able to measure how much of a country's exports are fossil-fuel based" so the workstream can map how much of that particular economy needs to shift towards greener alternatives, she added. Some happy, some frustrated The conference drew mixed opinions from participants. Some commended it for providing an alternative, more focused space to discuss the transition away from fossil fuels compared with the UNFCCC framework. EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said that countries gathered in Colombia because Cops have become spaces where "the only thing [countries] get is the lowest common denominator". The transition away from fossil fuels was a taboo topic in international climate talks previously, Brazilian climate umbrella group Observatorio do Clima said. So creating a space for it to be openly discussed was "historic", it added. "It's been really healthy to have these open conversations [about transitioning away from fossil fuels]", the UK's special climate representative Rachel Kyte said, adding that countries were able to "disagree agreeably" during the talks. Some of the disagreements came from what topics to prioritise, what instruments to use to hasten the transition, and how to handle carbon markets and hard-to-abate sectors, she said. Cop 30 chief executive Ana Toni said the talks were "really helpful" and a "genuine exchange", adding that the Cop 30 presidency will take inputs from the conference into its roadmap. Van Veldhoven attributted the open discussions to the conference's focus on co-operation rather than negotiations. But some participants were disappointed that it did not immediately produce a report to feed into the Cop 30 presidency's roadmap. The report will instead be made available in June, the conference's organisers have said. Until then, participants will have to "give good faith" that the report will address the correct issues, Mariana Paoli, the global advocacy lead at non-governmental organisation (NGO) Oxfam, told Argus . But she indicated concerns about what was discussed in some closed-door meetings, particularly talks surrounding debt-swaps, which she characterises as "false financial solutions". The conference's impacts are "limited by conclusions that do not propose new frameworks or international mechanisms", Catalina Caro, a representative from environmental NGO Friends of the Earth, said. This was a key call from participants earlier in the conference . Santa Marta to Tuvalu The discussions held at Santa Marta will continue in a second conference, which will take place in 2027 in the island nation of Tuvalu. Ireland will co-host the event. Having one country each from the so-called Global North and South shows the unity among countries committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels", Tuvaly environment minister Maina Talia said. The next hosts will revist Colombia and the Netherlands' methodology regarding which countries to invite, Talia added . Many large oil producing and consuming countries such as the US, China, India and Argentina were not invited to the Santa Marta conference as it was intended to be a "coalition of the willing", meaning it was a conference focused on talking to those are already taking steps to transition away from fossil fuels. By Lucas Parolin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

NOCs must support fossil phase out: Colombia minister

26/04/30
26/04/30

NOCs must support fossil phase out: Colombia minister

Santa Marta, 30 April (Argus) — The contributions of national oil companies (NOCs) are key to producing individual countries' roadmaps to phase out fossil fuels, Colombia's environment minister Irene Velez-Torres said during an event to discuss the transition away from fossil fuels. The event — which ran from 24-29 April in Santa Marta, Colombia — gathered around 60 countries, but had no representation from NOCs. Those companies together account for around 50pc of the world's oil and natural gas production and will be responsible for 62pc of that by 2050, according to the Natural Resource Governance Institute NRGI. That absence was a "major blind spot" of the conference, according to NRGI's Latin American director Ana Carolina Gonzalez. "The next step must bring them in as essential partners in any credible transition roadmap." Aiding countries on creating their own roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels was one of three workstream's agreed by the conference's participating countries. "We hope that countries can think about how their own [national] companies should be included [in their roadmaps]", Velez-Torres said, adding that NOCs should have their own transition targets. Brazilian state-controlled Petrobras outlines $13bn for energy transition investments in its 2026-30 business plan, a 20pc decrease from the previous five-year plan . The firm outlines $4.8bn to bioproducts — including ethanol, biodiesel and biomethane — and $4.3bn to decarbonisation operations. Investments in low-carbon energies reach $3.1bn. It also earmarks $4bn on gas and low-carbon energy projects. Colombia's state-controlled Ecopetrol plans to allocate about 3pc of its 2026 budget, or 900bn Colombian pesos ($248.9mn), to energy transition projects, including non-conventional renewable energy — excluding large hydropower plants — and energy-efficiency initiatives. That is a 59pc decline from the Ps2.2 trillion invested in energy transition projects as of the third quarter of 2025, which accounted for 13pc of that year's planned spending. By Lucas Parolin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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