Alwyn Hopkins @Ahkns@qoto.org

There was another massive development in EU #climate #policy last night, as the trilogue on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and Social Climate Fund (SCF) yielded provisional agreement.

Press release for the ETS agreement is here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221212IPR64527/climate-change-deal-on-a-more-ambitious-emissions-trading-system-ets , and the release regarding the SCF is here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221212IPR64528/deal-on-establishing-the-social-climate-fund-to-support-the-energy-transition .

Three key takeaways:

1. The phasing-out of Free Allocation under the ETS and phasing-in of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will run from 2026-2034, with the SCF also starting in 2026.

2. The ETS will be extended (via "ETS II") to cover buildings and road transport by 2027. Coverage will also be extended to maritime transport (expected from 2024).

3. The SCF is now expected to yield €65bn in funding from the auctioning allowances, topped up with an additional 25% funded by EU member states. Meanwhile, the ETS "Innovation" and "Modernisation" Funds are also being extended.

However, for me the key hole is the lack of clarity on export carbon leakage measures. 2025 is a long time to wait to see if we can expect export rebates.... interested to hear thoughts from others.

#sustainability #carbon #incentives

For those of you who haven't seen - The European Parliament and European Council have finally reached a provisional agreement on the upcoming EU Carbon Border Adjustment (CBAM) carbon pricing legislation.

You can read their press release here:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/pt/press-room/20221212IPR64509/deal-reached-on-new-carbon-leakage-instrument-to-raise-global-climate-ambition

Still awaiting many key facts, but there are three important new details to note:

1. The regime will apply from 1 October 2023, with a transition period (free allocation phase-out period yet to agreed)

2. The scope will be extended to hydrogen and some downstream products, while some indirect emissions will need to be reported

3. The European Commission will now be in charge of governance of the regime

#sustainability #carbon

Can anyone in my network recommend any good #environmental #economics literature which focuses on #nature and #biodiversity?

I'm particularly interested in the potential application of fiscal policy / pricing mechanisms to protection of animal populations, forests, and oceans.

To date, almost all of my knowledge on the topic is on regulatory policy (e.g. CITES/EU SDD etc) rather than fiscal.

Another policy toot - this time only to recommend the excellent COP27 summary article posted by @euractiv_green here: https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-environment/news/what-was-decided-at-the-cop27-climate-talks/

It is a painful but important read, and shows how far we have to go before we get anything close to a harmonised approach on #climate . This impression is amplified by the reports that the host nation was making major deals for fossil fuel supply on the sidelines of the summit.

#cop27 #sustainability

Some unfiltered, personal musings on what the UK #autumnstatement2022 means for the #climate , now I've had time to dwell. Bit of a long one, so apologies.

EVs: All auto industry momentum at the moment is behind battery electric. However, the energy transition we need isn't possible at the size and scale possible with full-EV alone. From what I can see, hydrogen vehicles, one of the alternatives, are less impacted by the taxes proposed (seemingly not incl. in the amended vehicle excise duty). While there are some serious headwinds to come in the hydrogen industry (leakage issues likely a future hot topic https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/9349/2022/acp-22-9349-2022.html), it will be interesting to see if the new policy messaging on EVs has any impact on moving investment (particularly on charging/refueling infrastructure) between technologies.

Electricity Generator Levy: What message does it send to investors in UK green infrastructure if the UK Gov shows keenness to -through policy - retrospectively affect the commercials of renewables projects on existing regulator implemented contracts (i.e. non-CfD generators)? Does this erode trust? Or is it a necessary action to push renewables contracts towards more favourable models?

Carbon leakage: we were promised in the spring a consultation this year on carbon leakage measures (e.g. a CBAM) for the UK. Still no sign of it...

Interested to hear thoughts. #sustainability #NetZero

I posted a LinkedIn article on #sustainability #policy today, which is a bit more "out there" than my usual pieces. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of the smart people on Mastodon: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alwynhopkins_edenproject-anthropy-sustainability-activity-6996099669579735040-SQbL #NetZero

For sustainability folks, today has been a huge day already: the UK Transition Plan Task Force released their draft guidance on mandatory decarbonisation plans - you can find all of the guidance here: https://transitiontaskforce.net/publications-2/

As we expected, the recommendations are broadly built upon the existing GFANZ guidance, which is unsurprising - but could be a missed opportunity for innovation.

#sustainability #decarbonisation #netzero #cop27

I can see that as part of the migration it seems the done thing to do an #introduction.

I am here in a personal capacity.

In both a personal and professional capacity, people seem to like listening to me talk about sustainability policy, which I find truly baffling as it usually ends up in me getting agitated about carbon pricing.

I also spend my time getting agitated about biodiversity and football.

Other keen interests include jazz, brutalist architecture, and futurism, and abstract expressionism in art.

Hello world - I am learning to use this platform to replace the bird app and it remains somewhat alien to me.

If anyone has recommendations for finding interesting policy and sustainability folks, please do reach out.