carbon trade
While parliament debates the carbon price legislation, no one's mentioning that the scheme's success will rely heavily on big polluters buying carbon credits from the EU. But will they be able to?
Germany's Green Party victory in one of the country's most affluent regions is important not just as a proxy poll on nuclear, but for its potential impacts on energy prices and carbon markets.
EUAs hit their highest level since 2008 this month, on the back of Middle East unrest, Japan's woes and a Green Party victory in Germany's state elections. So are we seeing a new upward trend?
The agreement to price carbon is worth celebrating. But really, it's an agreement to have a discussion. And with weasel words in every clause of the climate committee's paper, it's going to be a long one.
There's a lot riding on the success of California's stringent carbon trading system. If it creates jobs, cuts emissions and operates efficiently, other states might give it a go. If it backfires, they won't.
A carbon trade war over the EU's aviation ETS is unfeasible, leaving bilateral deals as the most likely compromise.