State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2020

(The World Bank and Guidehouse) ... As a result, we saw increased attention and efforts to address climate change around the world. More than 70 countries have committed to working toward net zero emissions by 2050 and to enhance their international climate pledges under the Paris Agreement. How these government and private sector pledges will be translated into action will be crucial in ensuring we can confine global warming to below two degrees Celsius. An effective carbon price is one tool that can help both countries and companies to successfully decarbonize economies and supply chains. Encouragingly, as more ambitious climate pledges are taken, many of these programs and strategies are factoring in the role and potential for carbon pricing and carbon markets. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: FERC TO HOLD CARBON PRICING MEETING: FERC on Wednesday accepted a request from a broad coalition of renewable energy groups and independent fossil fuel generators to hold a technical conference to examine carbon pricing in wholesale power markets.

Their request, signed by the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Electric Power Supply Association and others, does not seek FERC action to establish carbon pricing, but says a formal informational meeting could add to the agency's record on the subject and inform "how best to move forward at the state and regional levels" on carbon pricing. A group of six Democratic senators subsequently urged FERC to hold the conference, now scheduled for Sept. 20.

FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee is likely to address the move at the commission’s monthly meeting this morning at 10 a.m. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: DAINES, BULLOCK SPAR ON CARBON PRICING: Sen. Steve Daines of Montana this week called on Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, to reject a carbon-pricing provision that is before the state's Climate Solutions Council for potential inclusion in the state's final climate plan. "This reckless proposal is a gut punch to the over 35,000 oil, gas, and coal jobs in Montana, not to mention the thousands of manufacturing and transportation jobs that would also vanish under such policy," Daines wrote in a Wednesday letter to Bullock. The Montana Republican said that carbon-pricing mechanisms "discriminate against certain industries," and pointed to California's blackouts to argue that "Montana must maintain our all-of-the-above energy approach."

But in his own letter Thursday, Bullock, who is challenging Daines for the Senate, shot back that the letter was "inappropriate," particularly given that the recommendations Daines points to are in unreleased draft form and do not recommend a specific policy action, but recognize that carbon pricing has both positive and negative impacts on the state's economy. Bullock said "we need to better understand those issues" and pointed out that the same draft recommendations also include preparedness, clean energy, workforce and other areas that "reflect bipartisan consensus." The Democratic governor called Daines' letter an "attack" on the work of the council. "On its face I read it as a reprehensible display of politics, indicative of your limited capacity to tackle a challenging issue facing our state and our nation, and unfortunately, unsurprisingly consistent with your tenure," Bullock wrote. The final report from the Montana Climate Solutions Council is expected to be released in the coming weeks. READ MORE