WRAP UP

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
11/16/12

IN THE STATES

Democrat Jay Inslee was officially declared the winner of Washington’s gubernatorial race late last week, installing into office a darling of environmental groups who has spoken at length about the need to boost support for clean energy and act on climate change. Republican challenger Rob McKenna conceded to Inslee, a former member of Congress who served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Nov. 9, bringing to an end one of the country’s most highly contested gubernatorial races. During his time in the House, Inslee was a vocal advocate for climate legislation, helped found the House Sustainable Energy Caucus and wrote a book about advancing a clean energy economy. He received glowing endorsements from both the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters following the release of a jobs plan that called for tax breaks for renewables and clean energy startup companies.

California successfully conducted its first auction of carbon allowances this week, the Los Angeles Times reported. Officials from the state’s Air Resources Board took electronic bids for CO2 credits from large emitters like electric utilities and steel manufacturers over the course of a three-hour window Nov. 14. The polluters received free allowances to cover 90 percent of the emissions from their facilities under the scheme but were required to purchase credits for the remaining portion. ARB set an initial floor price of $10 per credit, but the Board did not release how much credits sold for this week. Auction results are expected to be released early next week. The auction moved ahead despite an eleventh-hour petition filed by the California Chamber of Commerce aimed at invalidating future auctions. The business coalition filed the lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court, arguing that the state exceeded its constitutional authority by approving what it said was a tax without the explicit approval of the state legislature. 

ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT

Australia said late last week that it will participate in a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol beginning next year, renewing its binding pledge to reduce emissions under the scheme. Australia joins the European Union in moving forward with the Protocol despite many other previous participants—including New Zealand last week—announcing that they would not continue beyond the end of the year. Australian Climate Change Minister Greg Combet was quoted as saying that the country would be willing to raise its emissions reduction target for 2020 if other major emitters like the U.S. and China agree to make binding reductions as well. Australia recently implemented a carbon tax and plans to transition the system into a cap-and-trade scheme in 2015.

IN THE INDUSTRY

As many as 353 coal units, or about 18 percent of the country’s coal fleet, should be considered for retirement because the electricity those units produce will be more expensive than that generated from natural gas and some wind powered facilities, the Union of Concerned Scientists argued in a new analysis released this week. The peer-reviewed report used publically-available data on the U.S. coal fleet and calculated if, when upgraded with pollution control equipment, units were still economically viable compared to generation from gas and wind. Based on that analysis, UCS argued that the equivalent of 59 GW of power generation capacity—most of which is older, less efficient, and not often fully utilized—is “ripe for retirement.” “Our analysis shows that switching to cleaner energy sources and investing in energy efficiency often makes more economic sense than spending billions to extend the life of obsolete coal plants,” co-author Steve Frenkel said in a statement. The report determined that Southern Company owns the most coal-fired capacity ready for retirement.