By Mathew Carr
Feb. 4, 2021 — LONDON: EU carbon allowances surged for a third day in a row, after the Times of London newspaper said putting a price on climate pollution “made sense” even though it was politically risky.
The allowances rose above 38 euros a ton before falling back. See this chart from the IG website:
Intraday here from ICE:
Here are some reasons for carbon’s gain, by Alessandro Vitelli, a long-time market watcher and analyst:
https://www.carbonreporter.com/post/may-you-live-in-interesting-times
The Times wrote an editorial which included a headline that could be read in two ways “Costing the Earth”: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-times-view-on-carbon-taxes-costing-the-earth-wkbm92p8z:
New taxes to combat carbon emissions may seem politically perilous but they make economic sense and can help achieve the net-zero target by 2050
Thursday February 04 2021, 12.01am, The Times
No one relishes paying more taxes. Introducing new ones is fraught with political peril. Even so, Boris Johnson has instructed government departments to draw up proposals to put a financial price on carbon, to help Britain achieve the legally mandated target of net-zero emissions by 2050. This implies higher consumer prices and bills for carbon-intensive goods and services, which is not an obviously vote-winning strategy.
Despite this, it is the right approach and it may be possible to compensate households for these higher costs. Though new measures will need to be devised and implemented with an awareness of unanticipated costs, they ought to receive cross-party backing and gain sufficient public support…
__________
It might seem strange to conflate a post-Brexit London-based newspaper with the Brussels-based market – and I’m not saying it’s even a major reason for the upward market move.
Yet a lot of the trading in the EU system – world’s biggest emissions market by traded volume – still takes place in London.
After leaving the EU and its carbon market, the U.K. is setting up its own system.
Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal also wrote a story saying U.S. President Biden will probably struggle to “compartmentalize” global climate action, since it’s tied up closely with worldwide trade.
See this from 11 hours ago: https://www.wsj.com/articles/beijing-wont-let-america-compartmentalize-climate-change-11612392531
See our earlier take: http://carrzee.org/2021/01/29/the-stage-is-set-for-a-single-deal-to-tackle-half-of-the-worlds-emissions-actors/
Murdoch’s press has previously displayed skepticism toward climate action and even raised doubts that the devastating 2019-2020 bushfires in Australia were stoked by climate change. It was the arsonists, right, mate?!
Rupert Murdoch’s son James has criticized the family empire’s stance on misinformation, including on climate change:
(Updates with the link to other reasons for the gain in allowances, adds Tweet; swapped in Carbonreporter link )