Market Morsel: Carbon, coal and gas

Market Morsel

Putin has a lot to answer for. Whilst the physical conflict is restricted to the black sea region, the impact of the invasion of Ukraine is being felt the world over.

One of the major issues being faced by Europe is a reliance Russia for gas. This gas is then in turn used by Europeans for heating and energy. Europe is trying to wean themselves off this gas supply, and its going to hurt.

Europe is a political bloc which has had the largest focus on environmental action. The majority of the worlds move towards lower emissions have emanated from the EU.

Major energy emitters have to pay for offsets for the emissions they pump into the atmosphere. One of the largest emissions sources is energy production.

Carbon and Natural gas have both hit new records in recent days. As gas prices increase, so do carbon offsets

In Europe they are having to switch back to coal. In order to burn more coal, emitters have to purchase more carbon offsets.

Whilst governments around the world were attempting to transition from coal, demand is going to be strong for quite some time. This will be healthy for Australian coffers whilst this remains, but doesn’t really do much for climate mitigation.