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WCA Schedule
- Q2 Auction Application Deadline
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May 6, 2024 |
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May 24, 2024 |
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June 5, 2024 |
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June 12, 2024 |
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- Q3 Auction Application Deadline
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August 5, 2024 |
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August 23, 2024 |
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September 4, 2024 |
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September 11, 2024 |
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- Q4 Auction Application Deadline
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November 4, 2024 |
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November 22, 2024 |
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December 4, 2024 |
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December 11, 2024 |
News Update
- Washington sets June cap-and-trade auction. Washington Department of Ecology (ECY) will offer just over 7.8 M current-year allowances in its second quarterly auction of 2024 at a floor price of $24.02/ton on June 5. The state will have nearly 7.4 M vintage 2024 allowances and 414,400 vintage 2023 allowances in the current auction, and 2.2 M vintage 2027 allowances in the advance auction. The previous auction held in March 2024 cleared at $25.76, the lowest settlement price seen to date in Washington as uncertainty over the program’s future has curbed demand for allowances as the repeal initiative set for ballot in November looms near. Results will be released one week after the auction takes place on June 12, 2024.
- Washington begins rulemaking process for linkage. After signing SB 6058, a bill allowing for changes to the state’s cap-and-trade program, ECY is considering changes to GHG trading rules that will be necessary for linkage, such as rules related to compliance period lengths, allowance holding limits, and offset usage. The department plans to hold public meetings in spring 2024 through the end of the year, propose draft rules by spring 2025, and adopt any final regulations by summer of 2025, but the looming repeal initiative, Initiative 2117, may void the state’s linkage efforts if it receives enough votes in the November general election.
- Cap-and-trade linkage with California-Quebec bogged by repeal efforts. California and Quebec have agreed to continue exploring cap-and-trade linkage with the state of Washington, but an initiative to repeal the Washington program has impeded linkage efforts. Repeal Initiative 2117 would remove language in the Washington’s Climate Commitment Act that established the cap-and-trade program and would prevent similar programs from being implemented in the state in the future. This poses concern for how a larger linked market would perform, as Ontario had briefly linked with California and Quebec in the past before leaving the market due to the province’s emissions trading program being repealed in a similar fashion.
- Gov. Inslee signs GHG public meeting bill. Washington governor Jay Inslee (D) signed off on SB 6047, a bill allowing publicly owned utilities and other public organizations to host cap-and-trade auction discussions outside of public sessions. This resolves the contradiction with Washington’s Open Public Meetings act, which requires government and publicly owned organizations to open their meetings to the public, and ECY’s requirement that all participants in the state’s cap-and-trade program do not disclose market-sensitive information to the public. The bill take effect on June 5, 2024, 90 days after the March 7 legislation session closed.
Offsets Update
- ECY has not issued any new Emission Offset Credits (EOC) since the last issuance of 61,130 Emission Offset Credits (EOCs) in February 2024. To date, ECY has issued 310,266 since the first issuance in December 2023, all of which have been issued to three projects using the ozone depleting substance (ODS) protocol provided by ECY.
WCA Pricing Update
Pricing as of April 17th, 2024:
- Vintage 2024 – Apr. 2024 Delivery: $36.50
- Vintage 2024 – Dec. 2024 Delivery: $38.15
- Vintage 2024 Average Daily Price (Mar. 2024): $31.22
Market Update
- Dec-24 allowance prices experienced a volatile month in March after starting to recover in February. Pricing opened at $35.38 to start the month and sank to an all-time low of $30.25 on Mar. 4th, losing a record $5.13 over the weekend before returning up to $33.50 to close out the first full week. Prices then saw a brief spike up to $34.88 the next week before dropping back down to $30.30 to finish the second week of the month. Allowance pricing in the third week rose significantly, starting at $31.00 before soaring by $4.00 to the month-high of $36.00 on Mar. 21st. Pricing in the final week of the month stayed at the $34.00 level before closing the month at $35.00 on March 28th.
- WCAs set a new all-time low for Dec-24 allowances at $30.25, marking a 44% YTD drop on Mar. 4th, 2024.
Figure 1. WCA Daily Transactions (Apr. 2023 to Present)
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WCA Pricing (Vintage 2024)
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Dec. '24 Delivery
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Prompt Delivery
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Average Daily Price (2024):
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$ 38.28
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$ 36.40
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Average Monthly Price (Mar. 2024):
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$ 32.87
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$ 31.22
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2024 Highest Daily Price:
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$ 54.00 (Jan. 2nd, 2024)
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$ 52.20 (Jan. 2nd, 2024)
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