Dear Madam or Sir,
Germany shut down its last three nuclear power plants last week. The move away from nuclear energy was initiated after the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima in 2011 by former Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel.
Environmental protection organizations and the Greens involved in the federal government are celebrating Germany’s complete phase-out of nuclear power, but there are also critical voices.
Last Friday, “RePlanet DACH” wrote an open letter to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which was signed by 25 international scientists, including climate researchers, physicists, economists and two physics Nobel Prize winners.
In it they call on the federal government to continue to operate the nuclear power plants in the interest of global climate protection. “We welcome the efforts of the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Germany, a country of particular economic and political importance in Europe, in accordance with the international treaties that have been concluded. However, in 2022 the carbon emission targets were exceeded by 40 million tons due to the increased use of coal power due to savings in natural gas consumption, and estimates for 2023 assume 38 million tons. The Emsland, Isar II and Neckarwestheim II nuclear power plants delivered a total of 32.7 billion kilowatt hours of low-emission electricity in 2022. German private households recently consumed an average of 3190 kWh per year of electrical energy. Thus, these three power plants can supply more than 10 million or a quarter of German households with electricity. The lower amount of electricity required from coal-fired power plants could save up to 30 million tons of CO2 per year.”
The demand for CO2 emission rights should therefore be correspondingly high from the operators of the coal-fired power plants alone and lead to an additional increase in the price of German electricity, even if a large part will certainly already be priced in.
In the second week of Easter, however, demand in the EU emission rights market was lower and EUAs fell 2.9% compared to the previous week. After Tuesday still showed bullish tendencies, the rest of the shortened trading week was bearish.
This week, a total of 9,166,500 EUAs will be offered for auction on the Leipzig EEX over four trading days. The demand after the Easter holidays, shortly before the end of the submission deadline, will show whether many system operators still have to procure EUAs “last minute”.
| (Average Quotes Exchange / OTC) | |||
| Instrument | 06/04/23 | 14/04/23 | Change |
| EUA (Spot-Market) | 95.14 EUR | 92.34 EUR | -2.80 EUR |
| EUA (December-2023-Future) | 96.66 EUR | 93.84 EUR | -2.82 EUR |
| VER (Natural Carbon Offsets) | 3.27 USD | 2.76 USD | -0.51 USD |
| VER (CORISA eligible Carbon Offsets) | 2.18 USD | 1.77 USD | -0.41 USD |
| nEZ (German National Carbon Units) | 30.00 EUR | 30.00 EUR | +0.00 EUR |
| ICE Brent Crude Oil (Benchmark Future) | 84.83 USD | 86.46 USD | +1.63 USD |
| EURO (Currency, Forex) | 1.0917 USD | 1.0994 USD | +0.0077 USD |
(The average exchange quotes and OTC-prices shows the average between bids and ask of several exchanges and OTC markets for carbon emission rights in the ETS. Bid and ask has usually in Spot Market a visible spread. The VER quotes are average rates (carboncredits.com), which can be used within the framework of CORSIA and voluntary carbon offsetting. Crude Oil and Euro Currency shows day-end-exchange quotes. This market information has just an informational character and are no advice or offer to trade carbon emission rights or their futures and options. If you want to unsubscribe, please reply to this mail.)
Please call our international carbon desk if any further questions exist: +49.2831.1348220.
With kind regards,
ADVANTAG Services GmbH