In late September, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) approved final guidance regarding the listing of voluntary carbon credit (VCC) derivative contracts on CFTC-regulated designated contract markets (Final Guidance). Commission observers had anticipated issuance of the Final Guidance for several months, as it follows proposed guidance issued by CFTC in December 2023. The
On October 10, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) hosted a webinar providing an overview of the recently issued Notice of Intent (NOI) to award up to $1.8 billion in funding for new mid- and large-scale commercial direct air capture (DAC) facilities. The NOI represents the start of the next
Companies that do business in California and meet certain revenue thresholds should continue to prepare to comply with the state’s landmark climate disclosure laws that impose reporting deadlines starting in 2026, even as a newly enacted state law gives California regulators more time and flexibility in promulgating implementing regulations.
In March this year, the European Commission adopted the Delegated Act on a common rating scheme for data centers (“Delegated Act”) in the European Union (“EU”). The Delegated Act implements the Energy Efficiency Directive (“EED”) and details the energy key performance indicators (“KPI”) that data center operators must report to the European database on data
On August 2, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) issued a notice of a Commissioner-led technical conference this fall to discuss issues related to co-locating large loads, such as data centers, at generating facilities. A supplemental notice will be issued with the date and time of the technical conference, as well as further
On May 29, 2024, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the IRS released proposed rules for the section 45Y clean electricity production tax credit (“Section 45Y Credit”) and the section 48E clean electricity investment tax credit (“Section 48E Credit”). These credits are informally referred to as tech-neutral credits because they do not specify particular
On May 28, the Biden-Harris Administration issued the Voluntary Carbon Markets Joint Policy Statement and Principles (Policy Statement). You can find Covington’s analysis of the Policy Statement here. Jointly announced by the U.S. Secretaries of Treasury, Agriculture, and Energy, and senior White House climate officials, the Policy Statement describes a three-pronged approach to responsible
The European Union has just adopted the Right to Repair Directive (“R2RD”). Once it enters into force, the R2RD will require manufacturers of many types of consumer goods to provide repairs beyond the liability period, among other requirements. This blog post follows up on our previous blog post that discussed the different positions of
On May 13, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) issued Order No. 1920, the Commission’s long-awaited final rule regarding regional electric transmission planning and cost allocation for future transmission projects on the nation’s interstate electric grid. Order No. 1920 revises key aspects of the Commission’s current regional transmission planning and cost allocation
On May 28, the U.S. Secretaries of Treasury, Agriculture, and Energy, along with senior White House climate officials, issued the Voluntary Carbon Markets Joint Policy Statement and Principles (Policy Statement). The Policy Statement provides observations regarding the current state of voluntary carbon markets, followed by a set of guiding principles for responsible market participation. A