Futureproof reacted to draft regulation from the European Commission to tag carbon allowances issued to the UK from 2018 and potentially make them inadmissable for use by companies operating in other countries: “The biggest loser, of course, would be the U.K. Treasury, which risks missing out on receipts for over 200 million allowances that were due to be auctioned over that three-year period,” said Damien Morris, director of Futureproof. Allowances covering a ton of carbon emissions are trading at about €7 per ton. “This regulation therefore appears to include a strong incentive for the U.K. government to reach some form of transitional agreement on how to see out the remaining years of the current period of the ETS,” Morris said.

Carbon Brief analysed the UK government's newly published Clean Growth Strategy. Futureproof assisted with the piece providing advice on the revised UK projections vs 1990 levels, drew attention to the CCC's previous advice on the use of flexibilities for compliance, and also provided comment on carbon accounting and the potential impacts of Brexit, e.g. “Strictly speaking, the only parts of the plan that will be relevant to meeting the carbon budget are heat, transport and agriculture,” says Damien Morris, director of Futureproof Consulting.

The EU's emissions budgets are currently misaligned with the GHG targets they were supposed to enforce, says climate change consultancy Futureproof in a new report released today. "No formal checks presently exist to ensure that Europe's GHG budgets adequately deliver its GHG targets, according to Futureproof. "Accountability for achieving the GHG targets has, to date, been unhealthily reliant on external political pressure from advocacy groups rather than internal regulatory checks and balances," it says. "Clear triggers should be introduced to strengthen current policies or introduce new policies if emissions are not declining at the appropriate pace," Futureproof says.

Europe’s carbon budgets are becoming dangerously unmoored from the 2030 target they were meant to protect. New rules are urgently needed to course-correct Europe’s carbon budgets and emissions to control for Brexit, unregulated aviation emissions and other unanticipated threats, writes Damien Morris, director of consultancy Futureproof.

Analysis performed by Futureproof on behalf of the Climate Action Network Europe highlights how six countries have already met their 2030 greenhouse gas targets under the proposed Effort Sharing Regulation. Speaking on behalf of CAN-Europe, our director Damien Morris said: “While some EU governments will argue that these targets are too stringent, the reality is they are very weak. When you have China talking about peaking its emissions before 2030, it is only fair for EU countries to make absolute cuts.”

Futureproof's director Damien Morris welcomes the government's adoption of the 5th carbon budget: "The adoption of an ambitious 5th carbon budget is both a strong environmental legacy for the Cameron government and a promising start for the new May government. It shows that post-Brexit Britain can still be a responsible and outward looking global citizen.”

In this article, Carbon Brief analyses the impacts of the UK leaving the EU Effort Sharing Regulation (newly published). Analytical support was provided by Futureproof.

In this article, Futureproof's analysis of new data from the European Environment Agency highlights ongoing issues with abating carbon emissions in the transport sector. Damien Morris, the director of Futureproof, said: “The road transport sector, which currently represents nearly a fifth of EU emissions, is acting as a drag on Europe’s climate efforts, slowing us down precisely when the Paris Agreement demands that we accelerate.”

Responding to official new data from the European Environment Agency, showing that the EU had already reached its 2020 climate target in 2014. Our director Damien Morris urged policymakers to cancel billions of surplus emissions allowances: “The current outperformance of Europe’s climate targets is not captured as additional effort: instead it is stored up as pollution permits which Europe can bank for use years into the future. This is no way to win stronger pledges from our international partners.”

Using new data published by the European Commission on the volume of offsets surrendered into the EU ETS, Futureproof provides a preliminary estimate of the net surplus of carbon allowances in the scheme in 2015. "Futureproof, a consultancy set up by former Sandbag analyst Damien Morris, said the data shows that the EU ETS was oversupplied by an estimated 1.846 billion units at the end of the 2015 compliance year, roughly equivalent last year’s total emissions under the scheme."

In this Comment Is Free piece in The Guardian, our Director, Damien Morris, explains why the 2016 Energy Bill is a pivotal opportunity to reform the UK's carbon budgets framework.