The influx of speculators into the California Carbon Allowance (CCA) market over the past several months will tighten the amount of available permit supply and raise prices going forward, though little change to the WCI programme’s emissions profile is expected, analysts said Tuesday.
CCA prices surged by 10.7% between Mar. 1 and Tuesday’s joint California-Quebec auction, catching many traders and market stakeholders off guard amid expectations that the scheme will be long in 2019. Many participants have attributed the activity to the entrance of new funds with long-term bullish views.
That led Toronto-based consultancy ClearBlue Markets to raise their price forecasts for WCI over the next several years.