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Bloomberg Toronto’s housing market last month posted the sharpest drop since the early weeks of the Covid-19 crisis, as buyers and sellers took a breather from a frenetic pace amid surging infections and renewed lockdown measures. The number of properties changing hands in Canada’s largest city declined 20% in April on an annualized basis from the month before, while the …

Bloomberg About 80% of US coal plants are now more expensive to keep running than to swap out for new wind and solar capacity, according to a report from Energy Innovation, a non-partisan climate and energy think tank. While renewables cost more than fossil energy for much of the last century, prices for new wind and solar have dropped so …

Bloomberg The cost of pollution in the European Union exceeded 50 euros ($60) per metric ton for the first time in the market underpinning the region’s energy transition. Carbon’s run of records in the past year has mirrored the EU’s resolve to ramp up its climate ambition. The bloc’s cap and trade system is a key tool to enact its …

Bloomberg A joint venture in Japan has scrapped plans for a coal-fired power plant, leaving the country with no new construction on the horizon as companies drop the dirty fuel amid tighter emissions rules and strong growth outlook for renewables. Kansai Electric Power Co and Marubeni Corp won’t move forward with a 1.3 gigawatt coal power project in Akita prefecture …

Bloomberg Californian Governor Gavin Newsom will ban new hydraulic fracturing permits in the coming years as the state pushes to eliminate net greenhouse-gas emissions by 2045. His order to halt new permits by January 2024 follows calls from environmental groups for executive action after two Democratic state senators failed to pass legislation that would prohibit fracking altogether in 2023. The …

Bloomberg US new-home sales rebounded sharply in March to the highest since 2006, suggesting that the housing market is back on track after winter storms impeded demand in February. Purchases of new single-family homes increased 20.7% last month to a 1.02 million annualised pace after an upwardly revised 846,000 rate in the prior month, government data showed. The figure exceeded …

Bloomberg The European Union was poised to agree its first criteria for green investments on Wednesday, in a move that could set a benchmark for the world to follow. The stakes are high: the EU wants to raise up to 250 billion euros ($301 billion) using its first green bonds, and private funding is likely to follow into the approved …

Bloomberg Poland’s plan to carve out coal-fired power plants sparked a rally in the country’s biggest utilities. Now for the hard part — approving it. Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin’s proposal, which would free up state-owned companies to invest in clean energy, has to win over trade unions, the European Union’s executive and gain approval from Poland’s bickering coalition government. …

Bloomberg Natural gas is falling out of favour with emissions-wary investors and utilities at a quicker pace than coal did, catching some power generators unaware and potentially leaving them stuck with billions of dollars of assets they can’t sell. Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co are among the banks that strengthened their financing restrictions on thermal coal under pressure …

Bloomberg An ambitious pledge to cut greenhouse-gas emissions under consideration by the US gives President Joe Biden more leverage when he hosts leaders for a climate change summit later this month — presenting a particular challenge to China’s Xi Jinping. The White House may commit to emissions cuts of 50% or more from 2005 levels by 2030, Bloomberg reported this …