Last week the quarterly auction for carbon credits hit a remarkable snag: it failed to meet the clearing price. This means none of the 4.5 million carbon permits on offer were sold. The failed auction was attributed to Cabinet’s decision to allow more credits to be issued, in an attempt to keep the carbon cost low. And it worked! The carbon price slumped from $90/tonne to $65/tonne. Cost of living crisis averted. The upshot is that the government just issued 40m tonnes of additional emissions – taking us even further away from our climate targets.

To explain all these shenanigans, I’m joined by Dr. Christina Hood, a policy expert in climate change, energy, and carbon pricing. She has over 16 years of experience providing analysis and advice to developed and developing countries, including a former role as head of the International Energy Agency Climate Change Unit.