Carbon Pulse

Thermal power generation in China declined in the first two months of 2023 despite continued coal expansion, while total generation growth saw a minor increase from a year ago, government data showed Wednesday.

The UK's accession to a trade partnership with multiple Asia-Pacific countries would see concessions on nature such as the slashing of tariffs on palm oil imports from Malaysia, according to people involved in the talks as reported by the Financial Times.

The forest-rich Malaysian state of Sarawak aims to play a key regional role in the pursuit of net zero goals through the promoting of carbon trading and developing carbon storage capacity, the state’s premier announced in a keynote address at a conference on Wednesday.

Indonesia’s biggest stock exchange is targeting an August launch date for its carbon trading platform, and will feature four pilot projects to start off with, according to an industry leader.

New data released Wednesday by a climate disclosure organisation indicates that only 41% of those reporting track value chain emissions, and significantly fewer are aware of their impact on nature.

New Zealand on Wednesday did not sell any of the 4.475 million NZUs on offer, as bids failed to meet the government’s confidential reserve price.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

British Columbia will implement a cap on oil and gas emissions to ensure the province hits its GHG reduction target for the sector, and will also consider how credit trading may work under the system, the Canadian province announced Tuesday.

More aggressive GHG reduction targets and a simple process for California-Quebec market traders to open accounts resulted in the Washington cap-and-invest programme seeing a steep clearing price at its inaugural auction last month, an analyst said Tuesday.

Only one standards body operating in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) has a viable grievance mechanism offered to communities affected by climate projects, according to a review published Tuesday.

Carbon credit buyers have been drawn to clean cookstove projects for their extensively touted benefits in improving the health of millions of some of the world's poorest people, but observers warn that the sector bears many of the same over-crediting risks as forest protection programmes.

An academic study has claimed cookstove projects are more than six times over-credited, reigniting criticism of the voluntary carbon market that is still dousing the flames from January’s damning reports of hot air in the REDD+ avoided deforestation sector.

The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) could spark fresh enthusiasm for publicly-funded green banks that help propel nascent clean technology firms, with these types of set-ups continuing to evolve globally and due shortly to get a foothold in the US.

As a leader of Carbon Demand, your goal is to build the strategy and deliver monetization pathways of our solution for permanent verifiable carbon removal. Building a portfolio strategy for a variety of offtake pathways will be a critical first initiative, but developing other mechanisms to enable project finance and/or hybrid financial vehicles with partners, financial institutions and investors will also be a large part of the role.

The EU will seek guidance from its national environment ministers on the European Commission’s proposal to set up a certification framework for carbon removals, as they will convene in Brussels on Thursday.

A new scientific approach to calculating the carbon saving of avoided deforestation projects hopes to bolster confidence in REDD+ following claims of widespread over-crediting of the voluntary carbon market sector.

The European Parliament adopted a more ambitious line on the bloc's proposed revision of Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) on Tuesday, backing the earlier position of its industry committee (ITRE). 

The European Commission presented its proposal to reform the bloc’s electricity market on Tuesday, putting the main focus on boosting renewable development and protecting consumers but presenting no significant overhauls of the current power market structure.

European carbon prices extended their steep losses for a second day, falling through all the immediate technical targets as the daily auction saw the lowest demand in six months and traders reported further "risk-off" selling, while energy markets also dropped sharply.

The UK government should establish a domestic regulator for the carbon offset market to help incentivise capital flows into nature protection and restoration, according to one of the nation’s leading pension funds.