Carbon Pulse

Japan has issued a first FY2023 call for business proposals under the bilateral Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), with a total budget of around 15 billion yen ($114 mln) over the coming three years, as the government seeks to boost the generation of carbon credits.

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Australia signed optional contracts to buy 7.9 million Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) at last week’s Emission Reduction Fund auction, the Clean Energy Regulator announced Thursday, saying it expects private offset demand to increase.

Australia’s revised Safeguard Mechanism could trigger a round of investment in CCS projects as gas producers scramble to comply with a requirement that new gas fields supplying LNG facilities must be zero emission developments, analysis released on Thursday has said.

REDD forest protection project developers should rapidly overhaul their activities regardless of the pace of reform by certifiers, according to an analysis published on Thursday that draws on in-depth assessments representing 94% of REDD credits on the market and flags extensive over-crediting. 

While almost all countries and regions are gearing up for the transition away from existing and new coal, China's renewed coal power boom in 2022 offsets the shift away from new capacity in the rest of the world, a report has found.

After the European Commission released partial verified data this week that showed emissions falling by 1.4% in 2022, stakeholders are left wondering whether the increase in coal-fired power generation last year was as significant as had been anticipated, and data from early 2023 suggests that fossil generation may be on the wane, raising the prospect of reduced demand for EUAs.

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A San Francisco-based startup focused on carbon removals through collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has raised $3.5 million in funding.

*PREMIUM LISTING - We are scaling up and expanding our portfolio of analysis products and are currently looking for a (Senior) Carbon Market analyst who can contribute to the development of our European carbon market modelling and analytics.

The WCI compliance instrument surplus bank expanded only slightly in the first quarter as offset issuances outweighed allowance retirements, according to programme data published Wednesday.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit values this week increased towards levels not seen since late February to the bewilderment of some traders, as federal data showed financial players have steadily increased their presence in the futures market in recent months.

Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) proceeded with distributing free compliance instruments to covered entities as part of the state’s market-based emissions reductions scheme, after the agency prevailed in one of the legal challenges facing the programme.

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) is primed for a difficult stretch without more regulation, an overhaul of methodologies, and a process of continuous improvement to create high quality credits, a panel heard Wednesday.

EU nations agreed on Wednesday a united line on fluorinated gases (F-gases) and ozone depleting substances (ODS), allowing the Swedish presidency to start negotiations to finalise regulations that aim to phase down substances that cause greenhouse gas emissions and deplete the ozone layer.

The European Commission is seeking experts to provide advice on the implementation of emissions trading in the EU's buildings and road transport sectors.

One of the UK’s largest emitters is building 349 MW of new gas power generation capacity to meet peaks in demand, while also advancing CCS plans for its existing thermal output. 

An oil major claiming climate neutrality on certain products derived from carbon credits purchases lacks sufficient credibility to justify the label, a German court has ruled, with the provider of the offsets on Wednesday signalling a long-planned move away from such claims in its advice to clients.

Large middle-income countries like Brazil and China should top the priority list of biodiversity funding, analysts at BloombergNEF said Wednesday as they laid out options and priorities for the world to scale up nature finance to the required $1 trillion per year by 2030.

Swiss commodity trading firm Vitol and Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund (NSIA) have completed a joint venture to invest in a range of carbon avoidance and removals projects in the oil-producing African nation, with an initial $50 million pledged, according to a release on Wednesday.