Around The Web

A joint statement released by California's governor and lawmakers supported California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices that were dampened after the federal government announced intent to terminate state-level ETS, but overall market sentiment remained wary in the absence of clarity surrounding the future of the scheme.

A pilot project will test whether it is a useful way of fighting climate change.

The Greens propose a suite of election policies to make greenwashing illegal and deliver a “level playing field” for businesses trying to do the right thing.

The post Fossil fuel advertising to get same treatment as tobacco and gambling in Greens policy plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.

California's power sector CO2 emissions in February once again set a record low for the month as the share of renewables increased and the state cut back on the power resources used overall, state data published Thursday showed.

A new research project will assess sugar kelp's ability to improve soil health and crop nutrient efficiency in partnership with a Scottish research institute.

Seven NGOs have lodged a formal complaint with the European watchdog for the so-called ‘omnibus’ proposal for changing sustainability disclosures in areas including biodiversity.

A US-based agtech firm has completed its fourth carbon crop, which more than doubles its post-buffer pool offset supply and brings its total volume of carbon credits issued to nearly 1 million, the company said Wednesday.

Scientists sound the alarm over substances such as arsenic and lead contaminating soils and entering food systems

About one sixth of global cropland is contaminated by toxic heavy metals, researchers have estimated, with as many as 1.4 billion people living in high-risk areas worldwide.

Approximately 14 to 17% of cropland globally – roughly 242m hectares – is contaminated by at least one toxic metal such as arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel or lead, at levels that exceed agricultural and human health safety thresholds.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Henry Dimbleby joins farmers in voicing fears of lower standards and a poor deal for British food producers

Britain’s rural communities could be “destroyed”, the former government food tsar has said, if ministers sign a US trade deal that undercuts British farming standards.

Ministers are working on a new trade deal with the US, after previous post-Brexit attempts stalled. Unpopular agreements signed at the time with Australia and New Zealand featured tariff-free access to beef and lamb and were accused of undercutting UK farmers, who are governed by higher welfare standards than their counterparts. Australia, in a trade deal signed by Liz Truss in late 2021 that came into effect in 2023, was given bespoke sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards aimed to not be more “trade-restrictive than necessary to protect human life and health”.

Continue reading...

Translating noisy geese to time travel across the universe.

Germany plans to move away from a focus on hydrogen to decarbonise industry, with carbon capture and storage (CCS) now on the menu as the new government pushes forward with gas-fired power plans.

Traders expect volatility and unsettled US compliance carbon markets under the looming overhang threat of federal action via several potential legal avenues seeking to terminate state-run ETS schemes following guidance from the White House. 

Kenya could raise $170 million from the sale of carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, according to analysis by a carbon market data aggregator.

The UK government has thrown clear-cut support behind a company using high quality avoidance voluntary credits to meet Scope 3 indirect emission targets, as it steps into the void left by the opposition from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), as well as the election of a climate sceptic US president.

Lawmakers from the ruling European People's Party (EPP) in the EU Parliament have requested an impact assessment of the bloc's Green Claims Directive, which seeks to regulate climate allegations that companies are allowed to put in front of consumers.

Auditors need to fully consider and disclose information on climate-related matters in their reports, a think tank warned on Thursday, based on an analysis of audits for more than 100 "carbon exposed" companies. 

A soil carbon project developer has secured continued support from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) after exceeding all key benchmarks set under the agency’s Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative.

The Malaysian state of Sabah on Thursday made acquiring licenses mandatory for all carbon credit trading, with offenders facing fines of up to MYR5 million ($1.1 mln) and five years’ imprisonment.

Prices in China's national emissions market dropped to their lowest levels in a year amid downbeat sentiment, while the country's voluntary carbon credits maintained their relative strength.

Biodiversity credits have great potential for supporting the surge in rewilding projects, the chair of an international rewilding network has said.