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The Sustainability and Climate Change (S&CC) advisory team, part of Risk & Financial Advisory, is growing and requires outstanding, innovative, and engaging professionals to join our team. The Sustainability and Climate Change team is privileged to be working on one of the most pressing and topical business and societal issue of our time. Through our services, we help our clients understand, engage with and act on their sustainability-related risks and opportunities.

The Commodity and Carbon Trading Solutions team is looking for a Manager to create commercial demand and deliver commodities trading expertise for operational, risk and regulatory propositions delivered in a wide range of project scenarios.

Financial players unwound their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) positions slightly over the week, while compliance entities kept their holdings nearly unchanged, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

A group of Canadian fossil fuel companies on Thursday announced their three-step approach to reaching net zero operational emissions by 2050, with the first phase to focus heavily on a CO2 transportation and storage network in the oil sands heartland of Alberta.

North American carbon allowance prices set new all-time highs on Friday morning, with California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) surpassing $30 and RGGI Allowances (RGAs) bubbling closer to the programme’s Cost Containment Reserve trigger level before both products retraced.

With Glasgow around the corner and an election in sight, the prime minister could’ve done without this week’s privileges committee fracas

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Funnily enough, the most explosive drama of the week was not Liberals and Nationals facing off about the net zero target. That bullfight had been long scheduled.

The lesser-known fracas inside the government unfolded shortly after it used its numbers in the House of Representatives to quash Labor’s bid to refer Christian Porter’s use of a blind trust to pay legal fees to the privileges committee.

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Only around one in eight CDM projects could deliver abatement that would not otherwise happen if those carbon-cutting activities were allowed to transition into the Paris Agreement regime, according to researchers.

Lobbying on behalf of fossil fuels should surprise no one. But the world must follow the science

There should be no surprise about leaked documents showing governments lobbying hard against clauses in an upcoming report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that they regard as detrimental to their interests. Ever since the start of the UN process aimed at preventing unchecked global heating (known as Cop, short for Conference of the Parties), countries have sought to protect their own industries, economies and people – particularly the fossil fuel businesses that have powered capitalist development since the Industrial Revolution.

Last time the nations met, in Madrid in 2019, progress was scuppered by a wall of resistance with President Trump perched on top. The hope was that with Trump gone, and a US administration in place that recognises the need for action, such blockages could be overcome. This remains the aim in the run-up to the conference opening in Glasgow next weekend. Given the warnings from scientists, who are unequivocal about the dangers, there is no rational alternative than to persist with the attempt at global climate governance that the Cop represents. As the British Treasury acknowledged in a review published this week, the cost of inaction will be higher than the cost of action.

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DroneSpeed is seeking a Carbon Specialist to help make reforestation scalable to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. DroneSeed is transforming a 300-million-acre global landscape deforested since the 1990s where it would take 300 years to replant this deficit with current tools. 

In this role, you will be an important member of the team working to ensure the success of this program.  We are looking for someone who will be an expert on carbon offsets and how offsets can be integrated into the cap and invest program.  

Japan should push for a global solution to be found for rules guiding the international carbon market and expand its Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) to drive bigger involvement from domestic companies in foreign offset projects, the nation’s biggest business group has said.

EUAs rose sharply to a one-week high on Friday morning as traders reacted to the strongest daily auction in more than two months and EU leaders appeared to shy away from intervention in the EU ETS. Energy prices were mixed.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a hungry jay, rescued turtles and a lone wolf

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Japan’s government has confirmed that it will boost the share of renewables and accelerate the return of nuclear power, with cabinet’s approval on Friday of a draft energy plan that will guide policy efforts to reach the recently upgraded emissions reduction target for 2030.

Liquidity continued to improve slightly in China’s emissions market over the past week, but allowance and offset prices both lack direction amid a lack of progress on policy and operational issues.

Professional and environment groups tell parliamentary hearing scheme needs reform to manage conflicts of interest

Environmental offset policies are failing to halt the decline of wildlife and certain habitats should now be off limits to development, a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry has heard.

MPs have also been told the NSW government needs to reform a scheme that allows for the financial trade of environmental offset credits on private land so that there are clear rules for managing conflicts of interest and the potential for insider trading, after revelations in a Guardian Australia investigation.

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Forestry England among agencies still buying peat, which is UK’s biggest natural store of CO2

Government agencies are still buying peat-based compost even though the environment secretary is planning to ban it, new data has revealed.

Peatlands occupy about 12% of the UK’s land area, and are the country’s largest natural carbon dioxide store, locking in an estimated 3.2bn tonnes of CO2, as well as providing habitats for birds, insects and plants. For years they have been neglected and dug up, and currently just 20% of UK peatlands remain in a natural state.

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With government support, councils can lead the way in generating clean energy, insulating housing and reskilling staff

At Cop26 this year, we’ll hear about diplomats and heads of state negotiating over targets, but when a river bank bursts or a storm hits, it’s our local councils that are left to clear up the mess. When Storm Frank lashed the north-east of Scotland over the new year of 2016, it was council binmen, engineers, housing officers, social workers and home carers who worked day and night mobilising volunteers to evacuate homes and find temporary accommodation for some 300 households.

In the weeks and months afterwards, Aberdeenshire council had to deal with a mile stretch of destroyed road, three washed-away footbridges, and damage to several bridges. This is on top of the clean-up operation and returning families to their homes. Despite financial assistance from the Scottish government, the council was left with a bill of around £15m. This is the less glamorous, but very real work, that goes into responding to climate change.

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Young’s Seafood joins calls for sustainable quotas of mackerel, herring and blue whiting to be agreed in line with scientific advice

The UK’s largest seafood processor is threatening to stop sourcing fish from the north-east Atlantic unless coastal states, including the UK and countries in the EU, reach a suitable agreement on managing populations this month.

Young’s Seafood has joined Tesco, Co-op, Princes, Aldi, Asda, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and other retailers and suppliers in calling for urgent action from ministers to manage populations of mackerel, herring and blue whiting more sustainably.

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It has been years and years of searching – all of it using the gold standard Australian furry animal bait

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