Feed aggregator

A summary of voluntary carbon market (VCM) news and developments on Tuesday, including the launch of stock exchange-listed carbon credits, a multi-million investment in South American REDD+ projects, and a long-term forestry credit offtake from a US company catering to small landowners.

Reaching net-zero emissions will require intense policy focus, private investment and clear accountability – conditions only a firm numerical target can provide. Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Science, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Continue reading...

Organisers of Glasgow climate talks said to blame Brexit and the pandemic for fees up to 30% higher than Cop25

Countries and organisations planning to host events at vital UN climate talks in Glasgow next month have said they fear that increased costs at this year’s event will cause problems for developing nations.

Multiple participants said that the cost of renting Cop26 pavilions – event spaces for hosting workshops, panel discussions and keynote speeches during the conference – is considerably higher than it was at Cop25 in Madrid, with some saying it had increased by as much as 30%.

Continue reading...

Priti Patel’s plans to restrict civil liberties make it all the more important that activists keep the public on their side

A draconian police and crime bill is making its way through parliament, and on Tuesday the home secretary, Priti Patel, told her party’s conference that she planned to remove even more rights from political protesters. New offences of disrupting motorways and national infrastructure will be added to legislation that already dramatically expands police powers. Tory members applauded their illiberal home secretary loudly as she denounced the Insulate Britain protesters who have repeatedly blocked roads.

Many others, including the former prime minister Theresa May, have voiced concerns about a bill that creates a new criminal offence of trespass, lets the police dictate the timings of demonstrations and restrict protests deemed (by them) to be causing noise and “nuisance”. These are shocking restrictions, clearly designed to make impossible the kinds of actions that anti-racism and environmental protesters have undertaken in recent years, including those that followed the murder of George Floyd. Six-month sentences for new offences that were previously treated as civil matters are excessive. But Ms Patel is unafraid of the charge of authoritarianism, and knows that it plays well with her home crowd. Her speech sought to present desperate Channel-crossing migrants and road-blocking protesters as the enemies of law-abiding Britons, along with the paedophiles and murderers whose sentences her bill will also increase.

Continue reading...

The Northeast US RGGI cap-and-trade programme will offer 23.1 million allowances for its Dec. 1 sale, a volume slightly higher than the September auction, the power sector scheme announced Tuesday.

Two new US-listed exchange-traded funds tracking European and California carbon allowances started trading on Tuesday, adding to the expanding field of options available for investors seeking exposure to compliance-based emissions trading schemes.

An actress and film director dock with the International Space Station in a first for Russia.

Greece has proposed auctioning carbon allowances from the EU ETS' Market Stability Reserve as a short-term measure to help raise cash to urgently deal with Europe's energy crisis.

Japan’s Ministry of Energy, Trade, and Industry (METI) will cooperate with domestic and international industry to develop a common understanding and standards for a mechanism to allow CCS and CCUS projects earn carbon credits.

EUAs posted modest gains early on Tuesday as European energy prices surged higher, with some contracts gaining in excess of 20% as the region faces up to continued supply tightness and regulatory uncertainty over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Industry calls for levy to fund new technologies – but environmentalists say proposal blocks climate progress

The global shipping industry has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century – but only if governments impose a mandatory levy on shipping fuel to fund the development of new low-carbon technology.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents the majority of the global shipping industry, submitted the plans to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the worldwide regulator and part of the UN.

Continue reading...

The International Air Travel Association (IATA) has committed the global air transport industry to achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050, the group announced on Monday.

The physics Nobel has been given for work to understand complex systems such as the Earth's climate.

A leading barrister has warned that regulations opening up ARENA to non-renewable technologies, including carbon capture and storage are likely unlawful.

The post Angus Taylor’s ARENA regulations likely to be unlawful, silk warns appeared first on RenewEconomy.

100-strong group will be representative of world’s population and will present their findings to Cop26

One hundred people from around the world are to take part in a citizens’ assembly to discuss the climate crisis over the next month, before presenting their findings at the UN Cop26 climate summit.

The Global Citizens’ Assembly will be representative of the world’s population, and will invite people chosen by lottery to take part in online discussions that will culminate in November, during the fortnight-long climate talks that open in Glasgow on 31 October.

Continue reading...

Kit Malthouse draws contrast between causing disruption and causing damage, as crackdown is announced

• Tory party conference – live updates

Climate change protesters “crossed the line” between their right to protest and their responsibility towards the rest of the public when they caused huge tailbacks by blocking three key London roads on Monday, the policing minister, Kit Malthouse has said.

New measures will be announced to crack down on protesters who target road networks and critical national infrastructure, which “is of a different scale of damage than you would otherwise find with a normal protest”, the junior minister said.

Continue reading...

Dutch-headquartered trading firm Vitol has hired an experienced trader to head up its China carbon trading team.

Commodities trader Trafigura has hired a former Shell trader to lead its carbon trading operations in Asia, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, will target net zero Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, the Perth-based company announced on Tuesday.