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Singapore and Ghana, two forerunners in developing Article 6 trade, have struck a deal that will see sovereign carbon credits from the West African country flow into the Asian island-state.

South African voters head to the polls Wednesday amid energy shortages, a proposed carbon tax hike, and incoming international carbon tariffs, with the country’s three biggest parties open to adding new energies to the national mix but resistant to transitioning away from coal.

Shipping firms based in Greece face EU ETS costs of €335 million this year, rising to €1 billion once the sector is fully integrated in the bloc's carbon market, analysts said.

The EU will not be too strict with companies during the transitional phase of CBAM and is looking into a possible WTO-compatible solution to promote exports of less carbon-intensive products made in Europe, a senior European Commission official told Carbon Pulse.

Exclusive: Facilities owned by Bingo Industries and Aussie Skips Recycling among more than 20 named in NSW parliament for breaching regulations

• Recycling fill sold in Sydney stores tests positive for asbestos
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Some of the best-known waste companies in New South Wales are among those that broke safety rules that led to potentially contaminated soil fill being supplied to backyard landscapers, schools, childcare centres and parks across the state.

As part of an investigation into soil contamination, Guardian Australia can reveal that Bingo Industries, Aussie Skips Recycling, Benedict Recycling and KLF Holdings breached state regulations for testing a type of cheap soil made from recycled construction and demolition waste.

Companies found in the 2019 investigation to have asked private laboratories to keep retesting samples when they exceeded contaminant thresholds were: Bingo Industries in Auburn, four Benedict Recycling facilities in Sydney, Breen Resources in Kurnell, South Coast Equipment Recycling at Warrawong, Hi-Quality Waste Management at St Marys and Brandown Pty Ltd at Cecil Park. The 2013 investigation also found two Benedict Recycling facilities were retesting samples.

Twenty-one facilities were found in the 2019 investigation not to have been meeting EPA sampling rules such as the frequency with which samples should be collected and tested and what they were tested for: eight sites owned by Bingo Industries, four owned by Benedict Industries and one each by Aussie Skips Recycling, KLF Holdings, Breen Resources, Brandown, Hi-Quality Waste Management, Budget Waste Recycling, Rock & Dirt Recycling, South Coast Equipment Recycling and Builders Recycling Operations. Aussie Skips Recycling and Hi-Quality Waste Management were also among 11 facilities found in 2013 to be breaching testing rules.

Following the 2019 investigation, the EPA issued prevention notices to six facilities after it detected asbestos in their recovered fines. In at least two instances the product had already been removed for use in the community.

In one case identified in the 2019 EPA investigation, 16 tonnes of asbestos-contaminated soil produced by KLF Holdings was supplied to an apartment complex in Bankstown, and the regulator was forced to order a clean-up.

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The Coalition has no climate policy. But Labor’s positions are undermined by its confused stance on gas and the delay of new environmental laws

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Federal parliament is back for the next fortnight and I have a wishlist. Not for things that will happen – let’s not get ahead of ourselves – but for questions that could be addressed if the country is to treat the climate and extinction crises as seriously as our leaders claim they do.

There is no shortage of discussion about nuclear energy due to the Coalition’s much-hyped but yet-to-appear plan to overturn a national ban and bring it to Australia. The issue won plenty of attention after a CSIRO-led assessment that it would be far, far more expensive than wind and solar backed by energy storage and new transmission lines.

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The summer doldrums has arrived early in the voluntary carbon sector this year after another week of generally thin liquidity and sideway pricing, but pockets of high-priced trades for nature-based credits and early interest in Article 6-eligible units propped up optimism for the future.

The energy transition has massively expanded during the five-year term of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, with the share of renewables in the EU's electricity sector jumping to 44% and investments in clean technologies more than tripling, according to fresh data published on Monday.

A Swiss-headquartered non-profit has released a set of recommendations to bolster Africa’s biodiversity credit markets, including setting minimum price floors for units and establishing an independent body tasked with determining project outcomes.

The South Downs has become the first national park in the UK to establish a formal scheme for a voluntary biodiversity credit market, aiming to scale up private investments in nature recovery.

A US-based global environmental asset authenticator, registry, and exchange announced its first Middle Eastern franchise in Iraq in partnership with the Iraqi branch of a Canadian carbon and energy advisory firm.

Declining biodiversity will hit stored carbon stocks given an ecosystem’s ability to keep carbon out of the air is linked to its biological diversity, a paper published last week has found.

European carbon prices rebounded on thin liquidity on Monday with strong German power and TTF gas movements feeding strength into the market, and tight auction supply this week also offering support.

A Malaysian federal agency has launched a non-market instrument under its REDD+ programme to channel private sector funds for supporting forest conservation projects in the country.

Reduce emissions, build resilience, repair ecosystems, remove greenhouse gases: these are the four Rs that can save us

• David King is chair of the global Climate Crisis Advisory Group

In 2008, the late American climate scientist Wally Broecker warned of the global repercussions of polar ice loss. Today, his predictions echo louder than ever as Greenland ice haemorrhages at an alarming rate, threatening rapid sea-level rise. Over the past 15 years, the Arctic Circle region has been heating up at four times the global average; it’s now more than 3C above levels in the 1980s. In 2023, we witnessed a staggering loss of Antarctic Sea ice.

Over the past year, land and ocean temperatures have soared, far beyond what was anticipated for an El Niño year. Global average temperatures have breached the 1.5C mark, indicating that climate transition has been unleashed. From record-breaking wildfires across continents to catastrophic floods threatening to submerge major cities, extreme climate events have become the new norm, causing massive loss of life and economic damage worldwide.

David King is the founder and chair of the global Climate Crisis Advisory Group

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With the current ETS focused on big industrial polluters, the EU has only played the “amateur league” of carbon pricing, and is now entering dangerous waters where climate policies start encroaching on private property and individual freedoms, warned Poland’s climate minister.

Malawi has finalised its carbon trading regulatory framework, according to media sources, and so far registered 11 projects following a goverment review into its market activity last year.

A newly created essential system services market has been suspended until more big batteries can ride to the rescue.

The post New grid services market suspended until battery storage cavalry arrives appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The prime minister of Pakistan has rejected a proposal of imposing carbon tax on fossil fuels, citing concerns that the tax may lead to high inflation affecting general public.

Illegal tin miners take their lives in their hands. The craters they leave behind fill with water – and attract crocs. Brandon Michael Sideleau, PhD student studying human-saltwater crocodile conflict, Charles Darwin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.