Carbon Pulse

California granted more than 2.3 mln carbon offsets over the past two weeks, with an Alaska-based project accounting for the largest amount of the new credits, according to data from state regulator ARB published Wednesday.

Free EUA allocation should be phased out if the EU introduces a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), several key MEPs on the EU Parliament's environment committee said on Wednesday.

EUAs fell to a new four-month low just above €23 on Wednesday after buyers struggled to absorb the bumper UK auction and wider financial markets tumbled on worsening coronavirus prospects.

Japanese industries are likely to add to the fast-growing global demand for voluntary carbon credits as hundreds of companies strive to align with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s net zero emissions target and the introduction of a domestic cap-and-trade programme remains improbable.

Deferring a carbon emissions target for Australia’s industry by another decade would be the sector’s worst option, a report released Wednesday said, adding the Safeguard Mechanism could be the ideal lever to decarbonise the sector.

China is developing an offset mechanism for its national emissions trading scheme, a government official said Wednesday, reaffirming the market’s intended 2019-2020 compliance obligation but not responding to questions on when the programme might see its first trades.

South Korea will bring its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday, following recent similar statements from neighbours China and Japan to create momentum for climate action in the East Asia region.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Brazilian carbon credit prices and transactions surged over the past month as fuel distributors look to comply with the country’s RenovaBio programme after its 2020 biofuel quotas were finalised in September.

Swedish utility Vattenfall’s ETS-covered fossil-based power output fell 28% year-on-year for the first nine months of 2020, outpacing an overall generation drop amid ample hydro supply, the company said in quarterly results on Tuesday.

European carbon prices closed higher on Tuesday after trading lower for most of the session following another weak auction results and amid nervousness in wider financial markets.

The Utah legislature is unlikely to restore funding this year to challenge California’s cap-and-trade programme and emissions performance standards (EPS) due to budget constraints, though the issue may return next year, a state lawmaker told Carbon Pulse.

The European Commission plans to launch a second call for projects under the Innovation Fund in early December, shortly after the deadline for the first call has ended, an EU official said on Tuesday.

The energy demand drop due to the coronavirus pandemic will remove some 2.5 years’ worth of global energy emissions through 2050, according to researchers, who nonetheless say that the world is still heading for 3.3C of global warming.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has released guidelines that will allow facilities with emissions or offset obligations at state level to establish projects under the federal carbon credit programme.

Vietnam has signed a deal with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) that could earn the country over $50 million from cutting greenhouse gas emissions from forests over the next five years.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Oil major BP has agreed to buy carbon credits from a new forestry project in northern Wisconsin, adding to the company’s growing procurements of voluntary market offsets from US-based initiatives.

EUA prices tumbled back below €24 on Monday, giving back all of Friday's 5% surge on another weak auction and technical selling over wider market weakness due to rising coronavirus infection rates.

A lawsuit challenging Virginia’s cap-and-trade regulation is not expected to disrupt the state’s entrance into the Northeast US RGGI carbon market next year, according to regulatory and government sources.