Carbon Pulse

The Austrian government is looking at the reforms needed to enable carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the country in an effort to tackle hard-to-abate emissions from sectors like steelmaking and cement.

UK-headquartered nature platform provider Natcap announced Wednesday it has secured $10 million in a Series A funding round to scale its technology for supporting companies in assessing nature-related risks and opportunities.

The EU ETS could end its current phase in 2030 with a total surplus of 1.7 billion allowances, including 900 million permits in various reserves, but progress in reaching targets for green hydrogen could alter this outlook, according to a new study.

Nature-related law cases focused on rights and corporate responsibility are set to increase in the next few years, the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) said on Tuesday in a report.

The UK appears set to enter a new era of stronger, better coordinated climate policy and diplomacy under a Labour government  - although some changes will be soft, and still fall short of what’s needed to gain ground on the country's goal for net zero emissions by 2050.  

EU carbon prices were marginally higher at midday on Wednesday after a fairly volatile morning characterised by strong volume, as an EUA rally after the daily auction appeared to be a reaction to another increase in speculators' net short positions and was not matched by a recovery in natural gas, casting further doubt on the recent correlation between the two markets.

A tree-planting startup has raised €5 million seed investment to expand its voluntary carbon project development pipeline across Europe.

The US state of New York has drafted a plan to advance efforts towards protecting 30% of its land and sea by 2030, saying an additional 1.2 million hectares must be conserved to achieve this target.

A materials science company and a research institution based in Saudi Arabia have announced a year-long research and development partnership focused on CO2 removal via concrete, aimed at generating voluntary carbon credits.

European shipping emissions dropped sharply by 15% in 2023 compared to the previous year, in large part due to a reduced demand for energy and general goods from the EU, according to preliminary emissions data published this week. 

A carryover mechanism introduced in China's draft permit allocation plan may help boost liquidity and reduce oversupply in the national carbon market, though the arrangement could result in great selling pressure among Chinese emitters. 

The federal government introduced its Future Made in Australia legislation to parliament Wednesday, designed in part to unlock some A$22.7 billion ($15.1 bln) in public funding over the next decade to drive investment into industries that will transition the country to net zero emissions and, the government hopes, turn it into a renewable energy superpower.

A group of Japanese companies will pilot a technology that captures CO2 in urban spaces and uses it to grow vegetables and other plants that can be sold on the spot at places like railway stations in one of the country’s biggest cities.

A study commissioned by the Australian government on its biodiversity offset sites has found that 30% of the areas surveyed were in worse condition than before the projects started, and found missing, incomplete, and incorrect information in many of the projects' documentation.

A South Korean power company has secured a government-backed international carbon project in Uzbekistan, as part of Seoul's efforts to obtain Paris-aligned carbon credits through expanding partnerships in Central Asia.

Rising temperatures and a higher rate of wildfires are among the litany of symptoms of evolving climate patterns in the US, according to the fifth edition of a report published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on climate change indicators.

A group of UK local government pension funds has appointed two asset managers to allocate hundreds of millions of pounds in investments in timberland projects, some of which are expected to generate “high-quality” carbon offsets.

The Panamanian environment ministry debuted a new voluntary carbon footprinting portal for the public and private sector on Friday, laying the groundwork for in-country emissions reporting, which forms the first half of plans for a national carbon market.

The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has pledged $50 million to catalyse a $1 billion reforestation initiative led by BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG) in Latin America.

The Government of Canada released proposed regulations to reduce methane from municipal and privately-held landfills, estimating a benefit of slashing 107 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent to the end of the next decade, which would reduce eligibility of projects to generate offsets.