Carbon Pulse

Speculators continued to shed holdings across North American carbon markets, as producers once again increased California Carbon Allowance (CCA) and RGGI Allowance (RGA) net length while dropping Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) permits, data published Friday by the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed.

Another Japanese bank has made a strategic investment in an Australian clean technology firm that specialises in CCUS.

Researchers have developed what they say is a promising strategy for enhancing food security and advancing carbon neutrality in global rice production.

California-Quebec will offer slightly more allowances at May's WCI auction compared to Q1, breaking the pattern of reduced volumes offered over the last two sales, a government notice published Friday showed.

Bolivia supports creating a regional Amazonian mechanism for climate change mitigation and adaptation through sustainable forest management, but would avoid carbon markets, according to remarks by Bolivian Vice-President David Choquehuanca, as reported by local media.

The European Commission finalised a series of legislative proposals that would cut back on green requirements for farmers, announcing the amendments late on Friday afternoon.

Verra has removed a voluntary carbon REDD avoided deforestation project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from its registry after a senior government committee recommended that its concession contracts, alongside many others, be cancelled for breaking the law, the standard body told Carbon Pulse Friday.

Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states reached agreement Friday on a bill setting due diligence rules for large companies, including an obligation to adopt Paris-aligned climate plans, with a weakened text ending a cycle of meetings to resolve the EU's internal divisions.

The UK government has announced £25 million in funding towards 20 projects aimed at protecting and restoring wildlife habitats across a total area equivalent to the size of York.

Germany is on track to reach its 2030 national greenhouse gas (GHG) target, recording the sharpest decline in emissions since 1990 last year, but is lagging behind on sectoral goals for agriculture, transport and the building sector, the country’s environment agency said on Friday.

The Q1 RGGI cap-and-trade auction earlier this week cleared at a new all-time record, triggering additional volume from the programme reserve in line with broad market expectations, even as compliance participation dropped to the lowest in three years, according to results published Friday.

European carbon prices rose for a second day on Friday morning, approaching key technical levels as a rally in gas appeared to support sustained buying in EUAs amid the strongest auction result in nearly two weeks.

Nearly 60,000 hectares of forest was cleared in Brazil's Cerrado and the Amazon in late 2023, with likely ties to the supply chains of some of the world's largest soy exporters, including Bunge and Cargill, a report has found.

The Community Advisory Panel (CAP) of the UN-backed Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) has released draft recommendations on biodiversity credits for consultation, in a bid to bring attention to Indigenous People and local communities' rights in the emerging voluntary market.

China’s environment ministry on Friday released for public consultation draft CO2 emissions accounting and reporting guidelines for the aluminium smelting industry as part of preparations to expand its emissions trading scheme beyond coal-fired power plants.

The European steel industry has won a special carve-out from the EU ETS, ensuring the sector continues to receive an estimated 18 million carbon allowances for free until 2030, according to previously unreleased documents seen by Carbon Pulse.

Norway is scrapping the floor price for its indirect EU ETS cost compensation scheme and introducing an annual ceiling on the total amount of grant funding available to companies, which is intended to shield energy-intensive industries from carbon leakage.

Moscow says it is looking to build up its clean energy industry and price greenhouse gas emissions — but the talk is seen by some as purely “lip service” designed to look like Russia is acting on climate change.

Chinese carbon prices reached a new high this week despite a lack of substantial compliance demand, as optimistic expectations about policy updates continue to buoy the market.

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), spanning 13 countries across the region and the US, has penned a Clean Economy Agreement (CEA) that involves collaboration on the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 and potential spending of as much as $10-15 billion on carbon removals this decade.