Carbon Pulse

Google’s carbon emissions have shot up 48% over the past five years, driven largely by data centre energy consumption, according to the company’s 2024 Environmental Report published this week.

Verra’s new consolidated methodology for avoided deforestation could lead to many REDD carbon projects being cancelled because they face the risk of being unable to issue voluntary credits, finds an assessment body.

International registry ACR unveiled Tuesday a series of updates in Version 2.1 of its Improved Forest Management (IFM) on Non-Federal US Forestlands methodology that it said increased the precision of its requirements for developing and evaluating conservative baseline scenarios.

A Labour win in Thursday's general election is likely to be good news for the UK's chances of meeting its legally-binding target of net zero emissions by 2050, with the governing Conservative Party pledging a range of policies that risk being regressive for the climate.

The EU is more on track to reach its climate neutrality goal than it was a year ago, but the pace of progress needs to accelerate to put the target within reach, according to an assessment of 124 net zero indicators unveiled by a consortium of researchers in Brussels on Tuesday.

The CEO of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Luiz Amaral, has decided to step down from his role for personal reasons, with the decision to take effect at the end of June and the process to replace him already underway.

The results of the world's first coal phaseout auction, carried out in Germany, suggest that it is a transparent and potentially cost-effective way to push fossil power plants into early retirement, according to research published on Tuesday.

A Swedish project for biogenic carbon capture and storage is about to kick start with the first auction to open this year after the European Commission gave its blessing today to a €3 billion (SEK 36 bln) state aid scheme.

Energy-intensive companies facing indirect emission costs in Germany will benefit from billions worth of state aid compensation, as the European Commission approved on Tuesday some amendments proposed to an existing national scheme.

Biodiversity is increasingly included as a key performance indicator (KPI) in sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs), as the market is expected to accelerate compared to last year, a UN Development Programme (UNDP) official has said.

A group of financial institutions and consultancies have joined forces with a research institute to improve the assessment of biodiversity-related risks and opportunities to the financial sector, including estimating the economic impact of nature loss.

The Egyptian cabinet is in the final stages of drafting carbon tax legislation under its forthcoming 2024-30 tax policy strategy, with the final version expected before the end of the year, according to Egyptian media sources.

Canada’s pilot for enabling companies to earn government-issued certificates for conservation achievements will remain small scale, an expert has predicted.

Long-distance travel is a disproportionately large contributor to the UK’s transport-related carbon emissions, researchers have found, prompting them to propose a new new metric to evaluate the effectiveness of reducing travel demand on CO2 output.

A European agtech firm has secured €10 million in a second round of funding to boost its network of soil carbon removals projects, and plans to raise another €2-4 mln this year.

European carbon allowances were little changed at midday on Tuesday amid broadly stable energy prices, as traders reported a "boring" market that reflected the onset of the summer holiday season, while UK allowance trading slowed down as participants began to focus on Thursday's general election.

The Malaysian government will make sure that its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) goals are not undermined by the sale of carbon credits abroad, the country’s natural resources minister told parliament Tuesday.

German-headquartered retailer Lidl has partnered with conservation organisation WWF to enhance biodiversity protection throughout its value chain across 31 countries.

Taiwan has finalised regulations for the trading of domestically issued emissions reductions units, as the island seeks to complement a proposed carbon levy scheme that will be introduced in the next few years.

The Clean Cooking & Climate Consortium (4C), led by the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), has released a new methodology for crediting emissions reductions from cooking projects hoping to lend credibility to the market and boost investor confidence.