Carbon Pulse

The European Union’s €17.5 billion Just Transition Fund, launched alongside the Green Deal to support regions most affected by the transition to climate neutrality, is currently in the doldrums with only 2% of payments made so far, a senior official has revealed, underscoring the bloc's struggle to deal with the social aspects of the green transition.

Government decision-making methods have fallen short of assessing the actual monetary value of ecosystem services by up to 180%, a study has shown.

A Dutch nature-based solutions developer plans to launch a biodiversity credit pilot in Australia by the end of September.

A Brazilian state is working to enable access to the carbon market for smallholder farmers by rewarding them for protecting the Amazon and setting up an intermediary agency to facilitate access to offset buyers.

Gaps in nature data are narrowing as technologies enable companies in extractive sectors to scale up ecosystem monitoring, say experts from data company NatureMetrics.

European carbon permit prices fluctuated either side of unchanged on Friday morning, reflecting fatigue and a lack of direction among traders, after a week of volatility in both directions that has generated the widest five-day trading range in two months.

The European Union is testing the waters on the possibility of creating a new ETS for agriculture, or revising its existing carbon market rules, in an effort to tackle emissions from a politically-sensitive sector that has seen farmers take to the streets in recent weeks to protest against EU bureaucracy.

Japan is assessing the possibility of including credits generated from international carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects in the domestic carbon market, and should see more clarity within this year, a conference heard Friday.

Project-based carbon credits complement compliance markets and countries in the Asia-Pacific region should allow them in their compliance programmes to help drive demand for credits, a banker told Carbon Forward Asia conference on Friday.

The potential reputational risks for carbon project developers partnering with corrupt or problematic governments are "challenging, but necessary" in order to continue the work of protecting nature within their borders, a project developer told a panel Friday.

Vietnam has agreed to sell over 5 million forest-based carbon credits to a US company, the government announced this week.

Allowances in the Chinese carbon market this week rose to their highest level since trading begun in 2021, with participants expecting stiff punishment for non-compliance as new ETS regulations become effective in May.

A trio of major Japanese companies have joined an alliance seeking to generate tens of millions of carbon credits this decade, with a main focus on Africa.

The first project to be registered under India’s domestic carbon market is likely at least half a year away, as the South Asian nation is still building the technical foundations that will underpin the scheme, an expert told the Carbon Forward Asia conference.

The Australian state of New South Wales will spend A$6.8 million ($4.5 mln) on co-investments in six carbon projects to help land owners reduce emissions, it announced.

The New Zealand government has adjusted the methodology for calculating the confidential reserve price (CRP) at its quarterly auctions, as the NZU price has ticked steadily higher in recent days.

Australia is unlikely to open its carbon markets to international operators thanks to likely adequate or too much domestic supply, and a powerful agricultural lobby that would oppose any move to do so, according to analysts.

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) women remain “severely under-represented” in management at clean energy companies, but insights from women in the field can inform better outcomes, according to a joint report published Sunday by an NGO and a recruitment company.

A number of forestry conservation schemes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including a Verra-approved REDD+ avoided deforestation project that has sold some 1.3 million voluntary offsets to date, are in line for the chop after a senior government committee recommended that their concession contracts be cancelled for breaking the law.

California Carbon Allowance (CCAs) prices have reversed direction to return to their post-auction lows, while Washington Carbon Allowances (WCA) took a hit after the state attempted to clarify the implications of a voter-led initiative that could upend the cap-and-trade scheme.