Carbon Pulse

The promotion of carbon markets by business groups including IETA has been labelled a “dangerous distraction” to climate action by transparency campaigners seeking a more clearly-defined structure for accessing UN climate negotiations.

A US-based emissions reduction project developer has been advancing a large portfolio of developing-world offset projects for the South Korean carbon market, Carbon Pulse has learned.

The fledgling market for Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) is seeing signs of an early supply squeeze despite limited demand for the credits beyond the government.

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

Projects that facilitate the use of bicycles in developing nations, including installing bike lanes and parking lots and implementing bike-sharing programmes, now qualify for carbon credits, a UN panel has decided.

A combination of existing provincial carbon pricing schemes along with the federal ‘backstop’ would significantly reduce Canada's GHG emissions through 2022 while slowing GDP growth less than recent estimates, according to a new report.

Lacking buyers for their carbon credits, African nations are appealing to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other institutions to finance their carbon-cutting activities as Paris Agreement rulebook talks drag on.

EU carbon prices barely budged on Monday in trade muted by tomorrow's European public holiday as observers grew wary over whether the market could sustain recent gains with the annual compliance season now over.

A California-based consultant has rejoined IETA to work on the emissions trading association’s growing US and international research efforts.

The share of German carbon allowances bought by big emitters rose for a second straight month in March, with operators taking more than half of the 17.44 million sold.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator last week issued over 850,000 carbon credits, some three times more than average, while an analyst on Monday predicted the domestic offset market could reach 62 million tonnes of CO2e per year by 2030.

New Zealand carbon allowances on Monday closed just 5 cents below their all-time high as last week’s Productivity Commission report was seen bullish by some major market participants.

The Climate Change Authority, an independent advisory body to the government, has recommended Australia should establish a new offset type for land-based carbon cuts that also provide additional benefits for the agriculture sector.

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

Data released by California regulator ARB for Q4 2017 this week shows that the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) recorded a yearly deficit for the first time in the programme’s history, with the publication coming alongside the agency handing out several fines and conducting the first board meeting on a series of possible amendments.

European carbon prices rose Friday to post a 3.9% weekly gain as the annual compliance season drew near its close and despite another weak auction result.

The allocation of free carbon allowances to power generators in EU member states eligible under the bloc’s Article 10c ‘derogation’ programme again came down to the wire this year, with most handing out their 2017 quotas some two weeks or less before the ETS compliance deadline.

Planning on attending COP24 in Poland this December? Then prepare for inflated accommodation prices and daily commutes to the venue of potentially two hours or more each way.

Below is a table of the closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week. All prices are in RMB, and volumes in tonnes of CO2e. Data sourced from local exchanges.

The decline in China's energy intensity continued to outpace national targets in Q1, with the shift towards a cleaner economy boosting domestic demand for gas and further cutting the country's GHG emissions, according figures published by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.