Carbon Pulse

An AI-powered climate tech company has shut down its online voluntary carbon market platform and halted access to its project data and other services.

The voluntary carbon market has done a considerable amount of work to address criticisms over standards and environmental integrity, but now it needs the finance sector to help create the conditions for large-scale demand to trigger the investment required to scale up the market, according to speakers at a conference on Wednesday.

European carbon continued to slip lower off the back of weakening TTF natural gas prices, amid bearish near-term fundamentals for thermal power generation, as investment funds extended their net long position to the highest total since the end of July 2023.

Chile-based investor Toesca Asset Management will invest $350 million in regenerative agriculture practices in Latin America, via a partnership with a UK-headquartered financier, to help reduce the impacts of agriculture on biodiversity loss and carbon emissions.

E.ON Next, a UK home energy supplier, has partnered with a woodland conservation charity and pledged to donate at least £500,000 over the next three years, the utility firm announced on Wednesday.

The regulators of the voluntary carbon market and the emerging administration of the UN’s Article 6 mechanisms may be covering the same broad territory in terms of setting standards for carbon credits, but should not be seen as competitors, according to a senior member of the ICVCM.

An Australian project developer has sold 70,000 biodiversity credits over the past three months after striking a partnership with a carbon credit supplier to combine offerings.

Nearly two-thirds of asset owners and managers have committed to net-zero targets, yet opinions remain split on the role of carbon offsets in meeting these goals, according to a report released this week.

The European Commission is preparing to unveil its 2040 climate target proposal towards the end of February, based on the assumption that it will be a “net” greenhouse gas reduction objective of 90% that also includes CO2 removals from soils and forestry, a senior EU source told Carbon Pulse.

A Shanghai-listed forestry and paper company is gearing up for the expansion of its nature-based carbon business in China, with several new projects in the pipeline. 

Even if the world meets its global 1.5C temperature target, New Zealand can get away with reducing methane emissions at the very low end of its legislated target, and even go below that if climate action elsewhere is less successful, a controversial government panel said Wednesday.

One of the world’s largest biochar carbon removals projects is among the five recipients to receive a total A$33.6 million ($21.7 mln) in concessional grant funding from the government of Western Australia, according to an official announcement.

One of Australia’s largest soil carbon project developers has acquired a tech company’s risk and impact assessment tool that it will combine and launch as a new platform, it announced this week.

Washington state on Tuesday adopted amended regulations to establish obligations in future for emissions associated with imported power from centralised electricity markets (CEMs).

Traders expect RGGI’s last permit sale to clear discounted or near secondary market prices, with mild involvement from financial entities given uncertainty on programme review next steps.

A carbon project ratings agency has laid off dozens of staff members amid a company restructuring campaign, Carbon Pulse has learned.

The New Zealand government on Wednesday published long-awaited elements of its plan to limit exotic forestry in the Emissions Trading Scheme based on Land Use Capability (LUC) class. 

Washington's final current vintage auction for this year is anticipated to prompt a reserve sale that would release additional volumes, driven by the market’s need for increased permit supply.

Indonesia would need to retire 3 GW of coal-fired power plants per year and replace it with 8 GW of renewables at the same rate if it is to achieve its 2040 coal phase-out target, according to an analysis published Wednesday.