Carbon Pulse

The South Australian state government has published a green iron and steel strategy and put a call out to global industry to help it figure out how it can underpin investment in the nascent sector.

Iceland-based International Carbon Registry (ICR) announced on Thursday the launch of its pilot biodiversity programme in an effort to develop a framework for project developers planning to issue voluntary biodiversity credits.

A US forest foundation has joined a group of environmental NGOs and carbon project developers urging the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to support the use of carbon credits in Scope 3 emissions abatement, while a group of French NGOs have demanded the organisation abandon the proposal.

If US President Joe Biden is re-elected in November, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is “likely to remain intact”, while a return of former President Donald Trump to the White House “could put some, if not all, of the tax incentives for clean energy on the chopping block,” found a Bloomberg Intelligence report released Tuesday. 

The Congo Basin, central to global carbon sequestration efforts, is under severe threat from deforestation and unsustainable exploitation, with projections indicating a potential 27% reduction in forest cover by 2050 unless immediate action is taken, experts have warned.

The US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service is set to publish a draft environmental impact statement for a new national old-growth forest plan amendment on Friday, advancing the Biden administration’s commitment to forest conservation.

California gasoline consumption in March continued to trail levels during the same time last year despite reaching year-to-date (YTD) highs, while diesel surpassed 2023 figures for the month amid the ongoing rise in monthly sales, state data published this week showed.

Solar power is expected to generate a fifth of global electricity across midday peaks on Friday's summer solstice and 8% across the month of June, making it the fastest-growing source of power in the world, according to new research.

A digital marketplace for physical commodities is launching voluntary carbon credit trading, it said this week.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices moved lower as market participants looked for direction from California regulator ARB, while Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) prices picked up on steady offers.

Protecting the ozone layer has been a global priority for decades, but as the voluntary carbon market (VCM) continues to credit the destruction of ozone-depleting substances (ODS), and countries move to fill gaps in multilateral governance, the competing or complementary roles for public- and private-sector engagement on the matter are in flux.

Four countries let gas flaring increase last year, pushing global volumes to the highest level since 2019 and adding an extra 23 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent to the atmosphere.

There were few signs of a global energy transition taking place in the Energy Institute’s 2024 Statistical Review of World Energy, which was released on Thursday, as data revealed that global primary energy consumption hit new heights in 2023.

The EU's carbon market is set for a fundamental deficit of as many as 300 million allowances in 2027, according to analysts speaking on a webinar Thursday, as industrials become more exposed to compliance buying and auction supply tightens after frontloaded REPowerEU sales end.

A voluntary carbon trading platform will auction 1.5 million Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) at a minimum of $10 per tonne generated by clean cooking projects in Malawi, it announced Thursday.

Germany and Italy are on course to miss their climate goals in sectors excluded from the EU ETS, by such a large gap that they would eat up the entire available surplus of annual emissions allocations (AEAs) left for other countries, according to a report released on Thursday.

A certifier has validated a new methodology for net CO2 removals (CDR) using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), in what may provide a boost to the development of the nascent market.

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) released Thursday joint guidelines to support companies in their nature-related disclosures, highlighting the alignment between the two frameworks.

European carbon prices resumed their close formation with natural gas prices on Thursday morning, with EU ETS levels tracking the ebb and flow of the TTF market as it reacted to news that Russian LNG transshipments through Europe will be banned, potentially adding to regional supply, while UK Allowances prices were "absolutely smashed" amid a surge of aggressive selling.

The Organisation for Biodiversity Certificates (OBC) has launched a survey to gather views on the claims that companies can make when buying biodiversity credits, as the organisation expects more clarity will have a significant impact on corporate demand.