Carbon Pulse

The disintegration of Germany coalition government, a lack of funding, and growing opposition to the policy is pointing to an early demise for the country’s carbon contracts for difference (CCfD) scheme.

An interim draft report commissioned by the state identified six key strategies to assess CO2 removal (CDR) requirements to meet Washington state’s GHG reduction targets.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala this week expressed opposition to introducing the EU ETS2 in his country, arguing that it will hurt corporate competitiveness and impose unmanageable cost increases on residents.

Mutual funds and ETFs with climate-related mandates rose to $572 billion in value through the first nine months of 2024, but also recorded their first outflows since 2018 of almost $24 bln this year, according to a report published by a research firm.

The Alberta government announced C$50 million ($35.7 mln) in funding from provincial carbon market proceeds to spur innovation in drilling technologies aiming to reduce emissions.

The Canadian federal government announced Thursday C$12.5 million ($8.9 mln) in funding for six research and development (R&D) projects in British Columbia that aim to accelerate carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) of industrial emissions.

The Polish government announced that a national fund to help citizens replace coal-fired boilers in their homes will be suspended, which proponents said had been running successfully over the past six years.

The Lufthansa Group will extend its sustainable "green" travel tariff to long-haul flights, the German company announced on Wednesday, expanding a scheme that currently helps finance sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and carbon projects.

The incoming European Commission should refrain from re-opening existing climate legislation in the next five years, a French Member of the European Parliament told Carbon Pulse in an interview, warning this risks sowing political chaos and uncertainty.

Integrity appears to be improving in the voluntary carbon market, according to three sets of project ratings data shared with Carbon Pulse, suggesting that efforts to improve quality on both the supply and demand sides are gradually paying off.

A UK pension fund plans to allocate between £100-150 million to natural capital investments during the current financial year, with a focus on sustainable forestry and agriculture.

EU carbon prices broke below a key technical level on Friday moving towards a further important support, during a second consecutive day of relatively light trading due to the US Thanksgiving holiday, while natural gas declined amid speculation that Russian flows could ramp up in the final month before transshipment contracts end.

Prices in China’s national emissions market remained stable over the past week as trading volume surged, with analysts expecting liquidity to sustain throughout the rest of the year. 

International carbon standard Verra has suspended credit issuance from six afforestation projects in India and China, and placed them on hold following stakeholder comments.

Modular direct air capture (DAC) systems designed to operate in cities and industrial sites could drive down costs and expand the technology's use beyond rural areas, an executive at a US-based DAC company has told Carbon Pulse.

Two state-owned Chinese energy majors are leading a new industry alliance set up to accelerate the development and commercialisation of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) in the country.

Pressure is mounting on a group of self-proclaimed high-ambition countries to trigger a two-thirds majority vote on the plastic treaty under negotiation in Busan, South Korea, to outflank opposition from nations allegedly seeking to derail a strong agreement.

California Carbon Allowances (CCA) recovered from a weak Q4 auction earlier this week, while Washington Carbon Allowances (WCA) receded ahead of the upcoming permit sale next week.

A now-terminated California forest offset project seeks re-enrollment under the state’s compliance programme, but concerns around additionality and the high-risk nature of the project warrant closer consideration by state regulators, a researcher said.

The UK government on Thursday launched a consultation on further changes to the UK ETS, including the expansion of the market to cover maritime shipping emissions, and on proposals for regulations that would allow permanent storage CO2 via non-pipeline methods to be subtracted from reportable emissions.