Carbon Pulse

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

The Washington Department of Ecology (ECY) on Tuesday presented its considerations to expand the scope of offset projects under the state's cap-and-invest programme as rulemaking approaches.

A climate tech startup backed by computing legend Bill Gates claims it can permanently remove billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere for more than a millennium at a cost under $100 per tonne.

The US is experiencing a rapid escalation in climate change impacts, with the threat of worsening consequences that will affect human health, key infrastructure, and the economy while sparing no region, according to a comprehensive report published Tuesday.

With a slidedeck for the California regulator's cap-and-trade programme public workshop set to release half an hour after the upcoming fourth quarter carbon allowance sale, WCI market participants deliberated on whether the ARB's release would affect bids at Wednesday's auction.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to temporarily exempt home heating oil from carbon pricing has only amplified existing dissent with the Liberal government’s approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and introduces uncertainty to the future of Canadian climate policy, experts say.

A suite of legislation passed in California mandating disclosure of Scope 1-3 emissions and climate-related financial risk for large companies, as well as standardised requirements for voluntary carbon market participants, sets the stage for high-quality climate action from the private sector, a panel of experts discussed Tuesday.

The WCI-linked cap-and-trade and Washington cap-and-invest 2024 auction floor prices were set unofficially as October inflation held unchanged month-over-month for the first time all year, according to federal data published Tuesday.

The upcoming calls for the EU ETS-financed Innovation Fund will represent a major step-up in scale under new rules that also promise a greater spread of awards for pioneering carbon-cutting projects across the 27-nation bloc.

A charter airline service provider announced on Tuesday a partnership with Canadian-headquartered carbon project developer to offset GHG output from aviation fuel burn and customer air travels.

UK-based green industries, from electric car chargers to solar panels, are looking to the finance minister's autumn statement next week for a response to transition strategies elsewhere, particularly the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and say that more potential investment will be lost without a strong government commitment.

A twice-weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

Certifier Gold Standard on Tuesday said it had opened an investigation into the Bachu Biomass Power Generation Project in China in the wake of media reports that suggested the initiative may be at risk of being implicated in potential forced labour. 

Accredited REDD+ developers in an Amazonian Brazilian state have more than doubled after the jurisdiction's Secretariat for the Environment (SEMA) confirmed that an additional 14 entities were awarded the title of executing agents.

The worst of this year's acrimony among EU lawmakers over green issues may now have passed after a deal was found on the bloc’s nature bill, MEPs suggested at an event in Brussels on Tuesday as a leading global climate policy expert eyed the importance of next year’s elections for determining the bloc's level of climate ambition.

The proposed EU target to scale up annual operational CO2 injection capacity to 50 million tonnes by 2030 is "aggressive" but "possible with better policy and regulatory support", an event heard this week.

EUA prices are likely to stagnate in 2024 as the Eurozone economy treads water and the build-out of renewable energy generation continues to forge ahead, according to bank analysts, who have adjusted downward their price forecast for the end of 2024.

The UK-French led international initiative on biodiversity credits established earlier this year will launch a public consultation process on the framework next week, according to one of the co-chairs.

EUA prices were marginally weaker at midday on Tuesday as the prices continued to seek direction amid a slight downturn in energy markets and in anticipation of the publication of Commitment of Traders data on Wednesday.

There were 1,200 more buyers in the voluntary carbon market than last year, according to data from an analytics provider, as analysts calculate that if all active firms in the market were to offset just 1% of emissions, carbon credit demand would rise fourfold.