Carbon Pulse

China has given the green light to the country's first industrial-use nuclear energy steam supply project, which could significantly reduce the coal consumption and carbon emissions of a major Chinese economic hub.

Facilities covered under the Safeguard Mechanism have for the first time been asked to provide explanations for heavy reliance on Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to meet their obligations, giving reasons ranging from unexpected production increases to limited carbon abatement technologies being available.

The New Zealand ETS saw a new volume record in the secondary market thanks to the surge in trading activity in the lead up to and aftermath of last month’s NZU auction, a broker told Carbon Pulse Tuesday.

A Japanese project developer has teamed up with a listed real estate company in the Philippines to promote a carbon removal project featuring rice husk biochar, as it seeks to continue expanding its presence in Asia's voluntary market.

A large tech company in Japan has partnered with a major financial group to drive nature positive actions aimed at conserving natural capital and biodiversity, they announced this week.

A voluntary carbon project developer has teamed up with a platform to develop an offset protocol to mitigate risks from orphaned and abandoned oil wells.

A range of investment funds opened accounts in California’s WCI-linked carbon market in Q1 according to state data published Friday.

Traders largely widened their net length across North American carbon markets, with a preference for longer dated vintages, according to data published Friday by the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Yet another study of current carbon offset protocols published Monday shows forest buffer pools to be insufficient in insuring against risk of natural disturbances such as tropical wildfires, disease, and extreme weather, with greater significance for older forests.

The New Zealand government has released a 36-point action plan for the country’s economy over the next quarter, which includes moves to keep the agriculture sector out of the ETS, as well as reviewing its methane science and targets.

RGGI allowance (RGA) values reached new peaks for the third consecutive week amid market expectations of further rises until sellers lock in profits, with price stabilisation likely after the finalisation of programme changes.

The Washington Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) saw its credit surplus more than double in the third quarter of 2023, as ethanol and renewable represented the largest sources of credit generation, according to recently published and updated state data.

Republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives unveiled last week a series of bills they say are intended to promote energy affordability and serve as a counterproposal to Governor Josh Shapiro's (D) energy transition plans that include the implementation of a cap-and-trade system to replace the state's participation in RGGI.

The new global climate finance goal will have to drill down on details such as where the money comes from, where it is allocated, how it is monitored and verified, and, ideally, how to bolster integrity of carbon markets, according to a senior international climate finance official. 

Voluntary carbon futures eligible for Phase 1 CORSIA soared past $20 on the ICE bourse last week in the wake of a UN decision to block the approval of new supply into the international aviation emissions offsetting scheme, although S&P Global kept its related spot price assessment at $11.50.

The European Shippers Council has hit back at an NGO's claim that shipping companies are profiting from the ETS, countering that companies operating in southern EU countries will struggle to meet compliance obligations.

EU governments are scrambling to hire and train staff to deal with the bloc's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), with some — such as Germany — yet to bring on anyone new, and others — such as Slovenia and Latvia — hoping Brussels will provide more guidance, representatives from the national competent authorities have told Carbon Pulse.

The federal government of Pakistan is considering imposing a carbon tax on fossil fuels to bring down their demand and is contemplating ways to include such a tax in its upcoming budget, officials have told a local media.

South Korea should take into account the factor of carbon pricing when assessing the implementation cost for a net zero electricity system, according to a recent study.

Ten of the most widely used datasets to measure biodiversity changes and inform conservation policies significantly underestimate the level of uncertainty, and could thus lead to unreliable extimations.