Carbon Pulse

Here are selected party, stakeholder, and expert reactions to the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance (NCQG), dubbed the Baku Finance Goal, as well as the agreement on Article 6 reached at the COP29 climate summit, which wrapped up early Sunday.

Wealthy countries will aim to shore up $300 billion per year of climate finance by 2035, as the core part of a global, economy-wide target for $1.3 trillion per year, under a contentious agreement struck early Sunday morning at the close of COP29.

Article 6 negotiators from nearly 200 countries have reached a historic agreement on international carbon markets at COP29, in a decision that finally concludes the rules governing the trading and crediting of mitigation outcomes under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

RGGI compliance entities hold a permit shortfall in Q3 from an earlier surplus through the prior quarter, while RGGI credit prices in the secondary market rose to new records, according to the latest market monitor report.

Massachusetts this week published final GHG reporting requirements for entities to be regulated under the Clean Heat Standard (CHS) with minor changes, but nevertheless extended the registration deadline for enrollment.

Magnesium hydroxide (MgOH2) is one of the most effective materials for capturing and storing atmospheric CO2, according to a new study that evaluated the potential for commonly-used hydrated rock, mineral powders, and industrial cement waste in enhanced rock weathering (ERW).

Financial entities continued to trim V24 California Carbon Allowance (CCA) exposure and build V25 length this week as futures prices spiralled lower into the Q4 WCI allowance sale after sentiment soured with news of regulatory delays, while traders added to RGGI Allowance (RGA) net length even as price action stalled, according to data released Friday from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Maine released an updated plan for the state's climate priorities on Thursday, teeing up a number of proposals for consideration in the next state legislative session.

California's electricity sector emissions in September rose year-on-year (YoY), even as the share of natural gas in the power mix decreased, according to a report from the state's grid operator.

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries could be on the verge of a historic agreement on international carbon markets at COP29, after presidency proposal texts were published late on Friday and multiple sources said that consensus may now be present on the key outstanding technicalities of international carbon trade under Article 6.

Greece has unveiled an multi-billion-euro investment vehicle with the EU to decarbonise its islands’ energy sources, raising funding in part from the sale of 25 million carbon allowances.

The UK risks facing a tax on electricity exports to the EU in the range of £40-50 (€43-55) per megawatt-hour under the bloc's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), experts told a webinar Friday about the UK's need for electricity market reform.

Great British Energy, the UK government-owned company being set up to spearhead the country's energy transition, will make investments in risky technologies that governments usually avoid, a conference heard this week.

The Bahamas government has signed a deal to refinance $300 million of its external debt, in a move that is expected to unlock more than $120 mln for marine conservation over the next 15 years.

A new climate finance goal of $250 billion by 2035 was proposed in a draft presidency text published on Friday at COP29, falling well below the $1.3 trillion figure requested by developing nations, while provisions that would encourage carbon markets were deleted from the latest version.

India is in talks with the governments of South Korea and Singapore to sign agreements on a framework for the transaction of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, sources have told Carbon Pulse on the sidelines of COP29 in Baku.

European carbon prices were modestly weaker at midday on Friday amid some end-of-week profit taking that also pushed natural gas prices down, despite a shift in power generation economics that analysts said puts coal above gas for the next three months.

A late-stage presidency text for the Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) has eliminated any mention of the Paris Agreement's global warming limit goals, and repeated its exclusion of ‘fossil fuels’ or ‘renewables’ language, reversing course on last year’s landmark COP28 Global Stocktake (GST). 

A Mexican state has partnered with a Franco-Mexican environmental credit company to kickstart a programme aimed at advancing the local biodiversity and carbon market.

Ongoing work to finalise outstanding rules for certain tax credits within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will be completed before the end President Biden's term, a top US Department of Energy (DOE) official said this week, although work on final rules for other credits may be left in the hands of the new Trump administration.