Carbon Pulse

The European Union is testing the waters on the possibility of creating a new ETS for agriculture, or revising its existing carbon market rules, in an effort to tackle emissions from a politically-sensitive sector that has seen farmers take to the streets in recent weeks to protest against EU bureaucracy.

Japan is assessing the possibility of including credits generated from international carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects in the domestic carbon market, and should see more clarity within this year, a conference heard Friday.

Project-based carbon credits complement compliance markets and countries in the Asia-Pacific region should allow them in their compliance programmes to help drive demand for credits, a banker told Carbon Forward Asia conference on Friday.

The potential reputational risks for carbon project developers partnering with corrupt or problematic governments are "challenging, but necessary" in order to continue the work of protecting nature within their borders, a project developer told a panel Friday.

Vietnam has agreed to sell over 5 million forest-based carbon credits to a US company, the government announced this week.

Allowances in the Chinese carbon market this week rose to their highest level since trading begun in 2021, with participants expecting stiff punishment for non-compliance as new ETS regulations become effective in May.

A trio of major Japanese companies have joined an alliance seeking to generate tens of millions of carbon credits this decade, with a main focus on Africa.

The first project to be registered under India’s domestic carbon market is likely at least half a year away, as the South Asian nation is still building the technical foundations that will underpin the scheme, an expert told the Carbon Forward Asia conference.

The Australian state of New South Wales will spend A$6.8 million ($4.5 mln) on co-investments in six carbon projects to help land owners reduce emissions, it announced.

The New Zealand government has adjusted the methodology for calculating the confidential reserve price (CRP) at its quarterly auctions, as the NZU price has ticked steadily higher in recent days.

Australia is unlikely to open its carbon markets to international operators thanks to likely adequate or too much domestic supply, and a powerful agricultural lobby that would oppose any move to do so, according to analysts.

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) women remain “severely under-represented” in management at clean energy companies, but insights from women in the field can inform better outcomes, according to a joint report published Sunday by an NGO and a recruitment company.

A number of forestry conservation schemes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including a Verra-approved REDD+ avoided deforestation project that has sold some 1.3 million voluntary offsets to date, are in line for the chop after a senior government committee recommended that their concession contracts be cancelled for breaking the law.

California Carbon Allowance (CCAs) prices have reversed direction to return to their post-auction lows, while Washington Carbon Allowances (WCA) took a hit after the state attempted to clarify the implications of a voter-led initiative that could upend the cap-and-trade scheme.

Massachusetts’ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) presented potential adjustments to its draft Clean Heat Standard (CHS), as the agency solicits a final round of comments in advance of a new proposal, staff outlined during a community webinar Thursday.

A Montreal-based carbon removal project developer will evaluate direct ocean capture conducted at its facility through a partnership with a US ocean monitoring firm, the firms announced Thursday.

European carbon prices swung violently for a second day on Thursday as continued short covering sustained the market after a weak auction, pushing it above key technical resistance levels, before longer term shorts reasserted themselves in the afternoon and unwound the day's gains.

The autonomous region of Galicia in Spain opened legislation to structure a local voluntary carbon market (VCM) for public consultation on Wednesday, following a similar regional initiative announced by Catalonia in December and in time with Murcia’s proposal on Tuesday.

France has the capacity to diversify its carbon sinks and achieve climate neutrality, or even become net negative, before 2050, according to a new study published on Thursday.

Some large investors in the US and Europe have supportive voting policy stances for nature and biodiversity, although not all of them, a report by data company Morningstar has found.