Carbon Pulse

California offset issuance is catching up to 2022 levels, with nearly half of the credits over the most recent period providing direct environmental benefits to the state (DEBs), data from state regulator published Wednesday showed.

A German regional court has ruled that a retail firm’s climate neutrality claims lack sufficient credibility, the latest in a series of cases brought by an NGO alleging that carbon credits underpinning such voluntary corporate claims are unfit for purpose.

California electricity sector CO2 output held at 10-year lows through the first half of the year as renewable and hydroelectric power generation remained high, according to data published Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden’s administration announced a new Cabinet-level task force on Wednesday to help government agencies and stakeholders slash methane output, as it repeated previous steps the country will take to curb the potent greenhouse gas.

The REDD+ market needs root and branch reform and a non-market funding mechanism, warns a green activist group that finds there is very little evidence the sector in its current guise has caused meaningful reductions in deforestation and degradation, abated global emissions, or contributed to the development of forest peoples.

EU steel association Eurofer has lowered its 2023 consumption forecast for the 27-nation bloc, citing high energy prices, war-related disruptions, and sluggish demand prospects as resulting in a deeper-than-expected 3% recession for the ETS-covered sector, relative to 2022 levels.

Hungary could raise hundreds of millions of euros from its recently adopted carbon tax and free allowance transaction fee policy on operators that receive high volumes of EU carbon permit handouts, analysts told Carbon Pulse, though they do not believe it likely that other nations in the bloc will introduce similar regulation given the expected competitive disadvantage and costs for affected firms in the country.

European carbon prices rose to their highest in five weeks before giving up most of the gains as position data showed investment funds had boosted their net long position to the most in more than three months, while natural gas prices continued to gyrate, gaining as much as 5.2% before falling back.

South Korea has set a temporary price floor for the domestic emission trading scheme (ETS) to stabilise the market, as allowance prices have crashed to unprecedented new lows.

Australian think-tank Climateworks Centre on Wednesday released the Natural Capital Measurement Catalogue (NCMC) as a consistent reference source for companies to measure, manage, and report on their natural capital assets.

A Tokyo-based climate startup has launched a carbon exchange to vitalise the creation and distribution of carbon credits, with plans to set up offices in Southeast Asia and South America, it announced Wednesday.

International rules regulating wildlife trade overlook some 40% of plants and animals at risk from such trade because there is no established methodology to identify them, a study has found.

Australian supplies and knowledge of its native seeds are inadequate for the scale and demand necessary for the government’s proposed voluntary biodiversity credit market, according to experts. 

A Japanese renewables company is expanding its biomass production capacity in Vietnam where it plans to generate carbon credits for international trade as well as for use in the emerging domestic carbon market.

Carbon markets will become important sources of funding to address the need for clean cooking projects, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report published Wednesday.

The spot price for NZUs has skyrocketed by almost 27% following the government’s announced changes to the ETS price controls and settings, however market participants have noted considerable uncertainty remains.

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

Multiple approaches exist to address the treatment of surplus ‘legacy’ offsets lingering in the ledgers of the voluntary carbon market that is crucial for restoring participants’ confidence, regenerating climate finance flows, and achieving global environmental targets, experts told Carbon Pulse before an industry body puts out its assessment framework on the issue.

Only eight banks are responsible for over half of the $20 bln in direct financing of recent oil and gas activities in the Amazon rainforest, according to a report published Tuesday, as South American nations ready an agreement to stamp out illegal deforestation in the biome by 2030.

A California-headquartered climate tech firm on Tuesday announced it has released a first-of-its-kind methodology where microorganisms remove CO2 from the atmosphere and mineralise it in soil.