Carbon Pulse

Ahead of a high-level pledging conference this week, observers have warned that the utility of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is under threat unless critical reforms are made, due to weak commitments from rich nations in the latest call for cash and a sluggish project approval process.

The Scottish government has announced an open call for projects aiming to support current and future nature markets, which it hopes will drive equitable financial investment in natural capital, among broader calls for UK-wide policy cohesion to help promote the emerging biodiversity market.

A French asset manager is launching a multi-thematic climate fund targeting companies that adopt and disclose decarbonisation strategies aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Growing awareness of natural capital opportunities such as carbon and biodiversity credit-generating projects is an important factor driving up land values, particularly in supply-constrained markets such as the UK, according to industry sources.

Establishing a worldwide system of biodiversity networks sharing harmonised data is critical for society, an academic has said.

A carbon credit ratings agency has for the first time awarded a score to a project that has yet to issue any credits, as it seeks to expand its role from the secondary to the primary voluntary carbon market.

European carbon prices declined for the sixth time in the last seven days, dropping to their lowest in four months, as weakening margins for coal-fired power plants depressed demand for EUAs, while German baseload power fell to its lowest since March 2022 and natural gas prices also fell sharply.

Property developers should take advantage of the economic value of nature and integrate biodiversity into their projects, rather than just offsetting their impact, according to software and consultancy company Endangered Wildlife OU.

A startup reforestation company with plots in Ghana has estimated that its breakeven costs could be as low as $6 per credit, as it eyes the potentially lucrative market for buyers of correspondingly adjusted ITMO credits in Singapore, while the African nation continues to advance its work to export units. 

A UK-based tech company on Tuesday launched a first of its kind cloud-based platform powered by environmental DNA to “equip business for [the] nature reporting boom”, it said.

Taiwan is planning to introduce an offset methodology for blue carbon, as the island aims to secure more carbon credits from nature-based projects following the launch of a government-backed voluntary marketplace.

Australia has released its future gas strategy paper for consultation, via which the government hopes to support Australia's gas industry of both users and producers, its vast LNG exports to allies, and its 43% emissions cut to 2030.

Global carbon standard Verra on Tuesday released its new methodology for afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) projects for its VCS programme that will allow the use of dynamic performance benchmarks for the first time.

A conservation group has called on the Australian government to apply stricter integrity principles to the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme, saying recently proposed measures “appear to serve optics more than material outcomes”.

A New Zealand forestry group has confirmed to Carbon Pulse it intends to file a judicial review into the Ministry of Primary Industries’ (MPI) announced per-hectare annual charge and service fees by the end of the week.

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

Approaching clean energy (CE) procurement from the standpoint of an emissions first accounting framework, 24/7 reliability requirements, or a huge backlog of renewable generation builds that face supply chain issues are some considerations that could counter additionality concerns, a conference heard Monday.

New research has redefined scientists’ understanding of global carbon sinks, revealing that boreal and temperate forests are now the leading contributors to the capture of atmospheric CO2, while challenging existing findings on absorption by tropical forests.

Washington state’s shifting of cap-and-trade reserve sale sizes this year has made it difficult to participate in the market, and the resulting instability poses a threat to the jurisdiction’s desire to link with the broader California-Quebec carbon market, traders said Monday.

A Swiss climate-tech firm has announced the opening of its first commercial site for permanent CO2 storage in the EU, located in Berlin.