Carbon Pulse

UK energy-from-waste company enfinium said on Monday that it plans to invest up to £800 million in CCS technology, creating what it says would be one of the largest carbon removal projects in Europe.

A new negotiating text on the first ever Global Stocktake (GST) of the Paris Agreement dropped on Monday evening at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, urging nations to cut their fossil fuel consumption and production by mid-century while omitting any reference to phasing them out.

It is Day 12 at COP28 and negotiations are under crunch time to find areas of agreement across key texts, including on the Global Stocktake (GST) and Article 6. Carbon Pulse's team of correspondents continue to chase after news on the ground from the latest texts and sources. In our daily running blog, we will report relevant or useful updates throughout the day. Timestamps are in local time (Gulf Standard Time, GMT+4).

Market actors eagerly await progress on Article 6 as COP28 draws to a close, citing the potential to improve stability and trust in carbon markets, removing the ‘fear of entry’ for buyers currently hesitant to enter the market due to the risk of reputational damage linked to greenwashing.

UN talks on carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement were said to be one step away from collapse late on Monday, as "carnage" in rooms negotiating rules for international trading has also hindered progress in those concerning crediting, sources told Carbon Pulse, with language in a new draft text barely recognising experts' work done on methodologies over the past year.

Australia on Monday announced it will distribute more than A$3 million ($2 mln) in grants to four projects for conservation of marine ecosystems under the Blue Carbon Accelerator Fund (BCAF) it administers in partnership with IUCN.

The European Commission plans to release in February its proposal for the bloc's 2040 emissions target along with a communication on industrial carbon management, the EU's executive reportedly outlined on Monday.

The governments of the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Finland, and Austria issued a joint statement on Sunday issuing recommendations to carbon credit buyers on the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

European carbon prices came under yet more pressure on Monday morning as natural gas dropped sharply amid forecasts for average seasonal temperatures and storage levels remained high, while traders anticipated the expiry of the December options contract on Wednesday.

Canada’s environment minister, soon responsible for a federal cap-and-trade system regulating the emissions of its oil and gas industry, unpacked his climate goals for the country’s economy in an interview with Carbon Pulse at COP28 while saying he did not expect countries to agree to a "pure phaseout" of fossil fuels during negotiations in Dubai.

The UN Umbrella Group of rich nations including the US, UK, and Australia say they are supportive of a phaseout of unabated fossil fuels in energy systems by 2050 at COP28, but members of civil society have argued this language it too weak and inconsistent with their own domestic energy policies.

A carbon exchange backed by the Taiwanese government will offer trade in international carbon credits by the end of this year, though lingering policy uncertainty could limit domestic buying interest.

A busy Singaporean delegation at COP28 in Dubai has secured two more bilateral carbon trading framework agreements to pave the way for purchasing units aligned with Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.

More than 30 countries announced this weekend they had joined the Freshwater Challenge, meaning nations home to around a third of global freshwater resources now have joined the efforts to protect and restore the world’s rivers, lakes, and wetlands.

Singapore-headquartered carbon marketplace operator ACX has teamed up with a major stock exchange operator in Latin America, as it is preparing to unveil a trading platform for the Brazilian market next year. 

Investment manager Mirova has invested in a Colombia-based developer of biodiversity credits as part of the final deployment of its Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) strategy, while at the same time announcing plans to raise $350 million for a new sustainable land management strategy.

Here's Carbon Pulse's summary of stories from the last Saturday at COP28 in Dubai. Our tireless team of journalists have now published around 170 articles from this year's UN climate summit, providing our readers with unrivalled coverage. We reckon few, if any, other media outlets can boast more comprehensive reporting. Subscribe to CP Daily here or email admin@carbon-pulse to inquire about a subscription.

A standard for verifying biodiversity certificates, said to be the first of its kind, has been launched by certifier Plan Vivo with the addition of a new habitat metric.

An Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) carbon market alliance was launched at a side event of COP28 in Dubai Sunday with the goal of scaling voluntary and compliance schemes in the region.

The Canadian environment ministry on Sunday released a draft protocol to generate offsets through reducing methane emissions from the digestive processes of beef cattle.