Carbon Pulse

It's Saturday night in Dubai and while most of the world has been enjoying the weekend, tens of thousands of delegates at COP28 remain hard at work.  Carbon Pulse isn't take a break either... Our 11 reporters currently on the ground in the UAE were out in full force to bring you the multitude of announcements and other news that emerged during the UN climate summit's very busy third day.

Governments, private sector, and philanthropic initiatives have so far announced partnerships and funding pledges in the hundreds of millions of dollars for rainforest protection and restoration in multiple nations, specifically involving mobilising finance from international carbon markets and credit sales.

An energy subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate SK Group has teamed up with international and domestic partners to speed up the construction of the country's hydrogen ecosystem, the companies announced Saturday.

The UN, UAE, and Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the Industrial Transition Accelerator initiative on Saturday, pledging $30 million to scale up decarbonisation of heavy-emitting industries.

Verra is set to soon issue its first carbon credits aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement from projects in Africa, and also expects to launch its Verified Carbon Standard Version 5.0 in 2025, a senior member of the standards body told a panel at a COP28 side event.

Leaders from 120 countries have pledged to triple renewable energy capacity to at least 11,000 GW globally, signing up to a Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge at the UN climate summit in Dubai on Saturday.

Carbon removal technologies such as direct air capture are essential to limiting global warming to 1.5C, said panelists at a number of COP28 side events, but require increased investment and support as they face distinct hurdles to increase capacity.

The US is pledging a further $3 billion to the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF), Vice President Kamala Harris announced at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Saturday.

Brazil launched at COP28 on Friday its proposal for a global instrument dubbed the “Tropical Forest Forever Facility” aimed at mobilising $250 billion to protect standing tropical forests in up to 80 countries, with the UK also committing £35 million to protect the Amazon in the country.

A group of international agencies, funded by a $40 million commitment from a philanthropic organisation, announced a global initiative on the sidelines of COP28 on Saturday to help track and drive methane emissions reductions from the oil and gas industry.

A voluntary carbon credit ratings agency has partnered with an Asian government to help it use "high-quality" carbon credits towards meeting Paris Agreement goals, they said at a joint launch event on Saturday.

The US has finalised standards to reduce methane pollution and other harmful air pollutants from the oil and gas industry, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Michael Regan announced at COP28 in Dubai on Saturday.

Crediting standard Cercarbono has released for public consultation a broad programme that will allow a wide range of activities to earn voluntary biodiversity credits, covering terrestrial, marine, freshwater, wetland, and urban activities.

Coal exporter Colombia has joined a small group of countries seeking a treaty to end new fossil fuel development and phase out existing capacity in line with the Paris Agreement, President Gustavo Petro announced Saturday at COP28.

A South Korea-led intergovernmental organisation has secured a forest carbon project in Kyrgyzstan, where it plans to restore 600,000 hectares and contribute to achieving the Central Asian country's climate goals.

It's Day 3 of COP28 and world leaders are speaking once again at Expo City in Dubai, UAE, with climate finance pledges mounting, and coal phaseout and renewables targets on the agenda. In our daily running blog, Carbon Pulse will report relevant or useful updates throughout the day. Timestamps are in local time (Gulf Standard Time, GMT+4).

French President Emmanuel Macron and billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg announced a framework to set up the world's first global and open emissions data source for private sector emissions at COP28 in Dubai on Saturday, with 400 companies so far signed up at its launch.

Seven new countries, including the US, signed up to a pledge on Saturday to phase out existing unabated coal plants and to not develop new unabated capacity, in what has been described as a "groundbreaking" move at COP28, while a French-led initiative supported by the EU also launched, aiming to end private finance for the fuel.

Public-private forest finance partnership the LEAF Coalition has unveiled its first finalised Emissions Reductions Purchase Agreements (ERPAs) to supply jurisdictional REDD+ credits from two nations to corporate buyers, organisers announced on Saturday at COP28.

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