Carbon Pulse

Tuesday's election to determine who occupies the 40 Senate and 100 House of Delegates seats in the Virginia General Assembly is too close to call, and could impact the ongoing battle to bring the state out of the RGGI trading bloc.

Market participants expect robust demand for Washington's upcoming Allowance Price Containment Reserve (APCR) sale on Wednesday, with Washington Carbon Allowances (WCA) offered on the secondary remaining above the scheme's Tier 1 trigger price.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service has announced plans to commence rulemaking that would allow the agency to consider applications for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects on national forests and grasslands.

Stakeholders are concerned that prices of eligible credits for the UN's aviation carbon offsetting scheme will spiral once the mechanism enters its mandatory phase later this decade, with the supply outlook unclear as doubts over eligibility and accounting procedures pile risk onto project developers and investors.

A twice-weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

The atmosphere in negotiations for the EU’s nature restoration law is not positive, with its future over the next few months uncertain, a member of the Greens–European Free Alliance (EFA) party involved in the talks has said.

Carbonplace, a carbon credit transaction network developed by several global banks, said Tuesday it has signed a series of partnerships, among them a collaboration with carbon credit rating agency BeZero, whose ratings will be hosted on the fintech’s platform.

Prices for Xpansiv CBL’s standardised nature-based carbon contract, the N-GEO, ticked up on Tuesday after the marketplace removed the Kariba and Kasigau REDD projects from its list of pre-screened projects.

A US-headquartered non-profit has proposed a comprehensive code of conduct to guide the burgeoning field of marine CO2 removal (mCDR) research, in an effort to minimise damage to ecosystems, communities, and the industry's reputation that could be caused by the sector's hurried development.

EU-based banks and companies - such as TotalEnergies, Shell, RWE, and Eni - are involved in more than 100 of the world's biggest 'carbon bomb' fossil fuel extraction projects that could tip the world into unstoppable warming, NGOs said in a report on Tuesday that urged legislators to avert this by setting binding climate goals for companies in ongoing EU legislation. 

A European agtech firm has expanded its network of soil carbon removals projects further afield to now include projects across Africa, it said on Tuesday, aiming to have 200,000 hectares of African territory under its programme by the end of the year.

European carbon prices rallied on Tuesday morning after setting a new one-year low, as technical buying wiped out early losses and traders focused on Wednesday's weekly Commitment of Traders report amid expectations the recent price decline will have encouraged a further build in speculative short positions.

The UK’s two-year-old “world-leading” environmental legislation has not affected deforestation rates due to a lack of follow-up action by the government, according to analysis conducted by NGOs and published on Tuesday. 

The world’s 60 largest food companies reduced their risks from biodiversity and deforestation by 6% over the last year, a report by investor network FAIRR has found.

Members of the European Parliament's environment committee resoundingly agreed climate action should be accelerated in all sectors to meet the Paris Agreement goals and called for and end to fossil fuel subsidies by latest 2025, in a vote on their demands for the COP28 UN climate conference on Tuesday.

Countries must immediately start building capacity for Article 6 readiness, carbon market participants have warned, citing a general lack of understanding among governments about the Paris Agreement's international emissions trading rules, the risks of overselling mitigation outcomes, and the dangers of allowing nations to revoke the authorisation of carbon transfers across borders.

Xpansiv CBL has removed the Kariba and Kasigau REDD projects from its list of pre-screened projects, the carbon credit marketplace said in a note early on Tuesday, meaning that credits from these projects are no longer deliverable under its N-GEO nature-based standardised spot contract.

Australia on Tuesday released a discussion paper on how to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture and land use, the first of six sectors for which it intends to draw up detailed strategies to put its overall GHG output in line with its Paris commitments.

The biggest business group in Japan has demanded the government makes major changes to the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), including involving more partner countries and project types, increasing project co-funding, and making it easier and more attractive for private companies to participate.

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