Carbon Pulse

Applying a social cost of carbon (SCC) to fossil fuels in the US could drastically reduce CO2 emissions while simultaneously improving water quality in the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone", new research has found.

California gasoline sales and emissions in July exceeded year-ago levels, while monthly diesel consumption and related GHG output continued the trend of lagging historic levels through most of 2023, according to state data published Wednesday.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) futures prices flatlined this week on lower volume, despite heightened activity in the options market, while Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) values inched back towards the programme’s Tier 1 reserve price trigger.

A major US carbon storage pipeline is facing a multi-year delay after several Great Plains states denied permits to the project, but the forward purchasing goal of a CO2 removal buyers’ club won't get threatened by the delay, a senior official told Carbon Pulse.

A Vancouver-based climate-tech company is claiming a world-first in patenting its process of generating carbon credits, which are facilitated by users who make lower-carbon transportation choices as tracked by the firm’s technology.

Co-legislators for the European Parliament and Council of member states met on Thursday for the first time to kick-off talks to finalise a bill to reform the EU power market, aiming to an end-of-year delivery of the law to shield citizens from higher energy prices.

A coalition of 12 fossil fuel producers have boosted their low carbon investments, emissions reductions, and carbon capture utilisation and sequestration (CCUS) development in 2022, according to an annual progress report released Wednesday.

A Vancouver-based organisation announced Thursday that it will provide C$2.8 million ($2.05 mln) in non-dilutive funding to help develop commercial pathways for measurement, monitoring, and verification (MMV) of carbon management solutions originating from British Columbia.

The Brazilian Senate Environment committee on Wednesday approved a lawmaker’s request to investigate allegations that linked avoided deforestation carbon credit project developers in Para state with the theft of public lands.

Laying out hydrogen infrastructure and grid connections across the EU will be a gamechanger for the renewable hydrogen sector, industry players said during an online talk on Thursday, a day after a key cross-border EU hydrogen infrastructure plan gained a new major partner.

Around 95% of the world's thermal coal value chain lacks a phaseout commitment and only half of those with exit dates have timelines aligned with the Paris Agreement, according to an NGO-compiled report published on Thursday.

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).

Next week, the Republic of the Congo will host the Three Basins Summit of tropical forest basins, which account for 80% of the world’s tropical forests, house two-thirds of terrestrial biodiversity, and play an essential role in regulating the global carbon balance. Rarely has there been an event where forests play a more central role than the forthcoming meeting in Brazzaville. The Summit provides a unique opportunity to make the case for a reform of the rules of global public finance to value tropical forests as global climate and biodiversity assets, writes Charlotte Streck in a piece for Ecosystem Marketplace.

Transactions of durable carbon removals have increased by more than 10 times over the past year, according to an annual report from a carbon credit ratings agency, supporting recent data from analysts that there is likely to be a strong future supply of nature-based credits from projects currently in the pipeline.

A shortage of skills in the workforce is one of the greatest obstacles holding back the scaling up of nature-based solutions worldwide, according to a European Commission official.

Concerns are mounting that high debt piles, or a possible global economic recession, could knock the energy transition off course.

India's draft notification on a new ecolabelling scheme is seen by some as bolstering demand for carbon credits among corporates seeking to demonstrate the very highest levels of climate leadership.

European carbon prices dropped sharply on Thursday morning, amid continuing weakness in energy markets and after one of the most bearish auctions of the year to date.

A programme backed by around €12.9 million of funding from German government agencies for boosting biodiversity on agricultural land has expanded to another state.

A Japanese project developer predominantly involved in agricultural projects has teamed up with a forest management firm to begin generating J-Credits in the Kansai region, while planning to offer a simplified process for other companies to establish themselves in the market through new technology.