Carbon Pulse

EU member states will cut the total volume of EUAs sold at auction between July and September by 22% after the bloc begins selling allowances in July to fund the EU’s REPowerEU initiative, and the market stability reserve adjusts market supply in the last four months of the year.

Massachusetts’ Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) current vintage cap-and-trade auction this month settled at the lowest level since last March as offered volume increased, while the future vintage sale cleared at the highest price since September, according to results published Wednesday.

Buying sovereign carbon credits is proving far cheaper than domestic offsetting in Switzerland to hit Paris Agreement climate targets, the Klik Foundation revealed Wednesday in the wake of last week's referendum that saw Swiss voters back the new climate bill to cut fossil fuel use and reach net zero by 2050.

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) and Article 6 should apply a common criteria of minimum integrity to clean up confusion across buyers and sellers and ensure that carbon credits remain consistently regulated in line with international practices, experts told a virtual event on Wednesday.

Sustainability experts are optimistic that the European Green Deal agenda can continue on a net zero 2050 pathway, despite a recent wave of “climate fatigue” that has hit some parts of the bloc's political spectrum.

The inclusion of removals into the EU ETS will be inevitable in order to achieve the market's "endgame" around 2040, according to an academic who specialises in European carbon pricing.

EUA prices plunged in mid-morning trading on Wednesday as new exchange data showed that speculative traders had almost entirely covered their net short position last week after prices had rallied by 17% in the two weeks ending on June 16, while energy markets responded by erasing early gains.

Taiwan's environmental regulator has proposed far-reaching revisions to the existing GHG emission inventory and registration management rules in preparation for the upcoming domestic carbon levy scheme.

A Japanese shipping giant has successfully completed a trial using liquefied bio-methane (LBM) derived from cattle manure as a marine fuel on a domestic vessel, marking Japan’s first use of carbon-neutral LBM derived from biomass, it announced Wednesday.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (CER) has announced the issuance of close to 1 million Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) once again, as it continues to clear the backlog of human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects awaiting to be credited.

Offset standard registry Verra has suspended a Cambodian REDD+ project and placed it under review based on stakeholder comments related to quality control.

Annual clean energy investments in emerging and developing economies will need to more than triple from the current level by the early 2030s to meet rising energy needs and align with the climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement, a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found. 

Energy company Orsted and green group WWF have launched a project to restore biogenic reefs in the North Sea in a bid to develop a globally replicable methodology while at the same time contributing to the company’s net positive biodiversity impact ambitions.

The Norwegian government has announced plans to open up an area of over 280,000 sq. km for commercial seabed mineral activities, in spite of stern warnings from scientists and green groups of potential severe consequences for marine biodiversity.

The Australian government has committed A$30 million ($20 mln) in grant funding to ramp up domestic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production, and has launched an advisory council to help decarbonise the aviation sector, it announced Wednesday.

An Australian parliamentary inquiry has recommended the government ratify amendments to the London Protocol, which would allow companies to transport and store CO2 across international boundaries, a crucial regulatory milestone for CCS project developers.

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

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Tuesday issued an alert to inform the public on how to report instances of fraud and manipulation in carbon markets, as the regulator asserts its authority to oversee the spot credits that inform environmental futures contracts.

California should take a larger role in engaging climate cooperation with subnational jurisdictions when it considers expanding agreements with its WCI-linked cap-and-trade programme, the state’s carbon market watchdog said Tuesday.

A US-based company on Tuesday announced a new blockchain-based marketplace for credits sourced from carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technology.