Carbon Pulse

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

Germany will increase its financing to climate action in developing countries, chancellor Olaf Scholz announced as the two-day Petersberg dialogue concluded in Berlin on Wednesday, pledging fresh funding to the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Four of the largest regulated entities under the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) carbon market have emissions trending above 2023 allowance holdings, but should be able to satisfy compliance obligations through various channels given the plunge in Q1 emissions, according to a report published Wednesday.

The Brazilian Senate on Tuesday voted in favour of legislation allowing the sale of voluntary carbon credits from public forest concessions, leaving only President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to sign his predecessor's bill into law.

The Oregon Clean Fuels Program (OCFP) recorded its lone quarterly credit surplus of 2022 over the October-December period as low-carbon diesel alternatives outweighed greater deficits from fossil fuels, government data showed Tuesday.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) prices this week shrugged off another large quarterly credit generation figure to approach an eight-month high, even as traders reported one of the largest refiners under the programme was heard selling units.

Generation covered by the EU's carbon market across Italian utility Enel's power plants fell 5% year-on-year during the first quarter of 2023 as hydro output rebounded after extreme lows seen in 2022, while the IEA separately warned in an analysis that Italy must accelerate its renewables expansion to meet more ambitious climate targets.

A US private equity investment manager announced on Wednesday the launch of a natural resources fund investing in global forestry and agriculture assets combined with carbon sequestration.

A Toronto-based trader has parted ways with one of Canada’s largest financial institutions after spending more than a decade transacting products in European and North American compliance and voluntary carbon markets, Carbon Pulse has learned.

A start-up decarbonisation platform has secured $250 million of additional financing from a global investment firm after the company won long-term contracts to deliver round-the-clock green energy to industries in India.

Developers need to embed Indigenous leadership into projects in a way that is not fundamentally disempowering, and for this there must be lasting, genuine interactions between project developers and people on the ground, writes Isack Bryson of Carbon Tanzania.

European carbon prices gave up all the gains they made over the previous session early on Wednesday as market sentiment relaxed after the European Commission announced there would be no further EUA volumes added to market supply this year, as energy prices also crumbled amid wider risk-off sentiment.

The former Vice President of Energy Transition for Shell USA is joining an Illinois-based carbon capture company as Executive Vice President of Growth and Strategic Projects, the company said in a press release Wednesday.

Commodities trading firm Vitol has entered into a strategic partnership with Danish tech company ZeroNorth, through with the partners will share access to maritime optimisation and emissions reduction services.

A report published Wednesday has quantified the different reputational risk levels facing firms which undertake extractive projects close to environmentally-sensitive sites, finding that publicly-listed companies are 77% more likely to see damage to their business than those that are private.

A Brussels-based steel association has suggested that the "worst" impacts on the sector of the energy and inflation crisis is now "behind" the region but that 2023 demand for steel will be lower year-on-year, according to a release on Wednesday.

The Northern Territory government will allow the expansion fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, after the government announced it was satisfied the recommendations of an independent inquiry into the practice had been met.

A lack of policy and regulatory clarity surrounding the nature-based carbon market is making it difficult for project developers to make investment decisions, just as the fledgling biodiversity market is emerging as a potential rival, panellists told a conference on Wednesday.

Oil and gas company Santos has closed four non-binding memoranda of understanding (MoUs) for storage of upwards of 10 million tonnes of CO2 annually at a CCS facility in Timor-Leste, that could seek carbon credits under Australian and international schemes.

A blockchain carbon offsetting firm on Wednesday announced a partnership with a carbon accounting firm to provide comprehensive end-to-end solutions to clients.