Carbon Pulse

The financial trail of underlying projects is of equal interest to would-be voluntary carbon credit buyers as other transparency elements such as project location and methodology, a panel heard Tuesday.

Czech majority state-owned utility CEZ reported a 5% year-on-year drop in its EU ETS-covered thermal power output for 2022, it said on Tuesday, though its demand for carbon allowances saw less of an impact as coal output held relatively steady.

Avoidance-based carbon offsets will be sold for “bargain basement prices” to companies practicing "corporate charity" by the end of the decade, while demand for carbon removals will exceed the current projected supply, an analyst said Tuesday.

Academics have fired another broadside at the voluntary carbon market (VCM) with a new paper claiming improved forest management (IFM) projects are belching out hot air.

UK power producer Drax has paused its BECCS plans in the UK until it gets more clarity over how the government will support the technology, it said on Tuesday.

The UAE has a political commitment to steer this year's UN COP28 climate negotiations that is not undermined by being an oil producing country, according to Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, who led the COP27 event last year.

EU emissions goals could be put in jeopardy by a compromise between France and Germany as the two major powers seek to promote their own interests in separate elements of the bloc's climate policy, observers warned on Tuesday.

Carbon trading and advisory firm ClearBlue Markets has raised $8 mln in a Series A funding round led by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

European carbon prices clawed back several days of losses on Tuesday morning, rising to their highest since Mar. 16 as options traders eyed the expiry of the March contract tomorrow, while energy prices steadied after sharp declines on Monday.

South Korea has proposed to lower its 2030 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial sector, while planning to expand its domestic carbon sequestration programme and purchase more credits from abroad under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Calls to place quantitative limits on Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) in the Safeguard Mechanism are unfounded, and would render the scheme inert, according to analysis released Tuesday, as an industry head hinted Australia would be unsuccessful in its bid to host COP31 if it failed to get the scheme up and running.

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

RGGI Allowance (RGA) values were relatively stable compared to the volatile global markets in the face of bank failures on either side of the Atlantic last week, which generated a risk-off tone across asset classes.

The New York Senate put forth an annual budget last week that prevents allowance trading in Governor Kathy Hochul’s (D) proposed economy-wide carbon market and fosters linkage to the RGGI programme, though it is unclear if the executive branch and Assembly will agree to the language as end-month negotiations ensue.

Jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD+) programmes can be a critical means for the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM) to achieve its objectives of scale, integrity, and a just transition, argue Mark Moroge, Breanna Lujan, and Julia Paltseva of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The Senior Analyst develops original research, analysis and forecasts on the state and trends of voluntary carbon markets. They will focus on carbon offsetting and on voluntary carbon markets - but are expected to have a general understanding of the broader carbon markets landscape.

Verra has permanently inactivated the use of a popular UN rice farming carbon credit methodology, it said on Monday, several weeks after halting activity and conducting a review following the raising of integrity concerns.

Developed nations must carry out rapid GHG reductions and build out removals to hit net zero emissions by 2040 for the world to avoid "blasting through" temperature limits in the next decade, according to the authors of a major UN-backed scientific report, who warned that global warming of at least 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is now very likely over the next decade.

A carbon credit standard body has approved the first methodology for dealing with harmful algae blooms in freshwater while at the same time sequestering carbon dioxide.

Prices for CORSIA-eligible offsets slid lower over the past week, although most standardised offsets barely budged amid turmoil in financial markets after the near collapse of Credit Suisse that could still have wider repercussions.