Carbon Pulse

Power generation by one of Europe’s largest coal plants could be at risk after the EU’s top court this week found that the Bulgarian government broke the law by allowing the facility to exceed pollution limits.

A New York-based livestock offset project is seeking to transition from generating California Carbon Offsets (CCOs) to renewable natural gas under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), according to documents posted Friday, marking the fourth application published this month and continuing a years-long trend.

Compliance entities added to their net long California Carbon Allowance (CCA) and RGGI Allowance (RGA) holdings over a two-week stretch last month and speculators offloaded permits, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed this week as it continued publishing backlogged Commitments of Traders reports.

Environmental markets platform Xpansiv said Friday it will open up its standardised reference data for public use to enable companies to identify and track environmental assets across their entire lifecycle.

A summary of legislative, regulatory, and policy action on carbon, clean fuel standard, and clean energy markets at the US federal and subnational levels this week, including the reintroduction of a RGGI-blocking bill in Pennsylvania and clean fuel standard proposal in Minnesota, along with movement on carbon offset bills in Washington and West Virginia.

The body responsible for shaping which carbon projects will be issued credits under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement resumed work this week, providing clarity on procedural matters such as a work plan that targets final recommendations on methodologies including removals before COP28 in December.

Singapore-based platform Climate Impact X (CIX) is planning to launch standardised nature-based carbon contracts on its new spot trading platform, forging ahead with efforts to drive fungibility in the voluntary market even as rivals focus on project-specific auctions.

With the presentation of the European Commission’s proposal for a Net Zero Industry Act approaching, Brussels plan to bolster domestic production is set to spark controversy.

BP is promising to spend up to $8 billion more on its energy transition plans by 2030, its annual report for 2022 revealed on Friday after the oil major rolled back on previous short term climate targets to facilitate pumping out more oil and gas this decade.

The Q1 RGGI cap-and-trade auction this week cleared at the lowest level since Q3 2021 as financial participants took a back seat, according to results published Friday.

A major European intermediary is warning companies against making 'climate neutrality' claims in favour of climate contributions, the clearest sign yet of a shift in voluntary carbon market practices in a bid avoid carbon credit purchases getting mired in concerns about double-claiming.

The primary goal for this position is to contribute to the capacity of the team leading the Carbon+ Credits Program and provide support on communications, operations, and social impacts. A typical day in this role may include troubleshooting local project lead questions, generating carbon quantification estimates, crafting content for communication platforms, and collaborating with the CFC team to advance carbon projects through the crediting process.

European carbon permit prices advanced for a fifth straight day on Friday, briefly topping €100 as the market continued to eye the record high amid a supportive energy market, while European politicians approved enhanced energy-saving targets for 2030.

Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states have agreed to increase targets to reduce final energy usage after trilogue discussions that lasted until the early hours of Friday morning.

German aluminium manufacturer Speira will end smelting operations at its Rheinwerk facility and invest in the plant’s recycling capacities instead, the company announced on Thursday.

The Indonesian government has announced a set of regulations to guide the development of a carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) sector in the Southeast Asian country’s oil and gas industry, which includes allowing for the monetising of the activity through the use of carbon credits, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Resources (MEMR) announced on Friday.

The spot price for Chinese carbon allowances remained stable over the past week amid lukewarm sentiment, while the latest change in the country's leadership team has aroused speculations about the future of the carbon market.

A manager in Shell’s nature-based solutions team has left the company to co-found a project development firm that will focus on building carbon projects with co-benefits across Southeast Asia.

A newly-formed standards body that aims to target small-scale nature restoration projects has raised €5 million in seed funding, deploying digital auditing towards plots of land previously deemed too costly to manage cost-effectively.

Xpansiv has been directed to postpone its first carbon credit auction that was slated for this week.