Carbon Pulse

US climate envoy John Kerry on Sunday set out initial core principles and the first experts for an advisory panel for the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA) jurisdictional carbon crediting mechanism.

South Korea's SK Group has agreed to form a partnership with Mubadala Investment, a sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to cooperate in voluntary carbon markets (VCM) in the Asian region.

The Australian government will provide A$70 million ($49 mln) for the development of a hydrogen hub in the state of Queensland, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Bowen, have jointly announced.

The secondary price for NZUs in New Zealand’s ETS has hit a six month low in recent days, as recent government announcements indicate it aims to keep prices low due to inflationary and political pressures. 

The fledgling practice of issuing voluntary biodiversity credits based on the area protected by a project is among the elements scrutinised in a draft set of integrity and governance principles for the market released by the World Economic Forum.

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

The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) Program on late Friday afternoon announced it has approved a listing for Ethiopia under The REDD+ Environmental Excellency Standard (TREES), as well as a monitoring report for Guyana’s emissions reductions achieved in 2021.

Regulated parties increased their holdings across North American carbon markets, adding to California Carbon Allowance (CCA) and RGGI Allowance (RGA) net length this week, while financials reduced net interest across both markets, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

A summary of legislative, regulatory, and policy action on carbon and low-carbon fuel standard markets at the US federal and subnational levels this week, including a carbon offset and CCUS management proposal in Alaska, GHG reduction goal legislation in Colorado, and a constitutional amendment package for regulations in Pennsylvania. 

A carbon credit ratings agency has put a highly-ranked Verra-certified REDD project on ratings watch for a potential downgrade, with a Gold Standard biogas project also facing scrutiny.

A California-based carbon removal company on Thursday announced it has raised $12 mln to accelerate its technology to sequester atmospheric CO2 directly from ocean water, for which tech giants have recently committed to pay nearly $1,000/tonne.

The EU should use one or more funding tools for clean tech investment so the bloc can ensure global competitiveness, European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday. 

The United Arab Emirates on Friday made plans to advance its green hydrogen cooperation with the the Netherlands and the UK, adding to a pact stuck with Germany by this year’s UN climate talks host and furthering its ambition to becoming a major exporter of the fuel.

Seaweed farming can be a powerful tool to capture carbon and transform regional economies in the EU but it is being hindered by an overly-complicated and costly regulatory process, according to a report prepared for the European Commission and published on Friday.

Norway-based Chooose on Friday announced a $15 mln capital raise from several venture capital firms to expand its climate tech platform that provides access to carbon offsets, removals, and sustainable aviation fuels.

The UK should set out a clearer pre-and post-2030 pathway for its ETS and give assurances for industry on carbon leakage risk, according to a government-commissioned review of the nation's net zero strategy published on Friday that also called for voluntary carbon market regulation within two years.

EUAs fell to their lowest levels since the start of the week on Friday morning, as energy markets continued to drop amid bearish fossil fuel generation conditions and carbon's short term price correlation with natural gas rose to its highest level in a year.

Asian banks are increasingly recognising nature-related risks as important, but are making little headway in converting that recognition into clearly stated expectations from their clients, WWF Singapore’s annual Sustainable Banking Assessment (SUSBA) has found.

The price for Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) ended trading up 2.8% Friday as the market continues to react positively to the Safeguard Mechanism reforms, while total voluntary Kyoto-era carbon credit retirements for 2022 reached a record 17.3 million.

Volumes continued to drop in China’s emissions market over the past week, with price levels remaining rangebound while analysts expect trading activity to be stalled this quarter given holiday factors and the lack of regulatory updates from the central government.