Carbon Pulse

A major global carbon credit marketplace has partnered with a ratings agency to host grades for voluntary carbon market offsets on its site, it announced Thursday.

EUA prices advanced on modest volume on Thursday morning as traders moved on from the previous day's European Parliament controversies and awaited news on the next steps for the ETS reform, while natural gas prices jumped as much as 15% after a fire knocked out a major US LNG exporting terminal. 

A US-based technology startup is offering buyers of its tokenised voluntary carbon market offsets the ability to earn compound interest, lend, borrow, and underwrite loans from the financial product, it announced Thursday as an industry first.

South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) will develop a “next generation” liquefied CO2 (LCO2) carrier, it has announced, reflecting a further step being taken by Asian industrial players to bring CO2 transport options to commercial scale.

China has announced new rules for determining the number of carbon allowances in its emissions trading scheme that traders say will lead to a bump in the number of permits, while also extending the deadline for submitting 2021 emissions data due to Covid disruptions.

Japan’s Osaka Gas Energy Oceania, the carbon trading arm of Osaka Gas, has acquired a minority stake in an Australian carbon project developer, to gain a deeper understanding of carbon markets, it announced Thursday.

The first quarter of the year has seen a huge spike in new carbon projects being registered with Australia’s Emission Reduction Fund, according to a regulator report, which also said it was unlikely it’s recent contract rule change would create an oversupply in the market.  

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

A major global pharmaceutical and life sciences company has helped establish a innovative new company to advance carbon sequestration in agricultural soil.

Quebec’s environment ministry dished out more offsets this week than its WCI partner California in a rare feat, according to government data published Wednesday, as California Carbon Offset (CCO) prices continued to rise.

Emitters in the North Sea will shell out a record £600 million for carbon allowances this year, analysts have predicted, as the emissions intensity of the UK’s oil and gas sector worsens amid rising UKA prices.

A major US-based agricultural carbon offset firm has distributed $9 mln to US farmers and ranchers in its first year, it announced Wednesday.

Legislation to implement a US carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and help the American manufactured metals industry may win support from conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (D), though only several months remain for the bill to pass, a webinar heard Wednesday.

Canada’s environment ministry on Wednesday finalised regulations for the national carbon offset system, simultaneously announcing plans to initiate development of a direct air capture (DAC) protocol and provide a ‘tonne-year’ accounting option for sequestration-based projects.

The EU’s Modernisation Fund made available €2.4 billion to seven central and eastern member states on Wednesday, with the vehicle’s third disbursal being put towards 45 projects for renewables and energy efficiency but including some gas-fired activities.

On World Oceans Day, international shipping looks set to run aground of progress to phase out emissions, with governments clashing at the UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) negotiations over a potential global 2050 net zero emissions goal.

Guidelines to raise integrity in the use of carbon credits may cause a short-term dip in demand as buyers of lower quality units adjust their strategy or withdraw entirely, but many stakeholders believe that this will benefit the voluntary carbon market in the long run.

A well-known US carbon market analyst is returning to the sector following a four-year hiatus, Carbon Pulse has learned.

A Nordic nation-funded initiative set out draft guidelines for ensuring high-integrity voluntary compensation of GHGs on Wednesday, going further in some aspects than a similar draft for carbon credit buyers published earlier in the week.

Combined carbon and health taxes on food products could significantly contribute to the UK's 2050 net zero emissions target by cutting nearly 40 Mt of CO2e per year mainly via their influence on consumer choices, according to a study published this week.