Carbon Pulse

The world’s biggest carbon standard plans a drastic shift in how land-based offset projects calculate emissions savings, a move expected to quickly boost supply but that is dividing experts over its complexity and ability to secure climate benefits long into the future.

Analysts are assessing how far EU ETS prices could fall should the bloc trigger a full EU embargo on Russian energy, with top German economists forecasting a Europe-wide recession and gas rationing by early next year in the event of a full cut off.

EUA prices lifted early on Thursday, recovering the previous session's losses as activity tailed off on the last session before the Easter break, while European energy markets dipped even as traders eyed a looming deadline for payments for Russian natural gas to be made in rubles.

European oil and gas major TotalEnergies and Japanese refiner Eneos have agreed to develop 2 GW  of solar power capacity in Asia as well as assessing the feasibility of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) production in Japan, they announced Thursday.

A province in southwestern China has promised to reward local governments that host forest carbon projects that achieve registration under domestic or international offsetting programmes.

AgriProve Solutions has once again registered the largest amount of new projects in the Australian regulator’s latest update, as the country’s offset market holds its breath for the results of the upcoming federal election, which potentially could lead to a fundamental demand shift for new projects.

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

California regulator ARB gave out more than 1 million compliance offsets for the second straight issuance period this past week, while a tech giant’s recent purchases may have boosted the number of credits retired for voluntary purposes, according to state data published Wednesday.

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With rapid growth in carbon markets driving a new wave of innovative new approaches, Verra is seeking a Program Officer to coordinate and support the development of innovative and high-impact VCS methodologies.

The EU's rush to diversify its gas supply beyond Russia is giving fresh impetus to efforts to tackle methane emissions abroad, though some experts fear the bloc's hastily-agreed supply deals lack the means to ensure leaks of the potent warming gas are plugged.

Netherlands-based Rabobank has sold the first credits generated through its pilot carbon farming project on Dutch and American soils, the bank announced on Wednesday, noting that 90% of the proceeds will flow into the pockets of the farmers taking part.

An investigation into LNG-powered ships has uncovered significant amounts of methane being released into the atmosphere, calling into question the expected European pivot to ships powered by the fuel as part of climate action.

The Australian state of Queensland has come in first in a scorecard report by the Carbon Market Institute (CMI) ranking state and federal jurisdiction’s carbon policies and ambitions against one another.

If governments fully realise their net zero mitigation pledges the world could stabilise temperature rise at just below 2C but official UN pledges subject to international scrutiny are weaker and could see warming of as high as 3C, according to a paper published on Wednesday. 

A new breed of ecosystem asset ratings agencies is needed to scale ecosystem markets. Their role is to fuse incentives in capital markets with conservation outcomes, and to generate huge opportunities for wealth creation, says Mani Gangadharan Venketachalam, President, BeZero Carbon.

EUAs tracked lower on Wednesday morning in continued light trading as energy prices rose on lower natural gas flows from Russia and Norway.

A Europe-based carbon commodity firm has partnered with a crypto initiative to boost the market for pre-purchasing offsets.

The Indonesia government has released a statement confirming it has suspended validating some carbon projects, but only in certain regions, while declining to say how long the pause will last.

With the annual compliance deadline drawing nearer South Korea on Wednesday saw increased buy interest at its monthly KAU auction, but still failed to find takers for all the units on offer.