Carbon Pulse

China’s Industrial Bank on Thursday unveiled a deal involving upfront funding and forward purchase of carbon credits from a forestry project in Fujian province, a first of its kind in China that observers say can help overcome financing challenges for voluntary forestry schemes.

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

The UK expects to tighten its cap-and-trade programme in 2023 to align with its mid-century net zero emissions target, the government said in a strategy document published Wednesday that could see British emitters face higher carbon costs up to three years earlier that their European rivals.

A key Washington state senator who has repeatedly blocked low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) legislation sees a possible path forward for the bill this year if certain provisions are built in, he told a committee Tuesday.

Italian oil and gas firm Eni will avoid buying spot carbon offsets from brokers where possible, choosing instead to co-develop projects in partnership with developers and local actors, a company official said Wednesday.

The UK government is gathering stakeholder input to guide the more effective use of free allowance allocations under its new ETS.

EU nations want to support green hydrogen using carbon contracts for difference (CCfD) schemes, with Portugal leading the way by making plans to hold an auction in the second half of 2021.

A Virginia-based peaker plant opened a secondary RGGI account on Wednesday, aligning with a growing trend of compliance entities registering general accounts in the power sector cap-and-trade scheme.

EUAs resumed an upward course on Wednesday, with observers eyeing a resumption of the rally that had pushed carbon to a record high earlier this week.

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

New Zealand sold all 4.75 million NZUs on offer at its inaugural auction Wednesday, with the sale clearing more than 7% below the secondary market at NZ$36 ($25.90).

Activist shareholders welcome the impending release of ever-shorter, interim sectoral benchmarks designed to guide investors towards 2050 net zero targets, but remain adamantly opposed to the recognition of reduction-based offsets in achieving net zero, a panel heard Tuesday.

Czech utility CEZ saw a 13.9% drop in its EU ETS-covered thermal generation for 2020 as a major coal facility closed, it reported on Tuesday, detailing plans to offload more coal assets this year.

The World Bank-led Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) has cancelled three possible deforestation reduction deals, while three others are expected to be agreed soon, a spokesperson confirmed to Carbon Pulse.

Emissions covered under the EU ETS likely fell by a record amount in 2020, according to a poll of 10 analysts, as the pandemic and subsequent government-imposed lockdowns slashed power generation and industrial output while wreaking havoc on the European economy.

Massachusetts sold all Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) carbon allowances on offer at its March auction, but the second sale of 2021 allowances regressed to an all-time low clearing price for the power sector cap-and-trade programme, market participants told Carbon Pulse.

EUAs lost nearly 2% on Tuesday, falling back further from the previous session's record high amid weaker energy markets and profit-taking, and despite resolute bullish sentiment.

California electricity demand appears to be skewing back to historic levels, though consumption remained stunted over the first two months of 2021 amid more COVID-19 restrictions, according to California Independent System Operator (CAISO) data.

ETS-covered emissions from Germany-based utility RWE dropped 23% last year, as higher carbon prices reduced the profitability of the company's coal-based units, it said in its full-year results on Tuesday.

A sustainability consulting firm is aiming to transfer another California Carbon Offset (CCO) project into the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) for a negative carbon, electricity-based pathway, according to documents published Monday.