Carbon Pulse

The voluntary carbon market's (VCM) effectiveness as a force in climate action is being called into question, with more than half of credits retired in 2021 representing emissions cuts made more than five years earlier.

*PREMIUM LISTING - Carbon Royalty Corp. (CRC) is seeking a Carbon Offset Project Development Manager to provide detailed insight and consultation on the development process for high-quality carbon offset projects. The Carbon Offset Project Development Manager would have a strategic role and work in collaboration with CRC’s dynamic Project Development and Innovation Team, providing technical feasibility support on prospective carbon projects, while also assisting in developing new areas of project development growth.

The American Forest Foundation (AFF) seeks a highly motivated candidate to join the Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) Team. Individuals and families own 36% of America’s forests – more than any other ownership group – and are critical to unlocking U.S. forests as a Natural Climate Solution.  Were 20% of these lands to implement management activities that improved carbon sequestration and storage by 2030, an additional 2 gigatons of CO2e would be sequestered and stored over the balance of the century.   

Portugal's EDP and Norway's Statkraft both announced a year-on-year fall in ETS-covered thermal generation for 2021 in their financial results published late this week, the latest in a string of European utilities that have noted a drop in mainly gas-fired output. 

EUAs shrugged off weakness across wider energy markets on Friday to post moderate gains as traders judged the market to have been oversold, while energy markets weakened on milder temperature forecasts and strong renewable generation as Storm Eunice battered the west of the continent.

Singapore will raise its carbon tax to reach as high S$80 ($60) per tonne of CO2 by the end of the decade and commit to reach net zero emissions by “around mid-century”, the island state’s finance minister, Lawrence Wong, announced on Friday while delivering the government’s 2022 budget, adding emitters will be allowed to use international offsets towards a share of their obligations.

Chinese carbon allowances fell by almost 6% over the week, though trading volumes were so low that not much can be derived from the price direction, sparking renewed calls for allowing financials to participate in the market.

South Korean carbon allowances have suffered losses throughout the week, triggering price volatility measures that market participants expect to be put in place next week.

India’s power ministry released a green hydrogen policy this week, outlining a raft of incentives in the first detailed plan to kickstart hydrogen production from renewables since the announcement of a “national hydrogen mission” by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi  in August last year.

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

The European Commission is considering imposing more reporting requirements for EU ETS emissions derivatives as soon as next month, media reported late Thursday, citing a draft document.

The Brussels-based European policy director of a major emissions trading lobby is leaving to take up a senior role at a UK energy trade association.

A Parisian carbon offset developer and agroforestry company is aiming to invest $500 million over the next six years in nature-based operations, with financial backing from two French multinationals helping get the new endeavour off the ground.

Nasdaq’s carbon removals platform Puro.earth has launched a registry for units issued under its standard, seeking to scale up voluntary activity and transparency.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) values plumbed to a 4.5-month low heading into the February WCI auction before prices rose sharply after the Wednesday sale concluded, while RGGI Allowance (RGA) prices remained glued to the 2022 Cost Containment Reserve trigger price.

German citizens should already get rebate payments from the country's carbon pricing on buildings and road transport rather than the government's pledged 2026 start to its ‘Klimageld’ social compensation mechanism, according to an NGO-commissioned report published on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs is looking to hire an experienced individual with a strong knowledge of environmental and carbon markets as well as with robust analytical skills to join the Commodities Research team in our Global Investment Research (GIR) division.

EU lawmaker proposals to strengthen ETS price controls are still unlikely to trigger an injection of additional EUAs into the market, while adjoining ideas will likely mean supply tightens in later years, analysts said on Thursday.

Franco-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM expects passenger demand recovery to continue at a similar rate in Q1 2022 to that seen in Q4 2021, it said in financial results published on Thursday, that still projected figures well below pre-pandemic levels.

China’s environment ministry has ordered provincial regulators to collect and publish a list of companies that failed to surrender permits in time under the 2019 and 2020 compliance cycle of the national emissions trading scheme.