Carbon Pulse

One of Australia’s four big banks has appointed a former emissions broker as its new associate director for carbon trading.

A Chinese province has announced its local coal-fired power plants have a surplus of millions of CO2 allowances ahead of this month’s ETS compliance, despite some being punished for failing to report emissions.

US oil and gas major ExxonMobil has for the first time set emissions targets for 2030, extending a commitment that it made last year to cut the emissions intensity of its operations by 2025.

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

*PREMIUM LISTING - The Policy Manager is an important role within ART contributing to the strategic positioning of the ART program as well as serving as a liaison to external stakeholders. This individual will help ensure ART continues to represent the highest environmental and social integrity by facilitating appropriate accreditations and recognitions and representing ART within appropriate voluntary carbon market initiatives. The Manager will also develop and foster strong relationships with stakeholders.

*PREMIUM LISTING - The Portfolio Manager is an important role within ART providing support to the ART Managing Director, and other ART staff on all aspects of implementation of this program. This will include significant technical support to jurisdictions and stakeholders, technical inputs and analyses, development of outreach materials, document review, report writing and registry management.

*PREMIUM LISTING - The Industrial Associate is a technical role within the American Carbon Registry (ACR), contributing to all aspects of ACR services, including, but not limited to ensuring the highest level of quality for all ACR-registered industrial projects and related offset credits issued by ACR.

Verra’s Innovations Team is looking for a Senior Program Officer to support our nature-based innovations work, focusing on blue carbon and our engagement with the Seascape Carbon Initiative.

Emitters in California’s carbon market used offsets to cover nearly 7% of their emissions during the 2018-20 compliance period, government data released Wednesday showed, while Quebec’s usage rate came in slightly higher.

British utility Drax is aiming to generate some 12 Mt of carbon removals a year by 2030, with 8 Mt within the UK and 4 Mt abroad, it said as part of its capital markets day on Wednesday.

The reserve price in California and Quebec's carbon market auctions will rise to $19.70 in 2022 after higher inflation drove up the minimum bid value by more than 11% year-on-year, as the WCI jurisdictions also announced next year's auction size. 

The European Commission, EU member states and financial institutions on Wednesday teamed up to mobilise up to €300 billion towards foreign investments over the next five years, aiming to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) while championing the bloc’s green transition and digital priorities.

GHG emissions under the California-Quebec cap-and-trade programme next year will continue to bounce back from a COVID-induced downturn and sit just below the WCI system’s combined allowance budget, analysts told a conference on Wednesday.

Norway's decision this week to deny oil exploration licences in virgin or little-explored areas in 2022 is seen by experts as a largely symbolic move that nonetheless reflects the mounting pressure on the major fossil fuel producer to curb its exported emissions.

*PREMIUM LISTING - Verra is a global leader helping to address the world’s most intractable environmental and social challenges. Verra administers a portfolio of leading standards programs, including the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), which accounts for over two-thirds of all voluntary carbon market issuances globally.

The EU will emit double its 1.5C-aligned carbon budget under its current emissions targets, according to analysis by a veteran climate campaigner published on Wednesday that suggests the bloc will need to raise its ambition further.

A UK-based crypto currency venture has sold a single carbon credit for $70,000 without stating where the unit came from, a price astronomically higher than units achieve in the voluntary carbon market.

EUAs shot to a new record for the tenth time in 13 days as traders said financial participants continued to drive the market to loftier levels, triggering another high-level call for intervention, while energy prices advanced more modestly.

Steel can be produced with almost no carbon emissions by 2050 if $278 billion in investment to decarbonise the industry is made over the next three decades, a report released on Wednesday claimed.

South Korea will open its emissions trading market up to participation from about 20 financial institutions later this month, according to the environment ministry.