Carbon Pulse

There is growing interest in uses of the carbon market that do not rely on unique claims, and expanding the use of the voluntary carbon market to accommodate new claims can crowd in even more investment without being limited to a narrowing pool of options available for offsetting, writes Sarah Leugers of Gold Standard.

The Ministry for the Environment is looking for a Senior Analyst to support work in international climate change forums and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations.  This is your chance to represent New Zealand and contribute to the global effort on climate change. 

China’s environment ministry has told the industry associations for aluminium and steel producers to help draw up CO2 allocation plans, indicating the sectors are about to be brought into the national emissions trading scheme.

With corporate net zero ambitions growing by the day, a startup led by oil major BP’s former risk boss wants to certify the carbon neutrality of the commodity transactions that will form the basis of many of these efforts.

The European Commission will launch three calls for R&D on carbon dioxide removals on Thursday, offering up a total of €80 million this year under its flagship research fund.

The Tianjin municipal government will auction off 1.5 million CO2 allowances on June 29, the day before the annual compliance deadline.

New Zealand sold all 4.75 million carbon allowances on offer at its second ETS auction on Wednesday, with the price clearing at NZ$41.70 ($29.27), the highest price ever paid for NZUs.

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A Pennsylvania Republican lawmaker questioned the legality of the existing RGGI cap-and-trade programme on Tuesday, while saying the power sector scheme faced “historic litigation” if it allows the Keystone State to join next year.

EUAs climbed above €53 on Tuesday, gaining steadily for a third straight day as energy prices moved higher and buyers were not put off by a weaker auction result.

A leaked version of the EU’s upcoming forest strategy risks failing to increase the bloc’s natural carbon sink amid a push to harvest wood products for construction and buildings, campaigners say.

US biofuel credit (RIN) prices pared back roughly half their losses sustained in recent days as market participants pointed to a higher soybean oil values and a reopened import window for gasoline.

A Finnish coal-fired power plant has been condemned to closure two years earlier than scheduled due to rising carbon prices.

California imported more electricity from the Pacific Northwest and less from the Southwest last year, while the state relied more heavily on carbon-emitting sources amid declining power demand during the COVID-19 crisis, according to new data.

California-headquartered Boomitra has raised $4 million from a variety of corporate backers and billionaires as it seeks to establish an international low-cost CO2 removal programme for both voluntary and compliance carbon markets.

Terraformation, the restoration company co-founded last year by former Reddit CEO Yishan Wong, made headlines this month for offering ‘reforestation in a box’, but the real news may be that more investors are willing to put money into sustainable land practices.

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (Japex) and major power company J-Power have signed separate agreements with Indonesia’s state-owned Pertamina to earn carbon credits under the Joint Crediting Mechanism from CCS projects.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has issued almost 665,000 new carbon credits, while the optimism that Australia will set a 2050 net zero target this year – which some analysts say has been instrumental in pushing ACCU prices to record high levels – might be in question after the junior Coalition partner this week ditched its leader for being too pliant on climate.

Australia is considering allowing the use of offsets to carbon neutralise hydrogen made from fossil fuels, it said in a discussion paper on a domestic hydrogen Guarantee of Origin (GO) scheme.

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