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Governments' recent declarations to exercise more control over carbon market activities in their jurisdictions are far less an example of “nationalisation risk” than a case of a maturing market where countries are making an understandable and arguably inevitable assertion of sovereignty over their natural resources, writes Verra's Robin Rix.

The prices of most standardised voluntary carbon market contracts fell over the past week with volume concentrated on project-specific nature-based projects, one exchange noted, as the market digested the publication of a much-awaited set of guidelines for carbon credit supply.

US tree nurseries do not grow enough trees and lack the plant species diversity to meet ambitious plans, research says

In an effort to slash carbon emissions and provide relief from extreme heat, governments across the nation and globally have pledged to plant trees. But the US is not equipped with the tree seedlings to furnish its own plans, according to a new study.

US tree nurseries do not grow nearly enough trees to bring ambitious planting schemes to fruition, and they also lack the plant species diversity those plans require, according to research published in the journal Bioscience on Monday,

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The Qatar-based Global Carbon Council (GCC) and Seoul-headquartered Climate Change Center (CCC) on Monday said they will form a partnership to promote voluntary carbon markets in their respective geographic areas.

The EU will commit €466 million to green initiatives in the Philippines and relaunch negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Southeast Asian country, the European Commission announced on Monday.

Ministers urged to learn from success of single-use bag fee, amid criticism that other measures have been delayed

Environmental campaigners have called on the government to learn from its own successes after official figures showed the use of single-use supermarket plastic bags had fallen 98% since retailers in England began charging for them in 2015.

Annual distribution of plastic carrier bags by seven leading grocery chains plummeted from 7.6bn in 2014 to 133m last year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Monday.

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Taking Root is seeking a  Senior Product Manager to manage the ongoing development of Taking Root’s core technology product – our project-management mobile and web applications. Our mobile  and web applications work together to collect high-quality data and provide our reforestation partners user-friendly data analysis tools to improve their operations and sequester carbon more efficiently.

Verra’s SD VISta Nature Framework and biodiversity methodology will provide an overarching global framework for projects to meet, complemented by localised modules based on biomes or eco-regions, and may also incorporate the issue of biodiversity significance.

A carbon credit rating agency has teamed up with an environmental intelligence company to deploy satellite technology for monitoring carbon stocks in the Amazon.

The carousel of changing Tory prime ministers made the latest seem moderate. Now, with his eagerness to trash green policies, we can see he is anything but

I had a premonition that Rishi Sunak was about to do something deeply ungreen. I didn’t know exactly what, and definitely couldn’t have named which oil and gas licences he wanted to issue, but I knew that, whatever it was, it would spell the end of our commitment to net zero. I figured it would shift our international alignment away from the countries taking the climate crisis seriously, because it’s right in front of them and they are not psychopaths, towards the countries strutting their indifference to it, for the complicated but demonstrable political mileage in the message: “Follow me to hell – it’ll be fun there.”

It was written right there in his holiday house. Why would a British prime minister have a second home in California? It’s such a forceful statement – I don’t care how rich I look, I don’t care how much I fly, I don’t care what eco-nerds think – and so unforced. He could have sold it, waited till he was no longer the prime minister – he must have known it wouldn’t be for ever – and bought a bigger one.

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The UK prime minister visited Aberdeenshire on Monday to announce more than 100 new licences for drilling oil and gas in the North Sea. Rishi Sunak insisted the announcement was 'entirely consistent with our plan to get to net zero', adding that domestic oil and gas saved 'two, three, four times the amount of carbon emissions' of 'shipping it from halfway round the world'. Environmental groups said the licences would obliterate the UK's climate commitments. Jess Ralston from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said it would jeopardise the UK's international standing on the climate emergency, adding that the government would export oil and gas 'to the highest bidder'

• New North Sea oil and gas licences will send ‘wrecking ball’ through climate commitments

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UN scientific advisors stressed the reef was under ‘serious threat’ in a report detailing progress on protecting the World Heritage site from the climate crisis

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UN scientific advisors have recommended the Great Barrier Reef not be placed on a list of World Heritage sites “in danger” but stressed the planet’s biggest coral reef system remains under “serious threat” from global heating and water pollution.

Unesco said in a report that the Australian government had taken positive steps to protect the reef since a UN monitoring mission visited Queensland in March last year.

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Massive agri-solar and battery storage project gets planning approval from NSW government, just days after farming lobby called for moratorium.

The post Australia’s biggest agri-solar and battery storage project wins planning approval appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Lawyers for Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker had tried to challenge ‘extraordinary length’ of sentences

Two Just Stop Oil protesters who scaled the bridge at the Dartford crossing, closing it to traffic for more than a day and a half, have been refused permission to appeal against their sentences.

Morgan Trowland was jailed for three years and Marcus Decker for two years and seven months after they used ropes to climb the Queen Elizabeth II bridge, which links the M25 in Essex and Kent, last October, causing long traffic jams.

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The UK government will provide financial backing to the nation’s third and fourth CCS projects, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday while announcing plans for more than 100 oil and gas licences that he insisted were compatible with the nation’s binding 2050 net zero emissions target.

Dartmoor National Park Authority had appealed against January high court ruling that outlawed practice

Wild camping is once again allowed on Dartmoor after the national park won a successful appeal against a ruling in a case brought by a wealthy landowner.

Camping had been assumed to be allowed under the Dartmoor Commons Act since 1985, until a judge ruled otherwise in January. It was the only place in England such an activity was allowed without requiring permission from a landowner.

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Dartmoor National Park Authority win their appeal case against landowners to allow wild camping.

Consensus on tackling the climate crisis is what’s needed now – and direct action against CO2 must be the next move

For as long as the United Kingdom needs to use oil and gas, we should be making an effort to capture any resulting CO2 and store it. That clearly makes sense. It also makes sense to produce our own oil and gas, so we are less beholden to exporters (though of course ours, too, would be sold on the international markets).

So far, so good for Rishi Sunak’s twofold announcement today in Scotland. But it would be helpful if he did not muddy these waters by using them to score political points against Labour in the run-up to an election campaign. What we desperately need now, as we confront the climate crisis, is agreement on a way forward. Bringing party politics into it will only hinder progress.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

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Environmental products developer IncubEx and commodity trading platform Nodal Exchange next month will launch the first-ever futures contracts for Washington Clean Fuels Program (WCFP) credits, as well as vintage-specific offerings of their existing Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) products.

The biodiversity credit protocol expected to be launched by Plan Vivo later this year will strive to offer an approach with scientific credibility that is also accessible to communities and can be rolled out at scale, heard a recent conference on nature-based solutions.