Carbon Pulse

The EU's carbon market reform is going the wrong way by not properly addressing the system's surplus, argues Adrien Assous, executive director, Sandbag Europe.

As EU officials rush to hammer out the details of a new strategy to rapidly curb the bloc's Russian energy imports, the mooted measures to massively increase renewables while cutting unnecessary energy demand leave experts uncertain about how this will impact the bloc's carbon market.

One year after President Joe Biden announced a new 2030 target for limiting US emissions under the Paris Agreement, he rounded off a week-long climate policy push on Friday with an announcement to protect old growth forests and advance other nature-based solutions to tackle the climate crisis.

Singapore-based carbon exchange AirCarbon has partnered with an aviation technology firm to support the world's first trades of blockchain-based carbon offsets generated from the prevention of aircraft contrails that account for up to 60% of aviation’s climate impact.

US biofuel credit (RIN) prices on Friday jumped to highs not seen since last summer as traders reacted to Indonesia President Joko Widodo's announcement of a forthcoming ban on cooking oil exports, driving up prices for other biodiesel inputs.

Pennsylvania on Friday posted its final-form RGGI rulemaking ahead of its weekend publication, aiming to link with the 11-state power sector carbon market by Q3 as legal challenges to the programme loom.

The Switzerland-based non-profit that has bridged the majority of real-world offsets onto blockchain to date has become a member of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), a sign that the traditional carbon market is accepting the emergence of cryptocurrency initiatives.

Spot allowance prices in China’s emissions trading market have not moved for almost two weeks, as the long wait for clarity on the next trading period drains liquidity bar the occasional block trade.

EUAs advanced in early on Friday to reach an eight-week high as speculative buying continued to drive the market after Wednesday's 9.5% jump, while energy markets were mixed amid continued German resistance to wider energy sanctions against Russia.

A prize set up to scale innovative carbon removal solutions has awarded $15 mln to 15 different projects including nature-based, blue carbon, and air capture solutions in the latest round of a competition worth a total $100 mln.

A newly formed Māori forestry group is urging the New Zealand government to drop its proposal of excluding exotic species from the country’s emissions trading scheme, saying it would impact community livelihoods.

The Australian government has issued a call for partners to co-fund initiatives aimed at developing carbon market opportunities or offset projects in Vietnam.

Several major coal-fired power producers in China have reported large carbon trading related revenue for 2021, reflecting the benefits for efficient coal plants in the nation’s intensity-based emissions trading scheme.

The Australian opposition Labor party has said that if it wins next month’s election, the nation’s coal mines will not be affected by its Safeguard Mechanism policy forcing large polluters to either decarbonise or offset their emissions, due to them being classified as a trade-exposed industry.

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

Carbon market-covered emissions in the UK rose by around 4% in 2021, the scheme’s inaugural year, according to figures released by the government in a surprise late night announcement.

Ripple is hiring a Portfolio Manager - Carbon  to build and manage its portfolio of carbon offsets. Reporting to the SVP of Operations, this person will be responsible for managing the sourcing, negotiation and management of Ripple’s Carbon Offset portfolio.

A large global management consulting firm has pledged to achieve net negative carbon status during this and future years.

California should tackle its more than 300-mln cap-and-trade allowance glut “sooner rather than later”, while the state could fairly quickly implement certain watchdog recommendations to help rein in this oversupply, a legislative committee heard Thursday.

RGGI Allowances (RGAs) came within striking distance of record high settlements this week as traders pointed to escalating power prices and continued compliance demand, while California Carbon Allowance (CCA) values ticked down as state regulator ARB proposed holding the course on the state’s CO2 neutrality target.