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CARBON FAST FORWARD – MEDITERRANEAN 2023
Some shipowners may avoid EU ports early next year as ETS kicks in -expert
Some EU shipowners may opt for their vessels to steer clear of European waters in the early stages of their inclusion in the bloc’s carbon market next year due to their lack of preparation, a conference heard on Thursday.
Greek cement firm issues plea for export support as CBAM set to hit hard on EU’s southeastern edge
A Greek cement producer is urging the EU to add export provisions to its carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), with the nation’s export-focused sector left acutely exposed at the EU’s south-eastern edge.
INTERNATIONAL
EU proposes global carbon pricing at Paris summit to close climate finance gap
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed the world moves towards a global carbon pricing system to close the gap in climate finance and channel funding to developing economies and those to be the most impacted by global warming, speaking at the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact.
Plans to launch $1.5 bln blended climate finance platform revealed at Paris summit
Plans to launch a $1.5 billion public and private climate finance platform were proposed on Thursday at the opening of the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact as talks started of easing the flow of investment from the Global North to the Global South.
Senegal signs €2.5 bln just energy transition partnership deal with Europe and Canada
Senegal has inked a deal with members of the European Union, the UK, and Canada in which the West African country will receive €2.5 billion to help it achieve a target of 40% of installed electricity capacity from renewables by 2030, the country’s president announced at the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact on Thursday.
Bloomberg-developed climate data project to launch pilot this year, include credit info in 2024
A platform being developed by Bloomberg Philanthropies to bring greater standardisation and transparency to climate data will launch its pilot before year-end COP28 UN climate talks, with information on carbon credits to be included in 2024, a senior member of the project told the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact on Thursday.
AMERICAS
WCI Markets: CCAs return to rulemaking workshop-inspired levels, participants largely avoid WCAs
Option spread activity has lifted California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices back to levels reached after bullish impetus from last week’s cap-and-trade rulemaking workshop, while Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) values remained unchanged this week as transacted volume plunged.
Investment manager buys forest to generate California carbon credits
An Australia-headquartered global investment manager on Thursday announced it has purchased a 19,000-acre forest in California, in which it plans to generate carbon credits eligible for the state’s cap-and-trade scheme.
LCFS Market: California prices notch 2-mth low on strong biofuel generation numbers, waning financial bids
California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) values faded to a two-month low this week that traders attributed to surging volumes of biomass-based diesel and financial players taking a breather.
ASIA PACIFIC
Forestry experts angered over government’s handling of failed NZ ETS permanent forestry redesign working group
Foresters who voluntarily joined a government working group to redesign the New Zealand ETS permanent forestry category say they have been left in the dark about why it was disbanded, and the policy options raised in a new consultation document did not reflect the views that were raised in the group’s first discussions.
INTERVEW: Indonesia expected to resume VCM crediting in September, as regulation opens conservation areas up for REDD+
Indonesia will likely resume the approval of crediting voluntary projects once the country’s carbon exchange begins operations in September, according to the head of an industry body, as new government regulation will see REDD+ projects allowed in conservation areas.
BHP says Safeguard Mechanism impacts will be “relatively modest” in costs
Anglo-Australian miner BHP has limited technologies at its disposal to reduce its Scope 1 emissions, but its compliance obligations to the government’s reformed Safeguard Mechanism are modest, a company official has told investors.
EMEA
Euro Markets: EUAs claw back losses as buyers hold prices above €90 despite gas weakness
EU carbon prices clawed back early losses of as much as 2.5% on Thursday, after the market had started the day by extending the previous session’s decline and the auction cleared at a sizeable discount, before speculative buyers emerged to fuel an afternoon rally.
UK needs dedicated office for carbon removals, says think-tank
A think-tank has called for the UK to set up a new office for carbon removals, which it says will be key to the effective governance of scaling technologies considered crucial for net zero goals.
VOLUNTARY
US mining company subsidiary further developing soil carbon credit plans, exploring biochar
A Nevada-based mineral exploration company announced Thursday it is continuing to develop a business plan for rangeland soil carbon sequestration projects and is now beginning to explore a potential biochar initiative.
Tech firms partner to launch AI-based soil carbon analysis
Two technology firms have announced a strategic partnership aimed at revolutionising the field of soil analysis, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real-time quantification of carbon sequestration.
Land-use change driving large losses in soil organic carbon, study shows
Land conversion for crop production and other anthropogenic activities result in a large loss of soil organic carbon (SOC), new research has found, with potential implications for the voluntary carbon market.
Researchers propose novel way to quantify CO2 removal rates from enhanced weathering
Researchers have proposed a novel method for quantifying CO2 removal rates using the process of enhanced weathering, in what could have potentially significant implications for the future of carbon sequestration.
AVIATION
Consumer groups file complaint against 17 European airlines’ sustainability claims
A coalition of consumer advocacy groups has lodged a formal complaint to the European Commission and consumer protection authorities against 17 airlines, including major carriers such as Ryanair, Lufthansa, and Air France, over their sustainability claims.
BIODIVERSITY (FREE TO READ)
France, UK to spearhead work on creating a global biodiversity market
France and the UK announced on Thursday they are initiating a broad consultative process for the creation of an international biodiversity market with the intention of having a framework ready by the UN’s COP16 summit in Turkey next year.
Australia’s nature repair bill passes in lower house after key amendments made, but fate in Senate remains in doubt
The lower house of Australia’s parliament passed the nature repair bill on Wednesday evening after independent MPs had ensured several key amendments to improve the proposed biodiversity market, but the government still lacks the support required to get the legislation through senate in August.
Biodiversity Pulse Weekly: Thursday June 22, 2023
A weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).
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CONFERENCES
Grow to Zero! – June 26-27, London: Insightful discussions on carbon market evolution? Thought leadership on blended finance for impact? Networking with impact investors and sustainability professionals? Find it all at Gold Standard’s Conference, Grow to Zero! 26-27 June 2023 at Kings Place, London. Tickets and agenda details available here: www.growtozero.co.uk
Argus Carbon Markets & Regulation Conference – July 5-7, Lisbon: In the wake of new legislative reforms to the EU ETS being confirmed, and as voluntary carbon markets continue to shift and evolve, the Argus Carbon Markets & Regulation Conference returns to Portugal to provide necessary insights for your company to remain competitive and aware of the upcoming opportunities within Europe and globally. This is your opportunity to stay up to date on the latest market dynamics through panel discussions, fire side chats, and presentations with industry peers and policy makers in-person. Join market-makers in defining both the compliance and voluntary carbon market by booking your place today. Carbon Pulse readers can enjoy a 10% discount with the code PULSE10. To find out more and to book your place, click here
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Carbon Pulse has teamed up with CME Group to provide its clients with regular updates on the global carbon markets. Check out these briefs for the latest insights on pressing trends and events impacting markets, published every other week. Registration required
INTERNATIONAL
Oh man, that’s big – The government of Oman has granted a licence to a consortium of South Korean, Thai, and French companies to develop a large-scale green hydrogen project in Duqm, which also involves plans for creating the world’s largest production capacity of green ammonia. Once developed, the project is expected to generate some 220,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, most of which will be converted into 1.2 Mt of green ammonia per year, which will be exported to South Korea. Project participants are Korean firms POSCO Holdings, Samsung Engineering, Korea East-West Power, and Korea Southern Power, Thailand’s national petroleum exploration and production company PTT, and MESCAT Middle East, a subsidiary of France’s Engie.
EMEA
Divine intervention – The Church of England is selling its investments in Shell, BP, Exxon, and Total and seven other big oil and gas companies, after concluding none were aligned with efforts to halt global warming, the FT reports. The decision follows a vote by the church’s parliament, in 2018 to sell out of fossil fuel companies that were failing to take sufficient action to tackle climate change by 2023. The church’s £10.3 bln endowment fund and its £3.2 bln pension scheme have spent the years since urging big fossil fuel companies to overhaul their businesses in response to climate change, or risk divestment. It said it had already excluded 20 oil and gas companies from its investment portfolio in 2021. The church said it had taken the decision to sell down its holdings in the remaining 11 oil and gas companies by the end of the year “after concluding that none are aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, as assessed by the Transition Pathway Initiative”.
Rallying cry – Former British right-wing Conservative government ministers have formed a group to pressure the government to improve its green policies in the hope of making it “credible” in the next general election, the Guardian reports. Alok Sharma, the former COP26 president, is urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to have a “bold and positive environmental agenda” in the next general election. He joins the former transport secretary Chris Grayling and Simon Clarke in calling for more ambitious climate policies.
Floor not ceiling – France’s 40 GW offshore wind target is just a starting point, its energy transition minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said, though some industry players view French plans as lacking ambition, Euractiv reports. In February of last year, President Emmanuel Macron set out France’s energy objectives for 2050, announcing a target of 40 GW for offshore wind power development. However, this target will likely be raised, Pannier-Runacher said at the opening of the an event this week, noting the 40 GW represented a floor not a ceiling.
Uprising of the earth – The French government issued a decree on Wednesday outlawing an activist climate group it accuses of fomenting violence in a series of recent demonstrations, including one that saw fierce clashes with police over an irrigation project, Le Monde reports. Soulevements de la Terre condemned the shutdown and has called for protests in dozens of cities across France starting Wednesday. Meanwhile, France hosts a crucial climate finance summit this week.
Helping hand – A €280 mln Belgian measure will help ArcelorMittal partially decarbonise its steel production processes, as part of state aid measures approved by the EU Commission on Thursday. The measure, in the form of a direct grant and a soft loan, will support the construction of a direct reduction iron plant. Together with a new electric arc furnace, the plant will substitute one of the two existing blast furnaces. Natural gas will be gradually phased out of the steel production processes. Ultimately, the plant will be operated using renewable hydrogen and only complemented by low-carbon hydrogen if there is not sufficient renewable hydrogen available. The plant is envisioned to start operating in 2026 and it is expected to produce 2.3 mln tonnes of low-carbon direct reduced iron per year.
Green roads – The EU Commission announced on Thursday the 107 transport infrastructure projects selected to receive more than €6 bln in grants under the Connecting Europe Facility. Over 80% of the funding will support projects to create a more efficient, greener and smarter network of railways, waterways and maritime routes along the TEN-T. These projects will also strengthen the solidarity channels established to facilitate exports and imports from Ukraine.
ASIA PACIFIC
London calling — The Australian government has introduced legislation to allow the transportation and storage of CO2 across international boundaries, after a parliamentary committee recommended it ratify amendments to the London Protocol which permits international CO2 transport. The legislation would ratify both the 2009, and 2013 amendments to the protocol, which also includes allowing geoengineering studies to occur for genuine scientific research. The ratification of the protocol has been deemed crucial for the development of offshore CCUS projects in Australian waters. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek introduced to the bill to Parliament, saying the subsequent regulatory framework that the government would create to govern the sector would be comprehensive and include strict guidelines.
Finally another one – Deputy Chief Minister Jeffrey Kitingan of the Malaysian state of Sabah has proposed to the prime minister the state sets up its own carbon trading exchange similar to that in foreign countries actively involved in the carbon trading market, reports The Star newspaper. Kitingan, who is also state agriculture, fisheries, and food industry minister, said he will be calling for a steering committee meeting for carbon trading in Sabah next month. He added that he has held discussions with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor over the matter. Bursa Malaysia, the country’s main stock exchange, recently established a carbon trading platform to handle trading in the nation’s emerging market.
Extra boost — The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), the Australian government’s green bank, has been allocated A$20.5 bln ($13.9 bln) to ramp up its investment in decarbonisation activities to help Australia reach net zero emissions by 2050, it announced. The passage of legislation in parliament will see the first tranche of funding, worth A$11.5 bln, to be handed over, and allows for a further $9 bln to be added by other new appropriations. The bulk of the cash will go towards the country’s Rewiring the Nation programme, going into high voltage transmission, long duration grid storage, and electricity distribution network infrastructure. Another A$1 bln will go toe the Household Energy Upgrades Fund which will provide discounted consumer finance to help electrify the housing sector, while A$500 mln will go to a Powering Australia Technology Fund, to support the development and commercialisation of new clean energy technologies. It is the first increase in the CEFC’s capital allocation since it was establish in 2012. CEFC Chief Ian Learmonth said the green bank expects to make substantial grid-related investment decisions within the coming year, and had been in discussions with governments and investors for some time.
Buying in – Hertz Philippines (operated by Exclusive Cars International Holdings) has signed up for Shell Fleet Solutions (SFS) Philippines’ Accelerate to Zero (A2Z) Program to help them achieve their net-zero carbon emissions target. The programme will give Hertz Philippines access to Shell Fleet Solutions’ sustainability offers that will help them reduce their carbon emissions through tracking fuel efficiency and compensate for unavoidable ones through the voluntary carbon offset programme. (Wheels)
AMERICAS
Another lawsuit – An Oregon county on Thursday sued Exxon, Chevron, other major oil and coal companies, and industry groups, seeking over $50 bln to counter the harms caused by extreme weather fuelled by climate change. Multnomah County said in the lawsuit filed in state court in Portland that fossil fuel companies and trade groups like the American Petroleum Institute intentionally deceived the public about the dangers of burning their products for decades. It said the companies and trade groups must now help pay for past and future harms from the extreme weather that has resulted, including a 2021 heat wave in the Pacific Northwest that killed dozens. Rather than acknowledge the dangers of climate change, the lawsuit said the fossil fuel industry worked to undermine the scientific consensus around the problem “with pseudo-science, fabricated doubt, and a well-funded, sustained public relations campaign to promote their spin.” The lawsuit also targets the consulting firm McKinsey, which it said advises major oil companies, including on strategies to downplay or deny the link between GHG emissions and extreme weather. Theodore Boutrous, an attorney for Chevron, said such lawsuits are “counterproductive” and distract from advancing effective international policy solutions. He said the county’s claims are “baseless” and barred by the US Constitution. A spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute called the lawsuit and others like it “meritless” and said the litigation wastes taxpayer resources. (Reuters)
Behind the Vale – Brazilian mining giant Vale is throwing its support behind government-led carbon market regulations in addition to voluntary market reforms, BNAmericas reported Thursday. Currently, Vale voluntarily reduces its emissions but gets no government incentives to do so. Vale aims to reduce its scope 1 emissions by 50% before 2030, cut its scope 3 emissions by 15% before 2035, and transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030, eliminating its scope 2 emissions.
VOLUNTARY
Just a Klik away – The Klik Foundation, Switzerland’s carbon-buying body, is interested in developing additional programmes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Senegal and has launched a call for proposals under article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Interested parties are invited to register and submit their programme ideas by completing the “Mitigation Activity Concept Note (MAIN)”, according to the Kilk’s Terms of Reference for Senegal. In mid-July, the KliK Foundation will hold a webinar in which it will explain the essentials for the financial support of climate protection programmes. Programme developers with programme proposals for Senegal, as well as for all other countries that have concluded bilateral cooperation agreements with Switzerland are welcome to register.
Concrete cure – Carbon capture innovator CarbonCure has sold 750 mineralisation systems to partners in the concrete production industry, Carbon Herald reports. These systems inject sequestered CO2 into fresh concrete and concrete washout water, mineralising the CO2 and providing a permanent storage solution for captured emissions. The company is close to achieving 5 mln truckloads of low-carbon concrete in partnership with its network of concrete producers. CarbonCure’s carbon removal technologies have been used in over 30 countries and applied to over 28 mln cubic meters of concrete. The company aims to remove 500 Mt of CO2 from the atmosphere annually, and has already saved more than 277,800 tonnes of CO2.
CBGreenB – CB Green, a division of Groupe CB focused on low-carbon and circular economy solutions for the construction industry, has partnered with Ecocem, a leading provider of low-carbon cement technologies. The joint venture aims to upscale Ecocem’s low-carbon ACT technology by 2025. As part of the partnership, a grinding mill will be established at Ecocem’s plant in Dunkirk, northern France to supply and grind limestone filler, a crucial component in ACT. The partnership aims to produce 600,000 tons of high-quality limestone filler annually by 2030, investing over €60 mln. Ecocem’s ACT technology can decarbonise cement production by as much as 70%, and will be available to the cement industry under non-exclusive license agreements.
Intuit, over it – Financial technology platform Intuit on Thursday in a press release announced its commitment to reach net zero emissions across its value chain by Fiscal Year 2040. The company said its target has been validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
Cancel culture – This week has been one of the busiest in a while for voluntary CER cancellations, with more than 2 Mt worth of credits removed from circulation, according to UNFCCC data. At 1.17 mln, the largest batch was done by Colombian power company Celsia SA to neutralise its emissions for the years 2023-27. All of the credits originated from a Panamanian hydro project. A further 600,000 Brazilian landfill gas CERs were voluntarily annulled by Brazil’s Banco Votorantim. Since 2021, the financial institution has cancelled some 9.25 mln credits to offset emissions from vehicles it has financed. A third large batch of 179,300 credits from a Argentinian combined cycle project was purchased and cancelled by Chinese computer and electronics manufacturer Lenovo, the data showed. These cancellations will add to the total amount of CER supply eliminated via this process, which as of the end of May stood at 157.1 mln out of more than 2.4 bln issued to date.
AND FINALLY…
Rave to save the planet – Climate fintech company Future on Thursday announced its “Carbon Offset Partnership” with live events company AEG’s Electric Forest festival in Michigan for EDM and jam bands. In a press release, Future will offset Electric Forest’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions for every fan who becomes a FutureCard member. Forest Family Future members can also combine to offset an additional 10,000 tonnes of CO2 as a community by completing Missions in the Future app – over 10 times the total carbon emissions of all fuel used at Electric Forest. Every tonne of CO2 members reduce gets tracked and verified, and Future will pay $90 for each tCO2 reduced.
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