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TOP STORY

FEATURE: To unlock blue carbon’s vast potential, clear standards, accurate pricing, and scalable technology are needed

Progress is being made to advance the fledgling market for blue carbon through dedicated methodologies and capacity building efforts, yet more could be done to enable project developers to access the carbon markets more effectively and to scale projects faster, say industry experts.

EMEA

EU executive adopts new reporting rules for CBAM kick-off, outlining reporting penalties

The European Commission adopted on Thursday the reporting rules for the bloc’s upcoming carbon carbon adjustment mechanism (CBAM), starting its transitional phase in October.

Euro Markets: EUAs flirt with €90 before profit-taking emerges, as gas falls back amid Australian strike talks

European carbon prices rose for the fifth time in the last six sessions on Thursday, climbing to their highest in 13 days and shrugging off the weakest auction in seven weeks before profit-taking trimmed the gains, while energy markets weakened amid reports that labour and company negotiators are approaching a deal to avert strike action at major Australian LNG facilities.

Climate tech investor to generate 250k agriculture carbon credits in Europe in 2024

A European climate tech investment marketplace for the agriculture industry is to generate 250,000 carbon credits in Europe next year from sustainable farming carbon projects, it said Thursday.

AMERICAS

ANALYSIS: Ottawa likely has authority to enforce Clean Electricity Regulations on provinces

Canada’s proposed Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) largely hold jurisdiction to regulate the CO2 emissions of provincial electricity generation, legal experts told Carbon Pulse, despite claims from the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan that the forthcoming climate policy is unconstitutional.

WCI Markets: CCAs drop ahead of auction, WCAs climb towards record highs after reserve sale

California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) declined heading into Wednesday’s Q3 auction as entities geared up to buy volume, while Washington Carbon Allowances (WCAs) lifted this week following the publication of results from the sold-out reserve sale.

TPG Rise Climate obtains majority stake in refrigerant carbon credit developer A-Gas

Investor TPG Rise Climate on Thursday announced it has acquired a majority stake in UK-headquartered refrigerant capture company A-Gas, allowing it to gain a stronger footing in the US carbon offset market.

VOLUNTARY

Nature-based solutions set to drive massive growth in voluntary carbon market, bank says

The market for nature-based carbon solutions is likely to grow to as much as $250 billion a year in the next decade, with an increasing focus on combining natural carbon sinks with technology-based removals expected to help drive the voluntary market to as much as $1.5 trillion by 2050, according to a new report.

Science-based targets see 87% increase in companies with validated targets, but monitoring remains a challenge

The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) signalled a significant increase in validated corporate climate targets in its 2022 annual report, but flagged a lack of full coverage with progress reporting.

Carbon accounting platform forges Nasdaq tie-up ahead of US climate disclosure rules

A UK-based company on Thursday announced it has partnered with US stock exchange Nasdaq to provide carbon accounting services to firms ahead of the anticipated launch of the Biden administration’s final climate disclosure rules.

Carbon ratings provider joins space agency project to weigh climate impact of wildfires

A carbon credit ratings agency has partnered with research institutions on a European Space Agency project to assess impact of wildfires on the carbon cycle, the company announced on Thursday.

INTERNATIONAL

UNDP launches open-source registry to help manage carbon credit trade

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday announced new open-source software to allow countries to manage national data and trade in carbon credits, bucking the existing trend of monolithic and siloed systems.

Oil and gas exploration spend trending up -report

Oil and gas exploration is not going anywhere, however capital discipline and environmental, social, and governance concerns will see greater focus by companies and a ceiling for spend, analysts have found.

Report reveals nature consistently overlooked in decision-making by most financial institutions

Financial institutions are failing to account for nature-related dependencies and risks in their decision-making, according to a report published Thursday.

ASIA PACIFIC

Japan’s Mitsui enters regenerative agriculture market through US acquisition

Japanese trading house Mitsui has invested in a US-based project developer to help accelerate the promotion of regenerative agriculture as part of its growing involvement in the global market for nature capital, it announced Thursday.

Japan to co-fund four new JCM projects

Japan’s environment ministry has identified four projects under the bilateral Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) that it will subsidise in order to secure carbon credits to realise the country’s Paris Agreement target, it announced Thursday.

Australian agtech firm signs data sharing contract for use in carbon, biodiversity projects

Two Australian companies have signed a A$1.45 million ($928,000) data and tech sharing agreement that will help measure primary production land for carbon and biodiversity projects.

BIODIVERSITY (FREE TO READ)

Tackling the nature crisis to top agenda at GEF quadrennial meeting

Finding governing models and funding mechanisms to effectively address the ongoing nature crisis will be the main focus when the Global Environment Facility (GEF) next week holds its four-yearly assembly in Vancouver, Canada.

Australian supermarket giant launches pilot to test natural capital measurement incentives

Australian supermarket chain Woolworths Group has teamed up with a research thinktank to co-design a pilot programme to test incentives for farmers to measure their natural capital in supply chains.

From retiring to rewilding: Charity purchases land for former circus elephants’ last hurrah

A UK-based charity has purchased land in Alentejo, Portugal with a vision to transform it into a rewilding project and sanctuary for former circus elephants.

Biodiversity Pulse Weekly: Thursday August 17, 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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Premium job listings

• Senior Program Officer, REDD+ Remote Sensing and GIS Analysis, Verra – Remote (Worldwide)
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• Senior Program Officer, Forest Carbon Innovation Operations, Verra – Remote (Worldwide)
• Senior Engineer, Oil & Gas Sector with Carbon Market and Upstream Emission Reduction Project Expertise, ICA-Finance – Oslo

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CONFERENCES

Argus North American Biofuels, LCFS & Carbon Markets Summit – Sep. 11-13, Monterey, CA: Join 600+ key government representatives and industry stakeholders from across the entire biofuels value chain and carbon markets sector for three days of networking and knowledge exchange. Hear from leading policy makers from California, Oregon, Washington, Canada’s ECCC, Alberta, and British Columbia and industry experts from LanzaJet, BMW of North America, Morgan Stanley, Chevron, Southwest, Mercuria, Radicle, Phillips 66 and more. Take advantage of this opportunity to gather the latest policy and market insights and reconnect with industry peers. Learn more here.

North America Climate Summit – Sep. 19-21, New York City: The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) looks forward to welcoming delegates to our flagship North America Climate Summit (NACS) 2023, an official accredited event of New York Climate Week 2023 and the UN General Assembly 2023. The Summit is the ideal forum to take stock of the world’s evolving net zero landscape and clean growth opportunities, and a zoom into North America. Hear from policymakers, business leaders and innovators who are leading the pack in building, scaling and collaborating on carbon pricing and markets for net zero. Register 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

Act Now – Annual investment of $2.4 trillion is needed by 2030 to address climate change mitigation in emerging markets and developing countries, according to an independent high level expert group of economists on climate finance convened by the COP28 Presidency that has agreed to design a new framework for delivery of climate finance. The roadmap designed by the economists will be released at the UN climate change conference, COP28 to be held in Dubai in November, to guide all institutions around short- and long-term plans to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. COP28 President-Designate Sultan Al-Jaber said that climate finance has divided the international community for a long time and has held back progress in tackling climate change and supporting countries most impacted by it but climate finance is the issue that lies at the core of the COP28 agenda because finance is how we transform goals into reality, reports Hindustan Times.

VOLUNTARY

Verra REDD rebuttal – Carbon credit standard manager and developer Verra issued a response to a series of forthcoming studies from natural resource and land-use academics, led by Barbara Haya of the University of California, Berkeley Carbon Trading Project, on the integrity of project REDD+ methodologies under the VCS Program. In the document, Verra offered a detailed comparison of key points raised in the Haya et al. papers and those addressed in it is forthcoming REDD methodology updates. Haya told Carbon Pulse the studies are expected in late August or early September.

Verra wetlands – Additionally, Verra on Thursday issued a request for proposals to create a new VCS Program methodology for tropical peatlands. Currently, tropical peatland conservation and restoration activities are included in VCS methodologies VM0004, VM0007, and VM0027, but VM0004 and VM0027 are limited geographically to handful of countries. Additionally, as Verra works towards the release of its new consolidated REDD methodology, the wetland modules contained in the VM0007 methodology will be extracted to create standalone methodologies for wetland activities.

Going postal – Swiss postal service boss Roberto Cirillo is to face questions from the nation’s parliament over the state-owned company’s climate strategy, Blick reports. Swiss Post recently unveiled its plan to reach net zero on its operational emissions by 2030 and full-scope by 2040. It plans to neutralise the remaining 10% of its emissions at that point and has signed a deal with a forest-owner in Germany’s Thuringia state to provide it with carbon credits. Swiss Post has claimed commercial confidentiality and declined to say how much the deal was worth. Citing CH Media reports, Blick said that the forest’s credits are worth €10 mln, but Swiss Post is prepared to overpay – by around six times – with more than 60 mln Swiss francs to neutralise 9,000 tonnes of emissions a year.

Insuring carbon credits – Carbon insurance company Oka has partnered with carbon data firm Sylvera. The collaboration is part of a greater effort by Oka towards insurance of all carbon credit purchases, now supported by carbon data from Sylvera. 

EMEA

Bidders bolt – Offshore wind may not feature in the UK’s annual renewable energy auction for the first time as the increasingly competitive bidding environment forces offshore wind developers out of the mix, who are already battling supply chain bottlenecks and inflationary increases. Increasingly low bids in recent auctions have pushed down the maximum bids developers can offer, meaning that the funding available this year may be too little to attract any bidders, reports Bloomberg. Results of the auction will be announced next month. No offshore wind clearing would present a major setback for the government’s climate targets and slow progress on a plan to increase offshore wind capacity more than three-fold to 50 GW by 2030.

Referendum rule-out – Rishi Sunak has ruled out a referendum on net zero in the UK, while stressing that his approach to meet the target will be to “tread carefully” and not to “unnecessarily burden [people] with extra hassle or extra cost”. The Prime Minister has received calls from some party members such as Red Wall MPs to give the public a vote on the 2050 climate target following the Tories’ surprise victory over Labour in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, which was widely seen as a de-facto referendum on the controversial ultra-low emission zone (Ulez). However, Sunak told broadcaster ITV that he believes most people are committed to getting to net zero in a proportionate and pragmatic way. (The Telegraph)

Dialing down – Germany’s coalition government has agreed on a draft law requiring municipalities to submit plans for the transition to climate-neutral heating, but has softened interim targets for the use of renewables. Existing district heating networks must increase the share of renewable energies to 30% by 2030, with exceptions meaning many municipalities don’t have to reach this level before 2035, according to the bill – an earlier draft stipulated a share of 50% by 2030. Alongside green hydrogen – produced from water using renewable electricity – blue and turquoise hydrogen are to be considered a climate-friendly gas. These are made from natural gas in processes that capture the CO2. (Clean Energy Wire)

Methane mix-up – The UAE has failed to report its levels of methane emissions to the UN for almost a decade, reports the Guardian. The country will host the COP28 climate summit in December and is being critiqued for high levels of planned oil and gas expansion, running contrary to its responsibility to show strong climate leadership in the run-up to the globally important event. The UN’s climate body has required countries to submit their methane emissions every two years since 2014. The UAE has not submitted any reports, unlike other Middle Eastern oil states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman.

ASIA PACIFIC

Passed – The New Zealand parliament has passed legislation updating industrial allocation settings as well as late payment penalties for ETS participants, Stuff NZ reports. The bill was passed Wednesday night after being debated that will reduce industrial allocations to the country’s polluters. The final passage of the bill saw the controversial amendment that could have led to further overallocation removed. The Ministry for the Environment estimated the changes will reduce the number of free units given to businesses by 800,000 each year, said Climate Minister James Shaw. The bill was voted through with the support of the National party.

Research needed – Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has issued a public call for research projects on emissions reductions and climate change adaptation, encouraging researchers to submit innovative proposals, it said in a statement published Thursday. Research projects must fall into one of the four categories, including international regulations and emerging mechanisms, carbon reduction strategy for domestic sectors, corporate social responsibility and internal carbon pricing, as well as adaptation and resilience. Each project will receive up to NT$1 mln ($31,314) in subsidy if approved, and the application deadline has been set at Aug. 31, according to EPA.

The best-laid plans – Indonesia has delayed plans to announce investments from a $20 bln fund into energy transition activities in the country until later this year, Reuters reports. The funding to help speed transition to cleaner energy sources comes from the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), which mobilises public and private finance led by a coalition of nations spearheaded by the US and Japan. The initiative aims to help Indonesia shutter coal power plants, adopt greener sources of power and advance the sector’s peak emissions target by seven years to 2030. The detailed investment plan was widely expected to be made public on Wednesday, but the officials charged with drafting it said the timeline for publication had been delayed as additional data was added to the model.

AMERICAS

Almost halfway there – The Brazilian Senate is set to vote on bill enforcing a national carbon trading programme which covers both compliance and voluntary markets this September. The proposed legislation, PL412/2022, would regulate and operationalise the Brazilian Emissions Reductions Market (MBRE). If the bill passes in the Senate, it will still need to pass through the Chamber of Deputies, as part of Brazil’s bicameral Congress. The bill is currently separate than the draft ETS proposal under development by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration. 

Quebecois Carbon removal – Canadian carbon companies Deep Sky, a carbon project developer, and Svante, a CCUS company backed by Chevron, have partnered to evaluate the feasibility of sequestering CO2 in Southern Quebec. The partnership will fund research to study capture, transportation, and CO2 storage ability, alongside carbon management consulting firm Sproule, which will complete geological subsurface research.  

Regulated renewables – Electric utility American Electric Power (AEP) sold its 1,365MW unregulated renewable energy portfolio for $1.5 bln to IRG Acquisition Holdings, a partnership between Invenergy, pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and funds managed by Blackstone Infrastructure. The sale is part of the firm’s strategy to streamline and de-risk the business, with a focus on regulated operations, said Julie Sloat, AEP president and CEO. AEP aims to invest $40 bln in the next five years in regulated wires and generation businesses.  

Setting boundaries – Ensuring companies’ purchase of clean energy can be delivered to where they use it can advance power market expansion, support transmission buildout and help link grid regions, according to a white paper authored by Singularity Energy, a company that provides time- and location-based grid emissions data. The paper, funded by Google, introduces a new framework that could assist design of procurement boundaries for voluntary clean energy markets. (Utility Dive) 

AND FINALLY…

Soak it in – Recent devastating floods in Beijing have put to the test China’s $1 trillion investment drive to create by 2030 “sponge cities” that can handle extreme rain. Since 2013, China has been trying to make cities like Beijing more flood-proof by replacing roads, pavements and rooftops with natural materials like soil that soak up water and by giving more space to water bodies like lakes to absorb stormwater. But despite these measures, massive amounts of rainfall in recent weeks caused floods which killed at least 33 people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and shut down the Chinese capital’s second busiest airport. (Climate Home)

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