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TOP STORIES
Large carbon project developer faces cash squeeze, pivots towards consultancy
One of the oldest project developers and traders in the carbon market is pivoting towards consultancy services and seeking project partners after a drastic drop in carbon credit revenue, Carbon Pulse has learned.
WCI cap-and-trade auction settles at highest level in programme history during Q3
The August California-Quebec current vintage carbon auction settled at its highest point of all time while slightly surpassing secondary market levels, as the advance sale clearing price also achieved a new peak, according to government data published Wednesday.
EMEA
INTERVIEW: UK positions itself at forefront of race to develop AI for industrial decarbonisation
A new government-funded centre in the UK aims to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for industrial decarbonisation, with a focus on how AI can help the energy, manufacturing, agriculture, and buildings sectors operate more efficiently and with lower carbon emissions.
Euro Markets: EUAs, UKAs ease back as volatile TTF gas unloads risk of LNG supply shortage
European and British carbon allowance prices moved lower on Wednesday as they continued to track volatile gas market movements, with traders adjusting positions to price in supply-side risk from potential strikes at an LNG export plant in Australia, while exchange data also reported that funds had last week trimmed net short positions.
ASIA PACIFIC
Australia teams up with Japan to reduce CO2 shipping costs
Australia’s Future Energy Exports Cooperative Research Centre (Fenex CRC) has signed with a consortium of Japanese shipping and gas companies to work towards more cost effective shipping of liquefied CO2.
Former regional leaders urge Pacific nations to hold off support for Australia’s COP31 bid
An alliance of former Pacific national leaders are urging countries in the region to hold off their support on Australia hosting COP31 until it takes stronger action to limit support for fossil fuel projects and subsidies, they announced Wednesday.
Domestic needs and credit fees: GGGI outlines Article 6 key considerations for developing nations
Making sure carbon credit sales don’t impact a seller country’s ability to meet its own targets and setting a fee structure that allows project hosts to make a profit without alienating foreign buyers are among the most important challenges facing developing countries in the implementation of Article 6, according to the Global Green Growth Institute.
Taiwan set to postpone carbon levy to 2025 -media
Taiwan plans to push back the timeline for its upcoming carbon levy scheme by a year given the slower-than-expected policy progress, despite rising concerns over the island’s climate goals and industry competitiveness, local media has reported.
VOLUNTARY
Value old REDD+ vintages like fine wine, argues developer
Older voluntary carbon credit vintages are not a sign of low quality, a leading REDD-focused project developer argued in a white paper published on Wednesday amid growing calls for the market to address its mounting stockpile of ageing units.
Global commodity merchant, carbon trader team up to fund $500 mln in developer’s “high-quality” offset projects
A commodity trading firm and carbon solutions provider on Wednesday announced an agreement to help develop and finance a developer’s nature-based offset projects that could yield more than 100 million credits.
AMERICAS
Trading limits in EJ communities among New York’s cap-and-invest programme design options
New York is considering policy options to reduce emissions in environmental justice (EJ) communities, including the prohibition of allowance trading for plants situated in Disadvantaged Communities (DACs), government officials told a webinar on Wednesday.
Oregon proposes different method for distributing compliance instruments under climate programme
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on Wednesday proposed amendments to its market-based Climate Protection Program (CPP) that would overhaul the methodology used to distribute compliance instruments to fuel suppliers, as well as calculate holding limit reductions.
California compliance offset issuance stays nearly 30% above 2022 levels through August
The number of California Carbon Offsets (CCOs) distributed this week fell compared to earlier this month, but still remained well above year-ago levels through the first two-thirds of 2023, according to state data published Wednesday.
INTERNATIONAL
US gov’t allocates $2 mln for Mozambique carbon offset programme
The US government has announced it will spend $2 million over the next three years on a programme to help Mozambique develop nature-based carbon credit projects.
BIODIVERSITY (FREE TO READ)
UK charity hopes to turn the tide of nature loss with £6-mln rewilding investment
A new grant-funded programme in the UK will seek to introduce keystone species and enhance marine protections across the country, in line with the country’s Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets.
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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
EMEA
Strategic investment – The UK risks falling behind the US on low-carbon technologies without a national investment fund to help propel startup development, warned the Institute for Public Policy Research. So far the country has failed to step up its game in response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a massive spending programme on net zero launched by President Biden a year ago. The research body proposes a National Investment Fund financed initially by the Treasury and subsequently by North Sea oil and gas tax receipts or new levies on fossil fuel share dividends and buybacks. (Bloomberg)
Floating future – The world’s biggest floating wind farm on Wednesday commenced the sending of electricity to major oil fields in the North Sea, reports Reuters. Owned by Norwegian energy firm Equinor along with other oil firms such as OMV and Vaar Energi, the Hywind Tampen wind farm started producing power last November, with full output reached earlier this month. Its 88MW of capacity will cover around 35% of annual power demand for five platforms at the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas fields in the North Sea, helping to reduce their GHG emissions.
Secret texts – A Morgan Stanley unit was fined £5.4 mln for failure to retain messages sent by traders over WhatsApp in the first-ever penalty of its type issued under the powers of the UK’s energy regulator, Bloomberg reports. The firm failed to record and save electronic communications between Jan. 2018 and Mar. 2020 made by energy traders on privately-owned phones, which discussed transactions, British regulator Ofgem said in a statement on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Strengthened cooperation – Indonesia and Kenya have signed an energy cooperation MoU, Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources announced. The agreement will encourage bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, including on training, exchange programmes, and capacity building in the fields of geothermal tech, rural electrification and renewable energy programmes, and transmission distribution, the ministry said. President Joko Widodo urged Kenya to support state-owned Pertamina’s investments in the country on natural gas, chemicals, and fertilisers in the country, during a state visit to the African nation this week. Pertamina also announced it had signed an MoU with neighbouring Tanzania, focussing on increasing hydrocarbon exploration in the country.
The cost – Global warming will largely reduce Australia’s labour productivity and cost the economy up to $423 bln over the next four decades if the pace of climate change exceeds the target set by the Paris Agreement, the Age reports, citing the findings from the government’s sixth intergenerational report. An increase in the number and severity of natural disasters could push up spending on crisis responses at least threefold by 2063, according to the report, which will be released on Thursday. Yet, global demand for critical minerals used in battery and wind turbine manufacturing, such as lithium and cobalt, could bring opportunities to the domestic mining industry, lifting Australian lithium exports to double over the next five years.
Renewable energy deal – South Korean electronics maker LG Innotek has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with domestic energy company SK E&S to secure 10 MW of renewable energy annually, as part of its effort to source RE100 by 2030, the Korea Economic Daily reports. The deal will see the first batch of renewable energy being delivered to the company’s base in North Gyeongsang Province in December this year, according to the report.
e-waste – Hindalco Industries, India’s biggest copper and aluminium manufacturer, plans to invest about $240 mln to establish a copper and e-waste recycling facility, reports Business Standard. “At present, due to the lack of advanced metal extraction and refining technologies domestically, a substantial volume of e-waste is exported to other nations. Bringing this cutting-edge technology to India marks a transformative step towards offering a tangible solution, aligned with your company and our nation’s circular economy agenda,” company’s chairman, KM Birla, said in his speech, adding that the move will tackle the challenges posed by electronic waste.
EV charging – Indian companies Adani TotalEnergies E-Mobility (ATEL) and Prakriti E-Mobility (Evera), an all-electric cab aggregator, will set up a network of EV charging infrastructure. The collaboration will feature an integration of 200 EV charging points super hub in New Delhi alone and is expected to be scaled up across India to promote decarbonised mobility. Through these concerted efforts, ATEL and Evera hope to bridge the existing EV infrastructural gaps in India, targeting key highways, workplaces, and other locations with convenient and fast-charging AC and DC solutions, Financial Express reported.
AMERICAS
Rocking the votes – Asset manager Blackrock voted against 742 of 813 shareholder proposals, and 373 or 93% of social and climate proposals during the 2022-23 proxy voting season, the company reported Wednesday in its 2023 Investment Stewardship report. A higher number of low-quality shareholder proposals – a 34% year-on-year jump – that were overly prescriptive or lacking economic merit failed to recognise that companies were already meeting their asks, the asset manager explained in the report, calling those proposals redundant and unlikely to help promote long-term shareholder value. The increased number of such proposals could largely be attributed to guidance published in Nov. 2021 by the Securities and Exchange Commission broadening the scope of permissible proposals to include those that address “significant social policy issues”. However, numerous proposals did not clearly “identify an issue associated with material risk that could undermine a company’s ability to deliver durable financial returns”, the report noted, with the company assessing all risks related to climate risk and the green energy transition based on its role as a fiduciary to its clients. [FOX Business]
Minor threat – Most existing gas-fired power plants would not have to substantially alter operations to align with proposed EPA greenhouse gas limits, according to a new analysis by the non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). With the commenting period for the proposed standards now closed, grid operators and power and utilities companies have argued that the standards will compromise grid reliability. However, the RMI study finds that only 6% of gas-fired capacity would likely have to either reduce its capacity factor by more than 20% or invest in emissions reduction technology to meet EPA standards, with most of the burden falling upon large power plants that run the most frequently.
AND FINALLY…
Raise the roof – Green roofs and rooftop solar are a winning combination to boost both biodiversity and power output, according to a study conducted in Australia. These so-called biosolar roofs can increase solar generation by as much as 107% during peak periods as the green roofs moderate rooftop temperatures, which can help to increase the efficiency of solar panels. The research has growing relevance as increasing city populations and limited space drive the adoption of green roofs and green walls covered with living plants.
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