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TOP STORY
Policy frameworks across the globe not dealing with carbon removals adequately -campaign group
Policymakers around the world are getting it wrong on carbon removals and temporary carbon storage by placing them too high on the hierarchy of required climate action, campaigners warned in a pair of complementary reports on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
NZ Labour vows to set gross emissions targets, develop VCM framework, if it wins election
New Zealand’s Labour party will set separate targets for gross emissions reductions and CO2 removals, limit exotic afforestation, and develop a regulatory framework for the voluntary carbon market if it returns to government at next month’s elections, it announced Monday.
Modi govt looking at ways to keep CBAM fees in India
Indian government officials are considering taxing exporters to the EU for their carbon content to ensure that costs tied to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) stays in India, according to media reports.
South Korea formalises Paris partnerships with Vietnam, Uzbekistan, contracts new projects
South Korea on Monday formalised its Article 6.2 partnership agreements with Vietnam and Uzbekistan, and signed contracts for four new projects that will generate more than 10 million international carbon credits under the treaty.
Japan, Malaysia eye 2028 start for CCS partnership
Japan will start talks with Malaysia to store its captured CO2 in the Southeast Asian country from 2028 as part of Tokyo’s broader decarbonisation strategy, Nikkei has reported.
Traders hoard ACCUs as secondary market activity surges, regulator report shows
Traders and brokers have increased their holdings of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU) by some 20%, a regulator report shows, in anticipation of a tightening market following the recent Safeguard Mechanism reforms.
Indian carbon developer sees share value drop after posting quarterly losses
An Indian carbon project developer on Monday saw its share value drop by 10% on the BSE after posting $4 million in losses in the June quarter.
Australia Market Roundup: Soil carbon project generates nearly 100,000 ACCUs
Three soil carbon projects have been issued close to 100,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), with one of them receiving almost the entire amount, according to the Clean Energy Regulator’s latest update Monday.
VOLUNTARY
VCM Report: Bounce in 2018 REDD standard contacts masks moribund market
A slight recovery in nearby futures for REDD avoided deforestation credits over the past week provided one of the few bullish signs for a voluntary carbon market, which remains in limbo while the first badges of integrity are readied by the ICVCM and faces increasing competition from the rise of ITMOs.
Qualitative study finds agricultural soil carbon offsets lack additionality
US farmers are implementing sustainable agricultural practices irrespective of monetary incentives, and are also voicing concerns about the burdens of participating in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), according to an academic study published Monday that pointed to a resulting absence of additionality from such soil carbon projects.
Developers announce first registered soil carbon project in South Africa
A project developer has partnered with a social enterprise to set up one of Southern Africa’s only agricultural soil carbon projects under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, it announced Monday.
MRV startup discloses product price in a call for wider voluntary carbon transparency
A software startup has published pricing details of its platform as it targets future changes and technology needs in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) and EU deforestation regulation.
AMERICAS
RGGI Market: RGAs stagnate as reactions vary to Third Program Review meeting materials
RGGI Allowance (RGA) values remained unchanged from their year-to-date highs over the past week, as market participants expressed mixed sentiments to the release of materials published in advance of the next Third Program Review meeting.
Canadian carbon credit investor enters second streaming agreement with reforestation developer
A Toronto-based carbon financier and a US reforestation company announced Monday a second streaming agreement that will generate credits from a post-wildfire forest restoration project in California.
Canadian project developer and UK tech firm partner for direct air capture plant
A Montreal-headquartered CO2 removal (CDR) project developer and a London-based direct air capture (DAC) company on Monday announced plans to demonstrate the technology at a facility in Quebec.
EMEA
Euro Markets: EUAs edge lower despite 12% jump in gas as supply outlook tightens
European carbon prices were marginally weaker at the close on Monday though the market appeared to be sustained by a strong gas market, where speculation is growing that storages may not reach tank tops before the coming winter, leaving room for additional demand.
UK fuel-from-waste exporters urge Britain to ensure playing field to EU on carbon costs
UK fuel-from-waste exporters have urged the government to ensure domestic incinerators pay a comparable carbon cost to the EU once the waste sectors become part of the two carbon markets.
BIODIVERSITY (FREE TO READ)
IDB, Banco do Brasil announce $250-mln bioeconomy financing programme
A $250 million programme for financing renewable biological products in the Amazon has been announced by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Banco do Brasil.
Australia must simplify biodiversity projects to scale nature repair market, study finds
Australian biodiversity-related projects must become more streamlined to encourage adoption, in an effort to scale the nature repair market, a government-backed study has found.
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Job listings this week
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CONFERENCES
Carbon Forward 2023 – Oct. 11-13, London: Join us for Europe’s pre-eminent carbon markets conference, covering the EU and UK ETS as well as international voluntary markets and compliance schemes elsewhere in the world. The event brings together attendees from all related sectors, including traders and intermediaries, big emitters, financiers, project developers, analysts, consultants, NGOs, and government representatives. Topics to be covered include carbon pricing regimes globally, investment opportunities, Article 6 cooperation, CBAM, net zero strategies, and de-risking the voluntary carbon markets. Passes are going fast to secure yours today!
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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
No cause for alarm – The European approach to supporting climate-friendly industries, mainly reliant on the EU ETS, is “superior” to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which relies on subsidies to incentivise green industries and will cost more in the long run, German and French economists have argued in a new paper. The carrot and stick approach advocated by European with the EU ETS could be five to six times cheaper than relying on subsidies alone, the experts write. However, Europe can learn from the simplicity and speed of the IRA approach in allocating funds to green technologies and promoting uptake, the authors said. (Euractiv)
Not-so-efficient cuts – The UK government has disbanded its energy efficiency taskforce, only launched in March, as part of Sunak’s overhaul of green policies announced last week. The taskforce was set up to accelerate home insulation and boiler upgrades in British homes, which are some of the least energy efficient in Europe, and was being led by a group of experts including the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt. The Energy Security and Net Zero department thanked the taskforce in its work to reduce total UK energy demand by 15% from 2021 levels by 2030 and declared £6.6 bln to have been invested in energy efficiency upgrades so far this Parliament. Labour critiqued the announcement as a “short-sighted decision that will cost families money”, and pledged to upgrade 19 million of the UK’s most poorly-insulated homes over a decade if it gets into power. (BBC News)
Poll bounce – The ditching of some green policies by the UK Prime Minister last week has helped boost his political party’s appeal, finds Deltapoll. The Conservative Party has won a 5-point jump in voting intentions to 28% after Sunak pushed back the nation’s 2030 ban on sales of new diesel and petrol cars to 2035 to mirror the date set by the EU, pushed back a no new oil or LPG boiler for off-gas-grid households after 2026 while introducing more incentives to switch to heat pumps, and scrapped a short-term home energy efficiency target in 2025. But the Conservatives still trail the opposition party, the Labour Party, which has pledged to keep the 2030 target for phasing out fossil fuel cars, by 16 percentage points. The polling was conducted between September 22-25.
Sines shift – Portuguese oil company Galp is partnering with Japan’s Mitsui to invest €400 mln in an industrial-scale facility to produce biodiesel and biojet fuel from waste at its Sines refinery, the former coal plant, reports Reuters. A joint venture will run the project, 75% controlled by Galp, and the company will also invest a further €250 mln into a 100 MW electrolyser unit to produce green hydrogen to power the refinery. Both plants are expected to start operating from 2025. The Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) plant will have a production capacity of 270,000 metric tonnes per year and will transform waste materials, such as used cooking oils, into renewable biodiesel and biojet fuel — also known as sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.
Car pollutant climbdown – EU ministers agreed on Monday to water down the European Commission’s proposal for the type-approval of motor vehicles and engines (known as “Euro 7”), introducing a standard for new vehicle pollutants from brakes and tyres. Eight states, including France and Italy, said the original proposal could divert investment from the electric vehicle industry. The Council’s general approach contains “pragmatic changes” and “strikes a balance between stringent requirements for vehicle emissions and additional investments for the industry, at a moment when European car manufacturers are undergoing a transformation towards the production of zero-emission cars,” the release read. The Council, the European Parliament, and the European Commission must now negotiate a final agreement on the new regulations.
Lucky solar – Up to €1.7 bln financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) will go to company Solaria for constructing 120 new solar power plants in Spain, Italy and Portugal, the institution announced on Monday. The project is backed by the InvestEU programme. The photovoltaic power plants will have a total capacity of approximately 5.6 GW and will produce an estimated 9.29 TWh a year. Coming into operation by the end of 2028, this operation is expected to provide electricity equivalent to the average annual demand of approximately 2.5 mln households and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 3 mon tonnes of CO2 a year. More than one-third of the installed capacity will be located in less developed regions, with a GDP per capita that is less than 75% of the EU average, hoping to create around 11,100 jobs a year during the construction phase.
ASIA PACIFIC
Snag – Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) discussions on the early retirement of coal-fired power plants in Indonesia may have hit a snag as a local official said on Monday that western countries are not ready to finance such projects, Reuters reports. JETP, a financing scheme made up of equity investments, grants, and concessionary loans from members of Group of Seven (G7), multilateral banks and private lenders, is aimed at helping developing nations accelerate their shift towards cleaner energy sources in the power sector and cut reliance on dirty fuel such as coal.
Major milestone – Renewable energy contributed 114% of South Australia’s electricity demand for a period over the weekend, Renew Economy reports. The new milestone beat the previous peak for rooftop solar of 99.2% recorded a week earlier. Most of the excess demand was exported to other states, while some went into storage, and a significant amount was curtailed due to negative prices. South Australia is ahead of other states in Australia and the world, at least for grids of its size. The last coal generator was shut in 2016, the remaining gas plants no longer operate in ‘baseload’ mode, and battery storage – first introduced in 2017 – is now rapidly expanding.
De-risk – One of the world’s leading solar developers, Portugal-based EDP, has warned of the need to diversify supply chains for renewable power amid rising geopolitical tensions between Beijing and the West, according to the Financial Times. Developers need to “de-risk” their supply chains to help advance the shift to cleaner energy, said Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, chief executive of EDP, which was hit by delays in shipping solar panels to the US due to legislation aimed at curbing the use of forced labour in China. Global production of polysilicon, the main raw material for solar panels, is highly concentrated in Xinjiang, a region where the government is accused of abusing the human rights of Uyghurs and other Muslim residents, the report said.
Biomethane potential – A subsidiary of Indonesia’s Pertamina has teamed up with three Japanese companies – JGC, Osaka Gas, and Inpex – to commercialise the use of biomethane derived from the waste fluid generated during the palm oil extraction process in the Southeast Asian country, JGC announced Monday. The alliance has concluded a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding raw material procurement and will conduct technical studies on supply chain construction and biomethane supply, with a target of starting biomethane production in southern Sumatra in 2025, according to the statement.
AMERICAS
Cost of greenwashing – DWS Investment Management Americas will pay $25 mln to settle Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges into alleged greenwashing and anti-money laundering. SEC said in a statement that DWS made “concerning” misstatements regarding its ESG investment process as it failed to implement certain ESG policies between Aug. 2018 until late 2021 as they were billed to investors. The investment firm faces $19 mln in penalties for its misleading ESG statements. Separately, it will pay $6 mln for failing to develop a mutual fund anti-money laundering programme required by law.
Case dismissed – Thurston County Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit by the Citizen Action Defense Fund that aimed to invalidate the state’s Move Ahead Washington legislation. The lawsuit claimed that Washington overreached its constitutional authority – specifically the single subject rule in Article 2 Section 19 of the state constitution – by stringing together multiple issues in the 2022 transportation bill. It also targeted the state’s new cap-and-trade programme that the Legislature had approved in 2021, although regulations for the programme could be set up only after the transportation bill was passed. Judge Mary Sue Wilson Judge asserted that the Legislature can have “broad omnibus bills that cover a general topic,” and that each of the challenged sections were related to one another.
VOLUNTARY
Guilty of greenwashing – Austrian Airlines has been found guilty by a commercial court outside of Vienna on misleading consumers about the true climate impact of its flights, reports Bloomberg. The suit filed by an Austrian consumer-protection association against the Lufthansa subsidiary was directed at advertisements by the airline claiming that flights to an art show in the Italian port of Venice would be fueled with 100% sustainable fuel when, in fact, only 5% derived from renewable resources, and using 100% SAF for flights isn’t yet technically possible. The airline was obliged to post a copy of the court verdict on its website and social media account where the original advertisement appeared, in addition to paying for the consumer-protection association’s legal counsel.
Cosmetics-backed credits – Estee Lauder has committed £100,000 to the South Downs woodland project in southern England, aiming to develop more than 5,000 hectares of interconnected native woodland habitats and to generate income through the sale of carbon credits and other ecosystem services. The initiative will be delivered by UK nature restoration facility, Revere, in partnership with National Parks UK and Palladium and will be open to landholders of different sizes. Revere launched with private sector support from Santander UK, The Estee Lauder Companies UK & Ireland, Gatwick Airport, Capita and Southern Co-op. The facility is also working with landowners in Scotland to issue carbon credits. The beauty giant has also guaranteed a further £300,000 to be spent on other nature restoration projects throughout the UK’s national parks over the next three years.
AND FINALLY…
Kill the pint – Japanese brewer Asahi’s chief executive has warned that climate change could lead to beer shortages as warmer temperatures hit barley and hops supplies around the world. Atsushi Katsuki said analysis conducted by the company found that global warming was set to reduce barley yields and the quality of hops significantly over the next three decades, and warned of a beer shortage. Asahi, which counts Asahi Super Dry, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, and Pilsner Urquell among its stable of beers, has partnered with Microsoft and an agritech company to start tracking harvest volume and quality on farms. (FT)
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