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TOP STORY
PREVIEW: World braces for change as EU CBAM comes into force
As the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism comes into effect on Oct. 1, exporters to the region are gearing up to measure their carbon impact and bracing for levies further down the line, with several jurisdictions already moving to ramp up the development of their own carbon pricing measures in a bid to minimise the economic impact of the policy.
EMEA
Proposed EU climate and Green Deal commissioners face parliamentary ‘grilling’
The European Commission’s proposed new climate and Green Deal commissioners are expected to face tough hearings before the European Parliament next week despite receiving backing from some quarters.
Euro Markets: EUAs record biggest weekly drop in two months as liquidity drains from the market
European carbon prices fell back on Friday morning in very thin trading activity as the third quarter approached its end, while energy markets also weakened as mild weather and high gas stocks continued to weigh on the markets.
Major institutions urge the EU to accelerate energy transition to ensure competitiveness
The heads of three major EU and international institutions warned that not accelerating the clean energy transition in Europe would mean losing industrial competitiveness and threatening financial stability, at a conference in Paris on Friday.
Mozambique to place community benefits at heart of new carbon regulatory framework -report
Mozambique will prioritise community benefits and greater clarity for carbon credit buyers when drafting comprehensive regulations to support the development of offset projects in the country, the country’s environment minister was reported as saying Thursday, as it readies almost 50 million units for the market.
AMERICAS
US details plan for $35 mln pilot CDR purchasing programme
The US government on Friday detailed its previously announced plans to allocate up to $35 million to buy carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits from several pathways as it attempts to help scale the industry and reach net zero GHG output.
Pennsylvania governor keeps mum on pursuing cap-and-trade recommendations from RGGI working group
A working group convened by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) released its final memorandum Friday detailing recommendations for cap-and-trade in the Keystone State, though the Commonwealth leader did not provide any information regarding his plans to implement the advice.
California ARB board meeting weighs in on tighter LCFS targets as dairy, aviation industry representatives voice concerns
California regulator ARB provided updates on major considerations for its upcoming Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) rulemaking at a non-voting Board meeting on Thursday, as commenters offered input on the regulator’s carbon intensity (CI) reduction targets and raised concerns about avoiding methane crediting and jet fuel emissions.
Growth in new California carbon speculators slows in Q3, as multiple dairies close accounts
Fewer new financial players opened accounts in California’s WCI-linked cap-and-trade programme in Q3 than in previous quarters, while a slew of dairy digester owners exited the programme, according to state data published Friday.
Emitters pick up CCAs, RGAs as speculators trim holdings in both markets
Regulated parties picked up holdings of California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) and RGGI Allowances (RGAs) over the week as financial players moved in the opposite direction, while the roles were reversed in the third week of Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) holdings being reported in US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.
Chile publishes regulations to govern offset mechanism under carbon tax
The Chilean government on Friday published regulations setting out the rules for utilising offsets against the country’s $5/tonne carbon tax, including restrictions on geography and expiry.
ASIA PACIFIC
Indian green hydrogen ambitions may dampen Australia’s coal exports, report finds
Australia’s metallurgical coal may lose market share in coming decades as China’s steel industry recedes and its domestic production of coking coal rises while India’s plans to transition to using hydrogen in the steel making process could put a further dent on exports, according to a think tank.
Landfill gas operators concerned with govt ACCU reform process, expert says
Australian landfill gas project operators have expressed concern about the lack of a clear framework for redesigning the baselines of landfill gas projects, according to an expert.
NGOs lash PNG govt over lack of consultation on carbon credit regulations
A group of NGOs have written to the government of Papua New Guinea expressing their “grave concerns” about the lack of stakeholder input in the development of the country’s carbon credit regulations.
Canadian CDR company signs cooperative agreement with Australian nickel producer
A Canadian climate tech company and an Australian mining company have partnered to investigate carbon mineralisation opportunities at a nickel mine site in Vietnam.
New Zealand cancels 21.5 mln Kyoto credits
New Zealand has cancelled 21.5 million carbon credits left over from international Kyoto protocol markets, the government announced.
Green group brands Japanese plastic-to-oil plan a “distraction”
An anti-plastics waste group has poured cold water on a consortium of Japanese heavyweights’ plans to skim microplastic from the surface of a harbour and turn it into oil, suggesting it is nothing more than a “distraction” in the climate debate.
INTERNATIONAL
Mining giant notes bumps in road from brown to green
There is a a looming shortfall of the materials needed for electrification and the energy transition, according to a report released Friday by miner BHP and investment firm BlackRock on the challenges ahead facing the mining sector, new energy sectors, and hard to abate sectors such as steel making and cement.
Climate fintech firm partners with US-based carbon analytics platform
An Australian based climate fintech firm has teamed up with a carbon credit pricing, data, and analytics company to build transparency around carbon projects.
VOLUNTARY
INTERVIEW: Photosynthesis-enhanced trees shown to grow faster, decompose slower, says startup
Trees enhanced for photosynthesis using bioengineering have been shown to accelerate the rate of carbon capture and slow the rate of decomposition, in addition to improved soil quality through more below-ground biomass and potential for greater resilience to high temperatures and drought, according to a California-based startup.
BIODIVERSITY (FREE TO READ)
Think tank develops blue recovery bond framework to tackle overfishing
Financial think tank Planet Tracker has developed a theoretical framework for a blue recovery bond that would allow investment in blue recovery bonds to fund fisheries that reduce or completely stop fishing in designated areas while stocks recover.
Textile industry body looks to set industry biodiversity foundation in new report
The fashion industry has complex and specific challenges to biodiversity but needs to start moving on understanding their impacts, according to a new report released by an industry body.
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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!
Private Land Conservation Conference | Unite for Nature – Oct. 16-18, Canberra: Nature has been elevated to the world stage and the Australian Land Conservation Alliance’s Private Land Conservation plays a crucial role in exploring the challenges and solutions as we navigate the transition to a nature positive future. Featuring Australian and international conservation practitioners, policy experts, business, finance and industry leaders, landholders, and First Nations groups on the frontlines of conservation, the conference explores pathways to reversing nature loss. To register: www.alcaconference.org.au/registration
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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
Bon voyage – Norway has agreed with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to contribute NOK 210 mln ($19.6 mln) over 2024-30 to the UN agency’s GreenVoyage 2050 programme. The funding will go towards supporting developing countries in capacity building, helping them draw up green shipping action plans, develop low- and zero-carbon shipping pilot projects, and contribute to their implementation, the Norwegian climate change ministry said.
EMEA
Bad for business – The chiefs of several investor-focused groups and firms with more than $1.5 trillon in combined assets have written to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to warn him against watering down the country’s climate policies, Reuters reports. In a letter dated Sep. 28, the group urged the government to reconsider recently announced plans to delay the phase-out of new internal combustion engine car sales and gas boilers, and to stick to plans to toughen energy efficiency targets in homes. The moves, as well as the green-lighting of fresh oil development in the North Sea, have drawn sharp criticism coming as they do just weeks ahead of the next round of global climate talks, where countries are being urged to cut emissions quicker.
Important cable – A £20 bln plan to bring solar and wind power from the Sahara to the UK via the world’s longest sub-sea cable has been declared a project of national significance by Claire Coutinho, the new British energy secretary, the FT reports. The designation will streamline the planning process for the scheme, whose backers claim it could bring enough electricity from Morocco to supply 8% of Britain’s power needs. Under the plan, electricity from the Guelmim Oued Noun region of Southern Morocco would be supplied via cables running 3,800 km under the sea to North Devon in the west of England where it would be connected to the national grid. Those behind the project said it is progressing well and will have a generation capacity of 10.5 GW, of which 7 GW would come from solar and 3.5 GW from wind.
Too popular – The third call for small-scale projects developing innovative clean technologies under the EU ETS financed Innovation Fund closed on Sep.19 attracting projects from 23 eligible countries of the EU. The grant budget is €100 mln, but the total request for funding amounted to €289 mln. Projects selected will receive between €2.5 and €7.5 mln and the fund will finance up to 60% of their total capital expenditure. The winners will be announced in early 2024. The IF also puts out calls for large-scale projects, with the latest round results announced in July with a €3.6 bln committed to 41 clean-tech activities.
Hit the target – Public climate financing from Germany for developing countries reached a new record level last year, already surpassing the €6 bln target set for 2025, the government said. A total of €6.39 bln was provided to help countries with fewer financial resources adapt and respond to climate change. The government reported this sum to the EU Commission, which collects the figures for the entire EU. (Clean Energy Wire)
Africa mobilisation – The African Development Bank has begun publishing detailed country-level reports to help African nations transition away from fossil fuels and onto clean energy opportunities. The continent’s biggest economy, Nigeria, should do more to fund the mining of minerals for the green transition, tackle gas flaring, and promote ways to finance solar mini-grid uptake in rural areas. While South Africa will need 8.9 trillion rand ($467 billion) for its climate needs, the AfDB said in its report. (Bloomberg)
AMERICAS
Earthshot dollars – The US Department of Energy (DOE) is committing $264 mln in funding to 29 projects that will develop solutions to the scientific challenges underlying its Energy Earthshots Initiative. The initiative is focused on six different areas, including carbon storage, offshore wind, and industrial decarbonisation, and is intended to help the US achieve its goals of a 50% cut in CO2 by 2030 and a net zero economy by 2050. The funding announced today will support 11 new Energy Earthshot Research Centers led by DOE National Laboratories and 18 university research teams addressing one or more of the Earthshots. Universities to receive funding include the California Institute of Technology, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania, while research centres to be financed include National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in New Jersey. The projects are to last up to four years in duration.
Biden backlash – US President Joe Biden’s Interior Department’s congressionally mandated five-year plan for offshore oil drilling saw backlash from both the fossil fuel industry and environmentalists, Reuters reports. The plan included just three sales, all in the Gulf of Mexico – the lowest number in any five-year plan since the government began publishing them in 1980 – as oil industry representatives warned that the plan would hike gas prices, impact Gulf Coast jobs, and increase US dependency on oil imports. Meanwhile, environmentalists condemned the administration for committing to additional fossil fuel extraction. The final plan sees a significant decline from the previous 2018 proposal by the Trump administration that envisioned 47 lease sales, including in California and the Atlantic. The three sales are expected to take place in 2025, 2027, and 2029.
Fund disaster – The US Disaster Relief Fund by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is expected to be drained by the end of the fiscal year in September, Bloomberg reports. FEMA spending has soared to over $10 bln annually since 2002, even after excluding outlier years that saw disasters like the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and the response to COVID. Disaster spending between 1992 and 1999 averaged $4 bln annually, but federal recovery spending for disasters has grown in part due to climate change. The impending government shutdown beginning Oct. 1 could further strain FEMA’s resources, although it is likely that the DRF will be bailed out.
Definitely maybe – The Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) is “definitely exploring” the listing and trading of the country’s blue carbon credits on its platform, the stock exchange’s CEO Keith Davies told Tribune Business. The country had planned to sell up to 9 mln blue carbon credits by 2030 via the cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, but with the collapse of the company the Caribbean Island nation has been looking for other avenues. The Bahamas last month released a draft of the country’s proposed carbon market and GHG regulations.
ASIA PACIFIC
Winner winner, chicken dinner – Japanese regulators have approved a proposal by utility J-Power to generate carbon credits under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) by delivering CO2-free electricity to poultry farms in the Philippines’ Bataan province. J-Power will now conduct a feasibility study of such projects, which would include installing rooftop solar panels and bioenergy systems, as well as using chicken manure and storage batteries at the farms. If successful, the project type could be rolled out in other regions of the Philippines as well as in other countries, J-Power said.
Doubling up – Japan’s Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG) Group on Friday announced two sustainability-linked loans, where its terms will be decided on its ability to reduce GHG emissions and increase the share of energy it gets from renewable sources. A first loan of 16.3 bln yen ($109.5 mln) arranged by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will see NSG get favourable terms if it manages to reduce GHG emissions by 24% from 2021 levels by 2030 and get 85% of all the electricity it consumes from renewables by the same year. A second loan on the same terms for 7.6 bln yen was signed with Aozora Bank.
Class act – New Zealand’s Act political party has raised the possibility it would renege on New Zealand’s Paris Agreement targets, Radio New Zealand reports. In the lead up to the Oct. 14 election, the right-wing party’s leader David Seymour said that in addition to repealing the country’s Zero Carbon Act and its emissions budget, the party would tie New Zealand’s emissions cap to its trading partners’ emissions. New Zealand aims to cut emissions by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris Agreement. A spokesperson for ACT told RNZ that whether the party would want to keep that pledge would depend on the level of NZ’s trading partners’ emissions reductions. However, the spokesperson said failing to meet the country’s 2030 target would not mean it would pull the country out of the Paris Agreement. New Zealand’s decision to renege on its targets would have ramifications, given its free trade agreement signed with the EU requires both partners to effectively implement their commitments under Paris, or face sanctions.
VOLUNTARY
DGB in DRC – Project developer DGB has advanced a forest carbon project to the feasibility study phase in the DRC. The project aims to bolster carbon sequestration, biodiversity preservation, and ecosystem restoration while promoting sustainable land-use practices and enhancing local resilience to climate impacts, according to a release. Over its 40-year lifespan, the project is estimated to generate around 5.8 mln VCUs, averaging 125,000 per year. The forthcoming study will now probe deeper into the project’s technical, environmental, social, and economic dimensions to evaluate the feasibility of extensive afforestation, reforestation, and conservation initiatives in the DRC.
COP15 credits – The Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is looking to offset the GHG emissions generated in Montreal during the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Dec. 2022 with carbon credits. ECCC aims to offset the 6.5 tonne CO2e emissions that followed hosting COP15 as a part of the Canadian government’s effort to transition to net zero carbon operations as well as protect biodiversity. The contract has a proposed start date of Nov. 15, with an estimated contract period of four months, and the contractors must retire offsets on behalf of ECCC to compensate for the emissions generated by COP15.
AND FINALLY…
Looking back at her legacy – The passing of US Senator Dianne Feinstein, the longest serving woman in Senate history, has prompted the nation to reflect on Feinstein’s 30-year legacy as a California senator. Grist details her complex legacy on climate and environmental issues from the moment she took office in 1992, when she established herself as a champion for conservation. Feinstein supported action for carbon emissions reduction for much of her Senate career, and she also backed a cap-and-trade bill that failed to pass the Senate during the first years of the Obama administration. However, she became controversial because of her compromise-oriented stances, as she often had to weigh the competing interests of opposing parties, and at times she received backlash from all of them. Feinstein cast her final vote on Thursday morning on a procedural item relating to the Federal Aviation Administration, but she did not vote on an environmental bill later that afternoon. She passed away at the age of 90 on Thursday evening.
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