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TOP STORY
Global emissions could peak this year, but GHG cuts may still fall short of the 2030 IPCC target -report
Global GHG output may reach its peak this year, meeting an IPCC deadline, but emissions could still exceed the IPCC’s 2030 GHG target deemed necessary to limit global warming to 1.5C, according to a report by a climate think-tank.
EMEA
EU launches first auction for green hydrogen alongside bumper Innovation Fund call
The European Commission launched its first EU green hydrogen auction on Thursday with €800 million up for grabs for European projects, while also opening up this year’s €4 billion call for proposals for net zero technologies under the bloc’s ETS-financed Innovation Fund.
ANALYSIS: EU’s embattled petrochemicals sector seeks out low-carbon funding
The EU’s petrochemicals sector faces a fight for survival amid persistently high energy and carbon costs, though some firms are planning for the long-haul by tapping the ETS-financed Innovation Fund as a key source of support. (Updates Wednesday’s article with comments from Wood Mackenzie)
Euro Markets: Colder weather forecasts drive EUAs to biggest daily gain in two weeks
European carbon permits traded around their recent support levels in the morning after setting yet another year-to-date low amid an “arm-wrestle” between bulls and bears, before rising strongly in the afternoon to post their biggest daily gain in two weeks, while energy markets rose robustly late in the day with temperatures set to decline.
UK national parks seek new company partnerships and private finance as nature-based credit prices forecast to rise
An organisation representing the UK’s 15 national parks is looking to secure fresh partnerships with the private sector for nature restoration opportunities and investment, as new research suggests that the price of UK nature-based carbon credits could rise to £150 ($188) per tonne by the end of the decade.
World Bank to investigate its own development project in Tanzania for human rights abuse
The Board of Executive Directors at the World Bank has approved a recommendation to investigate the lender’s own development project in Tanzania after allegations that more than 20,000 people are being violently evicted and their cattle illegally seized to make way for the expansion of the Ruaha National Park.
AMERICAS
Canada tightens OBPS standards, estimates net benefits of $467 million through 2032
Canada’s federal government amended its ‘backstop’ output-based pricing system (OBPS) Wednesday to increase the stringency of covered entities’ GHG emissions per unit of output, now set to decline at a fixed tightening rate with no end date, resulting in estimated net benefits that offset the costs to Canadian household welfare.
ASIA PACIFIC
INTERVIEW: Taiwan considers bilateral crediting mechanism, policy planner says
Taiwan is considering bilateral programmes similar to Japan’s Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) to secure high-quality carbon credits from international emissions reduction projects, a top climate policy planner told Carbon Pulse.
Philippines government to announce investment areas for green and blue carbon
The Philippines is set to announce priority investment areas for green and blue carbon projects as the country seeks to explore the potential of nature-based carbon sinks, with 1 million hectares of classified government forest land to be opened up for investments in Q1 next year, local media reported.
Safeguard Mechanism to do Australia’s heavy lifting on emissions reductions -official
The federal Australian government on Thursday provided details on its environmental law reforms, confirming that emissions reduction efforts will largely be handled by the Safeguard Mechanism.
UK-based carbon exchange to launch Indian platform in December
A UK-based carbon exchange on Thursday has announced its plan to launch its India chapter in December in collaboration with an Indian environmental solutions provider.
INTERNATIONAL
INTERVIEW: Global Carbon Council poised to add adjusted credits from Oman, UAE
Global Carbon Council (GCC) has received letters of authorisation from Oman and the UAE for projects to offer correspondingly adjusted (CA) carbon credits on its registry, as part of expansion plans that involve adding a CCS methodology and gaining eligibility for phase one of CORSIA, a senior executive at the carbon credit certifier has told Carbon Pulse.
IEA sounds latest warning on oil and gas ahead of Dubai COP, sceptical on CCS
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has underlined the necessity of curtailing future oil and gas production in order to keep warming at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels even as it sees a role for the companies that produce it in the energy transition.
Social cost of carbon jumps by a fifth because of spiralling cyclones, finds study
Policymakers are using poor data to calculate the social cost of carbon because global warming is causing increasingly frequent tropical cyclones and hurricanes that leave countries with less time to recover from the destruction, warns a new study.
EU confirms raise in contribution to global climate finance for 2022
The EU contributed €28.5 billion in climate finance to developing nations from public sources last year, up from €23 bln in 2021, according to figures approved by the Council of member states on Thursday that also outlined a further €11.9 bln mobilised from private sources.
VOLUNTARY
Gold Standard seeks views on new method to spur a just transition from coal
Carbon credit certifier Gold Standard on Thursday launched a consultation on a new methodology for phasing out coal power while ensuring a just transition to clean energy, adding to the voluntary carbon market initiatives seeking to accelerate the world’s exit from the emissions-intensive fossil fuel.
UAE stock exchange to launch carbon credit trading pilot
A UAE-based stock exchange will debut a pilot programme for trading carbon credits at COP28 aimed at institutional investors, according to a release Thursday.
Indigenous and local communities better for forest protection and restoration than tree planting -study
Forests managed by Indigenous and local communities have better outcomes for carbon, biodiversity, and livelihoods than tree planting alone, a study published on Thursday in a scientific journal has found.
BIODIVERSITY (FREE TO READ)
UK farm almost sold out of biodiversity net gain units
An English farm has committed almost all of its biodiversity net gain (BNG) units in sales to local housing developers, Carbon Pulse has learned.
Brazilian food giant has the biggest impact on deforestation, corporate ranking finds
A Brazilian food producer was found to have by far the most negative impact on global deforestation rates, according to a global corporate ranking released Wednesday that also awarded negative scores to several major financial institutions for their lending policies.
Biodiversity Pulse: Thursday November 23, 2023
A twice-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).
CONTRIBUTED COMMENT
ECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE – Shades of REDD+: Harmonized Biodiversity Claims as a Solution for Fragmented Biodiversity Markets
Since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, there’s been growing interest in market-based approaches for biodiversity conservation, but significant challenges remain in establishing a global market for biodiversity credits due to their complexity and context-specific nature. As Charlotte Streck writes, alternative solutions like national and local schemes and standardized biodiversity claims are being explored to address these challenges.
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Premium job listings
- Feature Writer/Sub-Editor, Carbon Pulse – North America
- Biodiversity Correspondent, Carbon Pulse – Europe (Remote)
- Carbon Finance Project Manager, Nexus for Development – Phnom Penh
- Senior Advisor, REDD+, Fauna & Flora International – Cambridge, UK
- Biodiverse Landscapes Fund Lower Mekong Landscape Team Lead, Asia-Pacific Programme, Fauna & Flora – Phnom Penh
- Grants & Operations Manager, Biodiverse Landscapes Fund Lower Mekong Landscape, Asia-Pacific Programme, Fauna & Flora – Phnom Penh
- Senior Program Officer, Auditing and Accreditation, Verra – Remote (Worldwide)
Or click here to see all job listings
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Carbon Pulse has teamed up with CME Group to provide the market operator’s 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
Help needed – The Supervisory Body for the Article 6.4 mechanism has already established two expert panels to support its work, drawing upon the approved roster of experts, and is now seeking for additional experts to fill gaps in expertise, underrepresented regions, and women, it said Thursday. The body is seeking applications from experts on accreditation, in particular from the African region, as well as female accreditation experts, particularly from developing countries. In addition, the body seeks experts on methodologies, specifically in activities involving removals, and matters related to permanence and risk of reversals for emission reductions. The calls for experts are open until the end of Jan. 10, 2024. The body recently finalised its recommendations on methodologies in time for their discussion by Parties at COP28.
EMEA
Final warning – The European Central Bank has warned about 20 banks that they will face fines unless they improve their management of climate risk, with potential fines as high as 5% of a lender’s daily average revenue at stake, Bloomberg reports. The bank has set lenders individual deadlines to meet in letters sent this month and last, according to people familiar, to fix the issues identified, with the risk of paying periodic penalties for those that do not. The ECB has repeatedly warned that lenders are failing to do enough to prepare for the fallout of extreme weather shocks on asset values, or the risk that clients with big carbon footprints might go out of business. For a bank with annual revenue of €10 bln ($10.9 bln), daily penalties could stack up to as much as €1.4 mln under the measures proposed.
The German-Italian Plan – Germany and Italy have agreed to increase cooperation on energy and expand natural gas and hydrogen transport infrastructure connecting the two countries, according to an article by Clean Energy Wire. Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed a German-Italian Action Plan in which they state they will cooperate in the areas of future technologies, green growth and climate action, international cooperation and security, culture, and the European Agenda. The “South Central Corridor” will connect Southern Germany and Italy with North Africa, the plan states.
ASIA PACIFIC
Delayed – The shareholder vote to sell Australian utility Origin Energy to a consortium led by Brookfield has been delayed after takeover bidders lodged a revised offer on the eve of the vote, the Guardian reports. The consortium offered investors A$9.43 ($6.19) a share, valuing Origin at A$20 bln, but pension fund AustralianSuper, which holds a 17.5% stake in the company, vowed to vote down the deal arguing the offer undervalued Origin. At the last minute, Origin pushed the vote back after it was given a revised offer by the consortium. The so-called ‘non-binding and indicative proposal’ depends on whether the A$9.43 offer is rejected. The backup plan would amount to about A$9.30 a share including dividends, and would be harder to block. The new vote will be held on Dec. 4.
We promise – South Korea has pledged to cut methane emissions by more than 30% by 2030 with new technologies, according to Yonhap, which cited a roadmap announced by the presidential committee on carbon neutrality. The government aims to produce 50 tonnes of ‘clean methanol’ in the country by the end of this decade, secure necessary raw materials such as hydrogen, and expand the supply of low-emitting methane feeds for animals. South Korea, having signed the Global Methane Pledge, produced 27.4 mln tons of methane in 2021, data showed.
Each footprint matters – China has issued guidelines to build a carbon footprint database and introduce ways to calculate carbon footprints for 50 key products by 2025, state-owned news agency China Daily reports. A national product carbon labelling certification system will also be basically in place by 2025, according to the document released this week by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and other four central departments. Related accounting rules and standards for around 200 key products will be enacted at the national level by the end of this decade, NDRC said.
New business – Korean mobility platform operator Humax Mobility plans to kick off its carbon credit-generating business by using data collected from around 15,000 electric vehicle chargers across the country, Yonhap reports. The company said it expects to reduce over 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases by 2028, based on an average annual charging capacity of 80,000 MW hours, and the credits generated from the project will be traded on Verra’s platform.
Slow and steady – Just 43% of the companies in Singapore have made climate-related disclosures so far, according to a study conducted by the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the NUS Business School. The study found that the percentage of companies that made disclosures in line with at least five of the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in their 2022 fiscal year sustainability reports was lower than the global average of 58%, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The study, covering 535 companies, came out as mandatory reporting rules are about to begin. The Singapore Exchange Regulation has mandated climate reporting for financial, agriculture, and energy sectors from financial year 2023 and will expand those rules to transportation and materials sectors beginning 2024. The study found out that Singapore-based firms are performing better in overall sustainability reporting and about 90% of them have disclosed at least one of their Scope 1, 2, or 3 emissions.
AMERICAS
Nuts about carbon – Klimate is onboarding a new supplier onto its carbon removal platform in the form of biochar producer Bio-Logical, which makes the carbon-rich material using macadamia nuts, according to a LinkedIn post. Bio-Logical helps smallholder farmers in Kenya to improve climate resilience through the provision of biochar, which helps to improve soil organic matter and hence can boost crop productivity, while also improving drainage and lessening the impact of drought. Bio-Logical aims to sequester 1 mln tonnes of CO₂ and support 1 mln smallholder farmers to become more climate resilient by 2030.
Bad comms – An Italian fugitive, Samuele Landi, is reportedly advising UAE startup Blue Carbon, according to an article by Climate Home. Landi has been convicted for bankruptcy fraud in Italy, but is now consulting for the firm that has been ramping up its forest carbon credit deals across Africa. The UAE firm, chaired by a member of Dubai’s royal family, has been on a deal-making spree with several governments. The 58-year-old Italian is said to be no forestry expert, but was convicted in two separate trials for a bankruptcy fraud that sank one of Italy’s largest telecommunications companies, Eutelia, around 15 years ago. Landi’s advisory role in Blue Carbon is likely to fuel concerns over the integrity of a company bidding to become a large player in a sector already plagued by environmental and social risks, the news website writes.
AND FINALLY…
Abandoned hopes on alpine slopes – As global warming progresses, many winter resorts, particularly in Switzerland and France, are facing challenges due to insufficient snowfall at lower altitudes. This has led to the closure of 65 Swiss lift systems, often leaving them abandoned and posing environmental issues. The majority of the closures are attributed to inadequate snow levels, with 40 of the 65 closed systems located below 1,500 metres. The challenge now lies in dismantling these abandoned structures, a costly process that many local municipalities, often with limited revenue, struggle to afford. Despite a legal mandate to remove these structures within five years of closure, there is no clear directive on who should bear the cost. In France, which has 168 ski resorts with abandoned lifts, some communities have taken matters into their own hands. In Bouchoux, volunteers have started to dismantle metal lift pylons themselves, highlighting a grassroots approach to addressing this issue. (Le News)
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