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TOP STORY
Early Article 6 carbon credits on sale above $20 ahead of series of auctions for ITMOs
Around half a million reforestation credits from a project in Kenya are being marketed for sale currently under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement as part of a partnership between a new Qatar-based centre and a marketplace to spearhead the auctions of sovereign credits in the run up to 2030.
INTERNATIONAL
Carbon pricing revenues exceed $100 bln for first time in 2023, still not aligned with Paris -World Bank
Carbon pricing revenues have exceeded $100 billion for the first time, the World Bank said in an annual analysis, though levels continue to fall short of the ambition needed to achieve the Paris Agreement goals.
ISO’s new climate neutrality standard risks adding to greenwashing, campaigners warn
ISO’s new climate neutrality standard risks promoting greenwashing, despite an EU attempt to better regulate environmental claims, an NGO has warned.
EMEA
Looming social acceptance issues ‘might kill EU ETS’, academic warns
A stocktake of international carbon markets presented on Tuesday highlighted the success of the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme, but researchers pointed to looming social acceptability issues that could derail carbon pricing policies going forward.
European cement group targets 37% drop in production emissions in updated net zero plan
The European Cement Association (CEMBUREAU) aims to reduce production emissions 37% by 2030 and by 50% down the value chain, as per an updated net zero roadmap published Tuesday.
UK confirms will not carry over emissions ‘surplus’ to fourth carbon budget
The British government confirmed that it will not carry over any so-called ‘surplus’ emissions from its 2018-22 carbon budget into the current fourth iteration in a statement Tuesday.
Euro Markets: EUAs rise to four-month high as gas hedging drives market higher after quiet start
European carbon prices extended their gains to a new four-month high on Tuesday, as early profit-taking in thin trading gave way to a strong rally, driven largely by rising natural gas prices ahead of the expiry of the June options contract later this week, while UK Allowance prices hovered near yesterday’s four-month high amid continued healthy demand.
AMERICAS
PREVIEW: Outlook firms ahead of rescheduled WCI Q2 auction
The California-Quebec current vintage carbon auction scheduled for May 22 is expected to clear in line with or at a slight discount to front-month California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices, above predictions made before the postponement of the Q2 sale.
California gasoline sales continue to decline, diesel gains again in February
California gasoline consumption continued its year-on-year (YoY) decline in February, as diesel sales increased for the second straight month, state data published Tuesday showed.
ASIA PACIFIC
Australia opposition party’s lack of stance on Safeguard Mechanism causing headaches for investors, participants
Australia’s opposition Coalition needs to make its stance on the Safeguard Mechanism clear in order to provide stability and confidence for participants and investors, a conference heard Tuesday.
Consent and engagement must be ongoing, First Nations people say of carbon projects
Traditional Owner consent for a carbon project in Australia shouldn’t be a one-time event but an ongoing process where consent is asked for and given “again and again”, a conference in Cairns heard Tuesday.
Australia’s biggest CRC looks to help agriculture sector reach net zero
An Australian research group will begin receiving A$87 million ($57 mln) in federal government funding in July as part of efforts to transition the country’s agriculture sector to net zero emissions, a conference heard Tuesday.
Major Japanese bank begins study on digital carbon credit payments
One of Japan’s leading financial groups is participating in a joint study that explore the potential for utilising domestically produced stablecoins for digital carbon credit payments.
VOLUNTARY
Voluntary carbon market focus shifts away from REDD towards forestry management in developed countries, study finds
The international voluntary carbon market has seen a priority change in offset project implementation over the past decade, with forest management solutions in developed nations attracting more attention from developers at the expense of REDD+ projects, researchers have found.
Timber province in Argentina poised to issue carbon credits under world’s “most advanced” subnational J-REDD+ programme
An Argentine province that saw timber-driven growth over the past decade expects to issue large volumes of credits from jurisdictional nested REDD+ (JNR), making it the subnational locale with the most progress under Verra’s JNR framework to date, according to the voluntary carbon standard.
Research finds only 35% of analysed ARR projects restore native ecosystem
Only 35% of afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) initiatives within the voluntary carbon market (VCM) reviewed by a US-based carbon management firm was found to revert ecosystem degradation, the company said Tuesday.
Carbon removal certification bodies merge in bid to shore up standards
Two carbon removal standards focused on biochar have partnered up with the aim of strengthening their certifications to keep pace with the fast-growing sector.
Two UK firms team up to target Britain’s rich peatland market
Two UK firms are teaming up to support peatland projects in the UK that could generate both carbon and biodiversity credits next year.
AI visualisation tool strives to increase trust in carbon markets
A new tool using remote sensing data and artificial intelligence (AI) to bring carbon projects to life hopes to rebuild trust in credits by making projects more accessible.
BIODIVERSITY (FREE TO READ)
Italian firm prepares to launch voluntary biodiversity credit offsetting framework in Europe
An Italian nature tech firm is poised to release a set of standardised guidelines for a biodiversity framework late this year that will underpin its first certified biodiversity credits in 2025 for the European voluntary market, the company told Carbon Pulse.
UK biodiversity net gain marketplace lists 25,000 units at £30k average
A London-based marketplace has listed over 25,000 off-site biodiversity net gain (BNG) units at an average price of almost £30,000 ($38,000) each, though demand has been slow.
Nature Positive Initiative announces partnership to find common metrics
The Nature Positive Initiative (NPI) has partnered with consultants EY and The Biodiversity Consultancy (TBC) to establish metrics tailored to nature positive claims.
Pollinator biodiversity around solar farms to be assessed by AI and acoustic monitoring
An upcoming study will look at the impact of solar farms on nature by deploying artificial intelligence (AI) technology alongside acoustic monitoring to assess pollinator levels.
Biodiversity Pulse: Tuesday May 21, 2024
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).
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CONFERENCES
Carbon Forward North America – June 11-12, Toronto and Online: Join us in the Great White North to hear about the evolving carbon pricing and climate policy landscape in North America. Whether you are an emitter, investor, developer, or a new participant in any of the continent’s carbon markets – compliance or voluntary – Carbon Forward North America offers you the opportunity to gain knowledge on both present and future policy developments and market opportunities. Explore the chance to meet the right people or source the right solutions to help you enhance your business prospects or minimise your risk. Come meet the region’s world-leading carbon market experts, compliance players, government officials, investors, project developers, analysts, brokers, and other stakeholders. To express an interest in speaking or sponsoring, please email michelle@carbon-forward.com
FREE PASSES: We have allocated a limited number of free passes for Carbon Forward North America to attendees representing medium and large companies that currently buy and retire voluntary carbon credits or are looking to do so in the future. If your organisation is an end user of carbon offsets or wants to learn more about offsetting, and is not from the energy or financial sectors, contact us to apply for a free pass. Maximum one per company.
Carbon Forward Expo – October 8-10, London and Online: Save the date! More info coming soon…
Argus Europe Carbon Conference – May 21-23, Nice: Plan your carbon strategy through market-driven decarbonisation solutions at the at the Argus Europe Carbon Conference on 21-23 May in Nice, France, as we examine the EU ETS and other global compliance structures, voluntary carbon markets and their intersection with carbon abatement industries. This year’s agenda covers the integration of the maritime sector into the EU ETS, the impact of Europe’s exported carbon price through CBAM, developments in carbon removal technologies, voluntary certification methods, and developments around diverse, high-quality credits from Verra and many other leading standards. Register your place to explore new opportunities within Europe and globally.
Eurelectric “Lights ON” Power Summit – May 22-23, Lagonissi, Greece: This is our biggest event gathering every year around 500 energy experts across Europe. This year, we’ll welcome more than 60 speakers to discuss:
- Getting Europe’s power infrastructure ready for net-zero
- Delivering on the EU 2040 climate targets
- Powering Europe’s industrial competitiveness with affordable energy
- Ensuring security of supply in more hostile energy geopolitics
- Implementing the electricity market reform
- Speeding up digitalisation
- Integrating renewables with biodiversity
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
EMEA
Final green light to EU gas and power market reform – The Council of EU member states gave the final green light on Tuesday to proposed reforms of the EU’s gas and electricity market rules. The gas package regulates the transport, supply and storage of fossil gas and hydrogen, with the aim of promoting renewables gases and decarbonising the sector. Under the new rules, agreed in December and confirmed today, fossil gas contracts will not extend beyond 2049. The new electricity market rules, for their part, aim to promote long-term contracts in order to shield consumers from market volatility after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Their objective is to promote renewables and low-carbon electricity like nuclear, confirming a political deal struck in December. (EU statements here and here).
CCUS pilot – ArcelorMittal has started operating a pilot carbon capture unit on a blast furnace at its Gent plant in Belgium, alongside partners Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, BHP, and Mitsubishi Development. The pilot unit will operate for one or two years to test the feasibility of the process before full-scale deployment of the technology, which would be able to capture a sizeable portion of the Gent site emissions, if successful. The four parties first announced their collaboration on a multi-year trial of the technology in Oct. 2022. Development of the unit could feed into multiple CO2 transport and storage projects in the North Sea and contribute to global solutions for decarbonising steel production. The IEA estimates that CCUS technology is needed to apply to over 37% of primary steel production by 2050 to reach net zero emissions.
A speedier transition – About 31,000 Scottish jobs in the offshore energy workforce are at risk between now and 2030 if the energy transition doesn’t accelerate in the region, according to analysis conducted by the Energy Transition Institute at Robert Gordon University (RGU), in Aberdeen. Their best-case scenario reflecting ambitions set out in the UK government’s energy security strategy would deliver an estimated 21,000 new Scottish jobs and would require huge investment and political alignment, but the researchers say that fewer than 15 out of 6,561 potential “pathways” to net-zero can actually deliver it. The authors call for a faster renewable energy transition with the investment to support it. They call for the UK offshore energy sector to spend up to £200 bln over the remainder of this decade across offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and oil and gas projects, and for the country to deliver almost 40 GW of offshore wind in order to sustain the offshore energy workforce at 2023 levels. If unsuccessful in delivering its offshore wind ambition and UK content target by 2030, it will be unlikely to retain its offshore energy workforce without additional activities, over the rest of the decade, the report finds.
Power linkage – Construction of a major power line connecting the UK to Germany through the North Sea has commenced in the coastal city Wilhelmshaven in northwestern Germany. With a total length of 720 km, the NeuConnect line will connect the transmission networks of the two countries and contribute to supply security through the direct exchange of electricity, Germany economy ministry BMWK said. The line will have capacity of 1.4 GW, enough to supply up to 1.5 mln households, with the line expected to enter operation by 2028. (Clean Energy Wire)
Changing penalties – The UK government has opened a consultation on changes to how it categorises emitters covered by the UK ETS and CORSIA, as well as aviation operators participating in the EU ETS. The country’s environment agency proposes to replace its current categories of aviation operators according to the size of company with categories relating to their volume of emissions. “We find it difficult to obtain independent information about turnover (or equivalent) for most aircraft and aeroplane operators based outside mainland UK,” the agency said in a statement announcing the consultation. The regulator is also consulting on changing the way in which penalties for non-compliance are calculated.
ASIA PACIFIC
Climate justice – UK-based non-profit Amnesty International has said that South Korea’s constitutional court hearing regarding four climate change cases could set a human rights precedent for climate litigation, Jurist News reported. In the four cases that were first heard in Apr., plaintiffs involving around 200 people are suing the government of South Korea due to an alleged failure to adequately protect people against the harms of climate change, violating the right to life in Article 34 and the right to a healthy environment in Article 35 of the country’s constitution. According to the plaintiffs, among other cases, the South Korean government is not respecting Article 2(1a) of the Paris Agreement which states that the parties shall, through the agreement, aim to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, by holding the increase in global average temperature by 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing the goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. The court will have its final hearing on Tuesday, and the court is expected to rule on the matter within the year.
CO2 cloud service – Climate tech startup Asuene has provided cloud service “ASUENE” for the visualisation, reduction, and reporting of CO2 emissions to the Sony Group Corporation, the startup announced Tuesday. Japanese conglomerate Sony, will use Asuene’s supply chain survey function to obtain primary Scope 3 data from a large number of suppliers around the world. Asuene holds study sessions and deploys materials to the suppliers, which helps firms such as Sony to have better communication with their suppliers.
AMERICAS
Exxon examined – US-based oil giant ExxonMobil is facing a shareholder revolt over its climate policies from two of the largest public pension funds in the US, reported E&E News. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System – the largest public pension fund in the US – said Monday it will vote against Exxon’s slate for board of directors at a May 29 shareholders meeting after the company sued investors who filed a resolution urging Exxon to move faster on cutting emissions. The New York State Common Retirement Fund — the nation’s third largest public pension fund – also said it would vote against 10 of 12 Exxon board members, mostly for failing to address climate change. At least seven other shareholders, including Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, have filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission protesting the energy giant’s actions, and in some cases, urging shareholders to vote against Exxon directors.
Colorado CCS bill – Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed Tuesday HB 1346, which would expand Energy and Carbon Management Commission’s (CECMC) regulatory authority overage carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. The bill passed the state’s House Energy and Environment Committee in April. It is also one of a number of CCS-related bills advancing across western US states.
CA offsets bill – SB 1036, which targets oversight over the purchase and sale of carbon offsets in California is ordered to the floor of the 40-member Senate for a debate and vote for a third reading, following a second reading on Monday. If successful, it must move through the Assembly policy committee(s) and an appropriation committee before it may reach the Assembly Floor to then potentially land on Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D) desk to become law.
LA CCS bill – One of many CCS bills in Louisiana state legislature awaits the Senate floor for a vote on its final passage Tuesday. HB 516 stipulates emergency response plans, community notification systems, maps and locations of CCS facilities, and groundwater monitoring, and was subject to a number of amendments during the legislative session, including administrative provisions and monitoring required of operators.
VOLUNTARY
EV consultation – Gold Standard has opened a consultation on emissions reductions through the deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure, open from May 22 – June 19, 2024. It notes that “While the adoption of EVs in many high-income countries is widespread, the global adoption of EVs is still in a nascent state. This methodology is intended to develop an all-encompassing framework methodology for a range of vehicles, applications, ownership structures, charging infrastructure, monitoring infrastructure, and sources of electricity used for EV charging”. Submit feedback here.
Burn-ing ambition – Cookstove manufacturer and distributer Burn has received a Letter of No Objection from Nigeria’s National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) to implement carbon projects amounting to the distribution of 5 mln clean cookstoves by 2030, the company announced on LinkedIn. In partnership with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Burn will be rolling out biomass and LPG stoves from its recently launched factory in Kano, Nigeria. Burn’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Caroline Amollo, has recently met with ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) representatives, to discuss a partnership that will attract carbon financing of up to $60 mln across West Africa to boost cookstove manufacturing in the region.
Self-selected – Only 14% of 2023 corporate disclosures under a deforestation- and conversion-free (DCF) questionnaire by environmental reporting scheme CDP included ‘high-quality’ responses to DCF questions, per a CDP report released Tuesday. While companies with high-quality responses were at many different stages of maturity in achieving DCF supply chains, they were also disproportionately likely to have pre-existing goals and policies in place to curb supply chain exposure to deforestation, the report found. This link could suggest that strong policies help companies take the next step of disclosure – or, it could indicate that disclosure is mostly a habit of firms with positive news to disclose, the report noted. In the latter case, it added, “the information gathered this year about DCF performance and approaches is likely not representative of all disclosing companies”.
SCIENCE & TECH
Degradation from drought – More than a third of the Amazon rainforest is struggling to recover from drought, raising alarm bells that the world’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink is degrading towards the point of no return, according to a new study. It follows four supposedly ”one-in-a-century” dry spells in less than 20 years, highlighting the impact of climate change on trees and other plants. Previously, the canopy of the Amazon would shrink and expand in tandem with annual dry and rainy seasons, but in recent times, recovered have become more sluggish as droughts grow more intense. The study authors found that 37% of mature vegetation in the Amazon exhibited a slowing-down trend, while the highly deforested and degraded south-eastern Amazon was most vulnerable to a ”tipping event”. Drought intensity was found to be a more significant factor than drought frequency by the authors. Rainy seasons in the Amazon have become shorter and more intense, hurting the forest’s ability to recover from drought because many tree species have not evolved to cope with extreme weather conditions. (the Guardian)
AND FINALLY…
Not so easy livin’ – Florida’s climate change-related increase in insurance costs is pushing assisted-living centres to the brink, reported Bloomberg. With the state being threatened by more powerful hurricanes, commercial property insurance costs surged last year at five times the rate of the national average. This – combined with the state’s status as a retirement haven and one of the oldest populations in the country – is stressing the industry already contending with labour shortages, soaring wages, and rising supply costs. As a result, more and more nursing homes are closing each year, while others are missing debt payments, and an increasing number of seniors can no longer afford assistance. However, some experts expect new insurers to enter the state’s insurance market this year, as well as for premium increases to slow down.
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