New Zealand’s government has announced changes to the governance of the country’s emissions trading scheme in a bid to reduce the risk of market misconduct.

A carbon credit provider has announced its head of origination and former CEO will resign as of June 5.

Low credit issuance and retirements last week reflected a subdued voluntary market that continues to be stifled by the lack of available Core Carbon Principles (CCP)-tagged credits, as well as few signs of a reaction to the expected shortage of eligible Phase 1 CORSIA supply in the coming years.

Sustainable palm oil - Thailand’s Thaicom and Global Green Chemicals have signed an agreement to explore the use of science and technology in monitoring palm plantation areas, and assess their carbon sequestration capacity. Under the agreement, the partners will exchange knowledge and expertise and help in advancing data collection for palm cultivation areas while also enhancing carbon storage assessments from palm planting in line with international standards. The partners aim to support the development of low-carbon palm oil products across plantations in Thailand.

No more carbon neutral - Singapore-based ride hailing company Grab has dropped the term “carbon neutral” from its offsetting feature, which allowed its customers to neutralise the emissions of their travel or deliveries since 2021 with a fee of S$0.10 ($0.07) for each trip that goes towards the purchase of carbon credits. Previously called a carbon neutral fee, the feature is now known as Green Programme across all of Grab’s markets, EcoBusiness reported. Non-profit RimbaWatch has claimed that Grab’s actions were a result of dropping the carbon neutral claims was made on the basis of carbon offsets in the EU and UK, but the taxi service app insisted that the change was designed to harmonise its branding across Southeast Asian nations.

A sustainability platform has launched a new open-source database containing emissions data, which it claims covers 95% of global GDP.

End of the boom? – The US shale boom may be coming to an end, analysts said, as global oil demand falls in the wake of the global trade war launched by US President Donald Trump and as Opec countries raise their output to price out US shale production. Oil prices settled at $61.53 a barrel last week, below the $65 level at which shale oil is profitable, according to the quarterly energy survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Oil output is projected to fall by 1.1% next year on the back of a slowing global economy, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights, marking the first annual decline in a decade. Saudi Arabia is now trying to regain market share and they’ll probably succeed over the next five years, said one analyst quoted by the FT. If crude drops to $50 a barrel, US production would probably lose up to 300,000 barrels a day, said another analyst. (Financial Times)

Australian airlines should be allowed to count sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) used or produced outside the nation to meet their decarbonisation goals under the Safeguard Mechanism, a paper argued Monday.

An Australian developer has earned its first carbon removal credits for burying biomass, with 586 CO2 Removal Certificates (CORCs) issued for its facility under the Puro.earth standard.

Chicken-char - Japan’s Towing Corporation will begin demonstration experiments using biochar made from livestock waste, including chicken waste. It is partnering with agricultural firm Nippon Ham to make farming and agriculture more sustainable using ‘Chutan’. It can be made from rice husks and tree offcuts but also carbonised livestock waste, which will reduce greenhouse gases given the methane does not escape as it does during traditional waste processing. The partners will demonstrate proof-of-concept using chu-charcoal, or carbonised chicken manure, which will be spread on cornfields and their growth studied, the partners said Monday.

Co-firing an MoU - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has signed a MoU with Uzbekistan’s energy ministry for a joint study of a power development plan that includes upgrading the nation’s gas turbine fleet to be able to co-fire with hydrogen. The two will study whether existing power plants could use MHI equipment in order to decarbonise, evaluate new gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) plants and see how they would need to be modified to burn hydrogen as well as natural gas, and what the partners call ‘capacity planning with latest technologies’. The programme will run for two years with financial support from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Uzbekistan has a renewable energy target of 54% by 2030.

A group of roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) shipping operators on Monday launched a standardised methodology for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity, in a bid to support decarbonisation efforts across supply chains.

Wait a while - Climate Change Authority (CCA) Chair Matt Kean on Monday told a webinar hosted by The Energy that it's unlikely to announce its advice on Australia's next NDC anytime soon. The CCA is currently formalising advice to the government on its 2035 emissions target. Kean said he wants Australia's next NDC to be science aligned, ambitious, and achievable, describing it as a tricky balance, and that the authority will be taking the time to get it right. He added that energy and electricity will do the bulk of the heavy lifting towards any 2035 target the government sets. Draft advice from the CCA released last year said a 2035 NDC of 65-75% below 2005 levels by 2035 would be ambitious but achievable.

Will not proceed - The Queensland state Liberal government has developed new community consultations for wind farm developments and on Monday announced it had nixed one project after “a comprehensive assessment of impacts on community”. The Moonlight Range wind farm being developed by Greenleaf Energy, which is north of the large town Rockhampton will not proceed, with the government citing the amount of land to be cleared, as well as impacts on infrastructure, services, and housing. It is the first use of new ministerial powers to cancel a renewable energy project. Of the 550 submissions reviewed by government, 85% supported a review of the project. The government earlier paused the decision making process for several projects including a large project that will power to Rio Tinto’s aluminium smelter. The government said its new review process brings renewable energy projects in line with other major energy developments.

Australia has a A$400-billion ($260 bln) green iron export opportunity, but would need measures that simulate an international carbon price in order to realise it, according to a think tank report published Monday.

No rush - New Zealand's Minister for Climate Change Simon Watts recently told Newsroom it was no longer considering changes to the current phase-out rates of free allocation in the country's emissions trading scheme. It follows calls from the Climate Change Commission and activist groups to investigate options to overhaul the scheme to address fairness concerns that emissions intensive, trade facilities were taking advantage of it. However, Watts told the outlet the phase out rates were not a priority for the government, noting it would be an extensive multi-year undertaking. Currently all allocations are being phase out at 1% per year.