Milking it – New Zealand-headquartered dairy giant Fonterra has signed a long-term virtual power purchase agreement with NZ Clean Energy (NZCE), the latter announced on Wednesday. The agreement guarantees a price for output from NZCE’s 129-MW Darfield Solar and Energy Storage Project, enabling its development, while acting as a hedge against future power price volatility for the cooperative. It comes amid a push by Fonterra to meet its 2030 target to halve its Scope 1 and 2 emissions, compared to 2018 levels.

EU officials on Wednesday soothed nerves about growing compliance costs and regulatory hurdles for Asian countries from its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) by highlighting plans to explore international credit purchase to meet its 2040 climate targets.

Shoring up - China is stepping up development of ultra-deep shale gas reserves in the Sichuan Basin, with state-owned giants Sinopec and PetroChina targeting formations around 4,500-5,000 metres below ground in a bid to boost domestic gas output and reduce import dependence, Reuters reported. The newly tapped Cambrian-age Qiongzhusi formation could add 10-15 bcm of annual production by 2035, helping lift China's shale gas output by more than a third from current levels. The move comes as production growth from shallower shale fields slows due to depletion, leaving China well behind its target of producing 80-100 bcm of shale gas annually by 2030.

Japan is considering using the average trading price in the GX-ETS as a reference price in carbon capture and storage support measures.

India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), administrator of the country’s emerging carbon market, has launched a public consultation on draft rules governing Programmes of Activities (PoA) under the offset mechanism.

Project-based carbon credit markets are moving towards a more regulated, state-led model as voluntary standards remain unable to address weak oversight, fragmented rules, and uncertainty around credit use, a report published Wednesday said.

A California-headquartered carbon credit investment and project management firm has opened a regional office in Singapore amid its Asian expansion efforts.