Carbon markets
Overview
Carbon markets are developing as a crucial economic lever in the challenge of reversing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, while CO2 remains a key factor in a range of industrial sectors.
National governments are embracing carbon markets, with a proliferation of carbon pricing policies worldwide. The private sector is channelling finance into projects that generate carbon emissions reductions and removals to mitigate their hard-to-abate emissions.
And the United Nations is making progress in building a global marketplace for carbon emissions reductions that will facilitate nations’ attempts to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement.
Industrial sectors remain a key source of CO2 emissions and consumption, with innovation looking towards sustainable methods of production and utilisation.
Argus is setting the stage for an extended period of growth, evolution and interconnection of carbon market participants and initiatives.
Latest carbon markets news
Browse the latest market moving news on carbon markets.
Viewpoint: Vietnamese pellet supply to remain volatile
Viewpoint: Vietnamese pellet supply to remain volatile
Singapore, 19 December (Argus) — The Vietnamese wood pellet market is likely to face supply volatility in early 2026 due to an adverse weather outlook in the coming months. This could be exacerbated by a busy period to clear shipments before the annual Tet holidays in February, while forecasts of rain in early 2026 could translate to a repetition of the supply shortages seen in 2025. Rain across the country can make it difficult to harvest raw material including wood chips, putting pressure on wood pellet production. La Nina weather conditions are expected to persist until February 2026 at a probability of 50-60pc, according to forecasts by the country's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF). Areas in southern Vietnam are expected to have higher-than-average rainfall at 10-30mm from January-February 2026. Regions in northern and central Vietnam may receive significant rainfall at 15-35mm during the same period. The NCHMF expects the most rainfall in the Quang Tri region in central Vietnam, with forecasts of 50-150mm in January and 40-70mm of rain in February. Multiple typhoons hit the country in the second half of 2025. Rain and floods were also frequent during this period, damaging wood pellet stockpiles and causing delays to shipments. Significant volumes of wood pellets were damaged by floods in late November. This was akin to weather-related disruptions seen in 2024, which extended to the Tet holidays in 2025. The supply disruptions caused a significant backlog of shipments after the holidays. Vietnamese wood pellet production capacity is also set to increase in 2026, cushioning the impact of the shortage brought about by supply disruptions in the fourth quarter of 2025. More than 300,000 t/yr of additional wood pellets are expected to meet export demand by the end of 2026. A major wood pellet supplier plans to generate an additional 315,000 t/yr of capacity by the end of 2026. A Japanese energy company aims to build at least five new wood pellet factories in the coming years, of which one with a capacity of 150,000 t/yr capacity began operations in 2025. Wood pellet from alternative origins Wood pellets from origins such as Russia and Canada have historically been the main alternatives to Vietnamese pellets and are generally considered to be of better quality. South Korean annual imports from Canada and Russia in 2025 are projected to rise on the year, much like Canadian wood pellets to Japan. Japan stopped importing from Russia in 2022. South Korean and Japanese demand for wood pellets from other southeast Asian origins have also increased substantially in recent months, with new volumes coming from Indonesia and Malaysia. Imports from the two countries have risen in 2025, with Indonesia having seen the highest export growth this year among all regions. This trend is expected to continue into 2026 where South Korean state-owned utilities and independent power producers (IPPs) have awarded more tender volumes to non-Vietnamese sellers, while Japan is expecting more than 200MW of new generation capacity to come on line by the end of 2026. By Nadhir Mokhtar and Joshua Sim Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US House passes bill to expedite permitting
US House passes bill to expedite permitting
Washington, 18 December (Argus) — The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill designed to fast-track permitting for energy projects and reduce related litigation risks. But a last-minute change Republicans made to exclude some offshore wind and solar projects led some Democrats and a major clean energy group to withdraw support, complicating the bill's chances of passage in the Senate. The Republican-controlled House voted 221-196 to pass the SPEED Act, with 11 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote for what would be the most significant changes to federal permitting in years. The bill will now advance to the US Senate, where proponents will likely need to agree to make significant changes if they hope to pick up the votes of at least seven Democrats to avoid a filibuster. The bill "finally brings common sense by cutting red tape that dramatically increases the cost and, in some cases, just makes it economically unfeasible to do projects", House Republican majority leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said. The SPEED Act focuses on revising project reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which is a source of delay and litigation risk for pipelines and renewable projects alike. The bill would require federal agencies to narrow those reviews and uphold those decisions even if federal courts find them to be inadequate. The bill would also provide permit "certainty" by limiting the government's ability to rescind prior approvals, averting a repeat of events like the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. "We applaud the House for advancing the SPEED Act, a bipartisan, commonsense step toward fixing a federal permitting system that's long been broken," oil industry group the American Petroleum Institute said. Republican leaders were hoping 30-40 Democrats would join them to support the SPEED Act. The bill had broad bipartisan support when it was drafted because of provisions meant to prevent permitting delays that have plagued both oil and gas pipelines and renewable energy development. But Republican leaders, to satisfy far-right conservatives, made a change to the bill earlier this week that would prevent its expedited permitting procedures from benefiting any project that Trump's administration has blocked or revisited since 20 January. The Trump administration has targeted multiple offshore wind and solar projects this year and has ordered the developer of the nearly complete 704MW Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island to stop construction. That change fractured a bipartisan coalition that had spent months working on technology-neutral permitting language. The American Clean Power Association, the largest industry group for US renewable energy, on Wednesday withdrew its support of the bill , arguing the "poison pill amendment" that Republicans made eviscerated bipartisan language that gave expedited permitting treatment for all types of energy resources. A number of House Democrats who had backed the bill also withdrew their support. American Clean Power plans to work with both parties in the Senate to make changes. "This is not the final draft," representative Scott Peters (D-California) said during floor debate Thursday, vowing to work with his colleagues in the Senate to address House Democrats' concerns. By Chris Knight and Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
2026 set to be among 4 hottest years: UK Met Office
2026 set to be among 4 hottest years: UK Met Office
London, 18 December (Argus) — The forecast for 2026 suggests that it is likely to be one of the four warmest years on record, in terms of global average temperature, UK weather agency the Met Office said today. The Met Office's central estimate for 2026 puts the global average temperature at 1.46°C above pre-industrial levels. The range the agency forecasts is between 1.34°C and 1.58°C above the pre-industrial average. The central estimate suggests that 2026 will be the fourth consecutive year that the average temperature will be at least 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels. "Prior to this surge, the previous global temperature had not exceeded 1.3°C", the Met Office's Professor Adam Scaife said. Scaife leads the team behind the global forecast for 2026. The global average temperature in 2024 was 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels, making it the hottest year on record , several international weather and science agencies agreed. The Paris climate agreement seeks to limit the global rise in temperature to "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and pursues a 1.5°C threshold. The Paris accord's temperature parameters work on a longer timeframe, of at least two decades, so a temperature breach across a year or a few years does not render the accord broken. The World Meteorological Organisation in March estimated that the current level of global warming is at 1.37°C above pre-industrial levels. And climate science "may be underestimating the magnitude of human-induced global warming", given a recent surge in global temperatures, the UN Environment Programme said earlier this month. This year is "on course" to tie with 2023 as the second hottest year on record, EU earth-monitoring programme Copernicus said earlier this month . The global average temperature anomaly for January-November this year is 0.60°C above the 1991-2020 average, and 1.48°C above the pre-industrial reference period of 1850-1900, Copernicus data show. By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Denmark pledges $9.5bn over 15 years for climate goals
Denmark pledges $9.5bn over 15 years for climate goals
London, 18 December (Argus) — Denmark has set aside 4bn Danish kroner ($630mn) annually for 15 years from 2034 in order to reach its climate goals, climate minister Lars Aagaard said today. The government has set the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target for 2035 — a cut of 82pc from 1990 levels, which Aagaard announced at the UN Cop 30 climate summit in November. Denmark aims to reach net zero emissions by 2045, and negative emissions beyond that. The government has since the end of November negotiated with all parties in parliament on the new 2035 climate goal, it said today. The target is set, although there was not "common ground to be able to make a broad agreement", Aagaard said today. "The door is still open for co-operation," he said. "I also think that there is a possibility of raising the target at a later date if the conditions change." The government has prioritised the "necessary financing" to hit climate goals, Aagaard said. "Everyday life must not become unnecessarily expensive for Danes and Danish companies," he said. "We are in a different place than we were in 2019, when the last target was set." Denmark's 2035 goal is one of the most ambitious in the world. It is similar to fellow northwest European oil and gas producer the UK , which has set a goal of 81pc GHG cuts over 1990-2035. By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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