2023-12-03 09:01

LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - A global securities watchdog proposed 21 safety measures on Sunday to improve integrity, transparency and enforcement in voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) in a sector of growing importance to efforts to combat climate change. IOSCO, which groups market watchdogs from Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States, launched a 90-day public consultation on a set of good practices for national regulators to apply. "VCMs have gained significant importance in recent years. But for these markets to succeed, they need integrity – both environmental and financial," Rodrigo Buenaventura, chair of IOSCO's sustainable finance taskforce, told an event at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Sunday. The two weeks of UN talks, which began on Nov. 30, are addressing debate over whether ending the use of fossil fuels in the first place should be prioritised over promoting technologies that can capture emissions. VCMs cover pollution-reducing projects, such as reforestation, renewable energy, biogas and solar power, that generate carbon credits companies buy to offset their emissions and meet net-zero targets. Banks, investment funds and speculators also buy credits in the hope of re-selling them at a higher price, IOSCO said. IOSCO last year raised the prospect of closer scrutiny of carbon markets when it said it was concerned the quality and double counting of credits left the sector open to fraud. IOSCO, whose members commit to applying agreed rules, seeks to standardise terminology in VCMs, a sector that Morgan Stanley bank expects to grow from $2 billion in 2020 to about $250 billion by 2050. National regulators could require companies to disclose their use of carbon credits, and platforms that trade credits to have better anti-fraud and market manipulation safeguards, IOSCO said. VCMs are separate from government-regulated carbon markets, such as the emissions trading scheme in the European Union, the world's largest. Good practice could include "comprehensive disclosures on the project development process, verification and auditing methodologies, and the entities responsible for measurement, reporting, and verification," IOSCO said. For daily comprehensive coverage on COP28 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here. The full link as an FYI is: https://www.reuters.com/newsletters/reuters-sustainable-switch/?utm_source=site&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=cop28 https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/global-regulators-propose-tougher-scrutiny-voluntary-carbon-markets-2023-12-03/

2023-12-03 08:07

BEIJING, Dec 3 (Reuters) - China is likely to implement proactive fiscal policy next year as there is still a need for the world's second-biggest economy to realise stable growth, a former central banker was cited as saying in state-owned media on Sunday. The comment comes as the economy struggles for momentum after being hobbled by lengthy pandemic-busting measures, while market watchers fear severe debt woe among major property developers could spill over to other sectors. "It is expected that next year China will continue to implement positive fiscal policy, monetary policies that are in line with positive fiscal policy, with a relatively large policy space to lower the reserve requirement ratio," Sheng Songcheng, a former statistics and analysis director of the People's Bank of China, said in comments reported by Shanghai Securities News. With interest rates and loan prime rates at low levels, there is more space to cut banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) than to cut interest rates, Sheng said. The central bank lowered the RRR in September for the second time this year to boost liquidity and support economic recovery. Analysts expect another cut by year-end. The weighted average RRR for financial institutions was around 7.4% after the cut. China is prudent in cutting interest rates as its monetary policy needs to consider internal and external balance, Sheng said. "It is expected that the interest rate differential between China and the U.S. will enter a period of stabilisation, so the renminbi (yuan) is likely to maintain a mild appreciation trend, but the appreciation is limited." https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-has-more-space-cut-reserve-ratio-instead-interest-rates-says-ex-official-2023-12-03/

2023-12-03 06:56

Aim to close Cirebon-1 almost seven years early Power purchase agreement to end in December 2035 ADB aims to replicate deal in multiple countries DUBAI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Indonesia and the Asian Development Bank have agreed a provisional deal with the owners of the Cirebon-1 coal-fired power plant to shutter it almost seven years earlier than planned, a principal energy specialist for climate change at the ADB told Reuters. The deal, announced during the COP28 climate talks in Dubai on Sunday, is the first under the ADB's Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) programme, which aims to help countries cut their climate-damaging carbon emissions. Supporting a $20 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership agreed last year that aims to bring forward the sector's peak emissions date to 2030, the ADB hopes to replicate it across other countries in the region. "If we don't address these coal plants, we're not going to meet our climate goals," David Elzinga, ETM team leader, said on the sidelines of the conference. "By doing this pilot transaction, we are learning what it takes to make this happen," Elzinga said. "We're very much shaping this as something we want to take to other countries." ADB also has active ETM programmes in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, and is considering transactions in two other countries, it said. Under the non-binding framework deal, signed by ADB, Indonesian state-owned power utility company PT PLN, independent power producer PT Cirebon Electric Power (CEP) and the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA), a power purchase agreement for the 660 megawatt plant - a key supplier to the capital Jakarta - will be ended in December 2035 instead of a planned date of July 2042. As it only opened in 2012, the plant, operated by CEP, could have been expected to run for 40 or more years, so retiring it in 2035 would avoid over 15 years of greenhouse gas emissions from the site, the ADB said. The deal is subject to due diligence, including assessing its impact on the environment, the company's workers and society more broadly, and the broader electricity system, but is expected to close in the first half of 2024. (This story has been corrected to fix the ADB representative’s title in paragraphs 1 and 4) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indonesia-adb-owners-agree-shutter-first-coal-fired-power-station-early-2023-12-03/

2023-12-03 06:08

JAKARTA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - One person died and 11 were missing after flash floods hit near Lake Toba in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, the country's disasters agency BNPB said, with scores of people evacuated and rescue efforts underway. Heavy rain followed by flash floods on Friday evening hit the region located on the shores of the lake, damaging dozens of houses, a church, a school and a hotel, BNPB said in a statement on late Saturday. Lake Toba, the world's biggest volcanic lake, is a popular tourist destination for Indonesians and international visitors. The flash floods dragged large stones, trees and mud down hillsides, leaving some houses buried to the roof, pictures from the agency showed. Around 350 people using heavy equipment were carrying out search and rescue efforts, while about 200 people had been evacuated, the agency said. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/one-dead-11-missing-flash-floods-around-indonesias-lake-toba-2023-12-03/

2023-12-03 03:11

Dec 2 (Reuters) - A barge planned for use building a controversial judging tower for the Paris 2024 Olympic surfing competition in Tahiti snagged on a reef and damaged coral near the contest site on Friday, local opponents said. Residents of Teahupo'o in October protested plans by Games organisers to build the 14-metre (45-foot) aluminium tower to enable up to 40 people to watch, film and judge the surfing at a famed break in front of the village. Organisers including Paris 2024 and the French Polynesia government said last month they had decided building a smaller, lighter tower on the site was the best option, allowing for smaller equipment to install it - but still requiring new foundations in the reef. A video posted on Instagram by Save Teahupo'o Reef, a coalition of locals, surfers and environmental NGOs, showed the barge apparently stuck on the reef, along with broken coral and the barge's damaged propeller. "The barge got stuck on the reef several times," as locals had predicted, Save Teahupo'o said, adding that this occurred at high tide with no load on the barge. The group said the authorities had planned to take the opposition associations on the barge on Saturday to show how it would operate but instead went there on Friday without them. The barge was eventually freed and returned to the marina, the video showed. 'DOES NOT SEEM WORTH IT' The wave at Teahupo'o is one of surfing's most hallowed venues, where big swells slam onto the shallow tropical reef creating perfect but ferocious tubes. Teahupo'o has long hosted a contest on the professional world tour, using a modest wooden tower for judges on the reef that locals want to be retained for the Olympics but which organisers say is unsafe. "This does not feel good and does not seem worth it," Vahine Fierro, a local Tahitian who has qualified for the French Olympic surfing team, commented as she reposted the video. "I hope that this morning's 'testing' will be enough to prove that we need to adapt to our Polynesian ecosystem norms." Representatives for Save Teahupo'o did not immediately respond to requests for further comment. Paris 2024 did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. In a statement to Reuters earlier on Friday, Paris 2024 organisers said they wanted more than ever to continue dialogue with local groups and surfers, having shared numerous documents outlining various studies, options and decisions on the tower. It said an earlier social media video by protesters showed corals that were not present at the site of the tower's foundations, which would be on a flat, bare part of the reef with "low ecological sensitivity". Some coral outcrops would be carefully moved outside the work zone to protect them, it added. In California, a small group of protesters gathered on Saturday outside the headquarters of the International Surfing Association, which runs the Olympic surfing events. "We just don't want to see nature lose again in another battle," protest spokesperson David Anderson told Reuters. "The Olympic committees are sensitive - they don't want bad press - and we feel like this is a fight we can win and we want to raise awareness. We don't want any more drilling into the reef just for an elite judging tower." The ISA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. https://www.reuters.com/sports/tahiti-villagers-say-barge-surf-tower-build-damages-reef-2023-12-02/

2023-12-02 23:34

BRASILIA, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The European Union and Mercosur will not be able to close their free trade negotiations next week because Argentina's incoming government has to approve the outstanding issues, Brazilian officials and diplomats said on Saturday. "Given the transition in Argentina, we are handing the subject to the new government, which has indicated they want a deal," the Brazilian foreign ministry spokesman said. A European official with knowledge of the talks said Argentina was no longer open to finalizing the deal on Mercosur. Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president on Nov. 19, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix a troubled economy. Argentine negotiators who were due to travel to Brasilia for final push to close the deal canceled their trip, a Brazilian government trade official told Reuters. Another Brazilian official said the announcement of final agreement will not happen at the annual presidential summit on Dec. 7 of the four-nation South American trade bloc as planned. "We will announce the good progress we have made in the last few months and our commitment to continue," the official said. The two Brazilian officials asked not to be named to speak freely. Brazil, which holds the revolving presidency of Mercosur until next week, had hoped that the meetings this week would resolve final differences in time for the summit. Officials wanted to wrap up agreements before Argentina's Milei takes office on Dec. 10, as he has criticized the trade deal that took two decades to negotiate. "The outgoing government clearly did not want to give Milei a free pass," said a senior diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations. He added, however, that all indications are that the new government will want to support the deal with the EU. A trade treaty was agreed in principle in 2019 after two decades of talks, but additional environmental commitments demanded by the EU led Brazil and Argentina to seek new concessions that prolonged negotiations. An Argentine source familiar with the talks said the outgoing government's negotiating team had "flipped the chessboard" regarding Mercosur's negotiations with the EU before the handover to Milei. Diplomats and trade experts, however, do not expect the presidential election win by Milei to derail the agreement, despite his vocal criticism of the South American common market. Argentina's incoming foreign minister, Diana Mondino, said it was important to sign the EU-Mercosur accord after she visited Brasilia last Sunday to meet Brazil's foreign minister. https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-mercosur-deals-future-up-new-argentina-government-sources-2023-12-02/