Energy transition highlights: Our editors and analysts bring together everything you need to know about the industry this week, from renewables to storage to carbon prices.
Tanpuhui, which translates into Carbon Inclusion, started off as incentive schemes that awarded consumers points for adopting eco-friendly habits that help reduce carbon emissions. These points can then be redeemed for a range of perks and discounts on government services or products.
But more recently the Chinese government has been looking to get more out of what is likely one of the world’s largest consumer-end decarbonization incentive schemes.
China’s former climate envoy Xie Zhenhua had backed the idea of a system to incentivize individuals to reduce emissions in daily life as far back as 2013. In Oct. 2021, China said it would test Tanpuhui programs across the country as part of its new Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs during COP26.
In 2023, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment or MEE issued a report titled Development and Practices of China’s Carbon Inclusion (Tanpuhui) saying Tanpuhui needs to become an essential part of China’s carbon markets, and a critical approach to meet the country’s carbon neutrality target.
In June, 15 government bodies jointly released an action plan to develop carbon footprint accounting standards for around 100 products by 2027. One of the motives is to support Tanpuhui programs.
The International Energy Agency has said that net zero emissions by 2050 cannot happen without the consent of people and behavioral changes. With the weight of over a billion consumers, Tanpuhui presents some interesting prospects for price discovery of carbon, even though integrating it with existing methodologies and voluntary carbon markets could prove challenging.
Verra, the world's largest carbon credit issuer, has approved the first cookstove carbon project in Papua New Guinea (PNG), which is developed following Verra's revised, higher-integrity VMR0006 methodology, the project's proponent Tasman Environmental Markets (TEM) said in a statement June 20.
The planned Poseidon carbon capture and storage project in the UK's Southern North Sea will start offshore injection tests in early December, storage license holder Perenco said. The test injection will last for three months, Perenco group carbon capture and storage manager Louis Hannecart said at the CCS Strategy Europe conference in London.
The US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy announced June 21 a $850 million investment in methane reduction for the oil and gas industries amid policy crackdowns on the climate "super pollutant." The announced $850 million is dedicated for "projects that will help monitor, measure, quantify, and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sectors," according to a June 21 joint statement. The funding originates from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Further political delay to UK hydrogen projects following the forthcoming parliamentary elections would undermine investor confidence and put climate goals at risk, trade body Hydrogen UK has warned. The industry group called on whichever party forms the next government to catalyze industry momentum and accelerate investment decisions.
