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TOP STORY

PREVIEW: UN plastic talks enter last stretch amid outcry over weak draft agreement

Negotiations on the first-ever global treaty aimed at tackling plastic pollution enter the final stretch next week amid calls for raising ambition levels, as observers have largely deemed the latest draft text of the agreement as lacking in crucial actions.

MARKET

INTERVIEW: French biodiversity credit scheme hard to scale without EU incentives

France’s newly launched biodiversity credit scheme is unlikely to scale unless the EU takes actions to incentivise corporate voluntary purchases across the bloc, consultancy CDC Biodiversite told Carbon Pulse.

Verra to open consultation on stewardship credits in early 2025

Environmental crediting standard Verra is set to open public consultation on its stewardship credit programme early next year, a company executive told a webinar on Wednesday.

International law firm buys water, carbon units from project in Egypt

An international law firm has purchased a batch of natural capital units generated through a regenerative agriculture project in Egypt, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Nutrient credit partnership launches in UK with biodiversity net gain target

A partnership of local authorities in England soft-launched on Tuesday to scale delivery of nutrient mitigation credits, while exploring how to combine them with biodiversity net gain (BNG) units, following government investment.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

UK-backed nature fund “unaffected” by Federated Hermes withdrawal

The government-backed UK Nature Impact Fund remains optimistic about its future, with an associated accelerator programme hoping to announce new funding, following the withdrawal of partner investment manager Federated Hermes.

POLICY

EU countries back one-year delay to anti-deforestation law, reject Parliament’s amendments

The Council of EU member states on Wednesday approved a proposal to delay the bloc’s controversial anti-deforestation law by one year but did not endorse the European Parliament’s proposed amendments, triggering angry reactions from conservative lawmakers who called the move “irresponsible”.

Global organisations call on countries to raise ambition on nature under climate finance deal

A group of 68 global NGOs, business coalitions, companies, and Indigenous Peoples organisations has called for COP29 parties to recognise nature’s role in addressing the climate crisis within negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG).

BRIEFING: Experts ask Washington to streamline reforestation protocol baselines

Forest offset project experts last week asked the Washington Department of Ecology (ECY) to prioritise streamlining its reforestation protocol, as it is already economically unfeasible.

BRIEFING: UK to hold producers responsible for packaging lifecycle under forthcoming regulation

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme set to launch next year in the UK will require packaging producers to report how much they produce, and pay associated fees, though it is unclear how high those costs could go, say industry experts.

PROJECTS

Green Climate Fund backs African landscape-level regenerative agriculture facility

Climate Asset Management is set to develop a strategy for accelerating regenerative agricultural practices at landscape scale in Sub-Saharan Africa, with advice from Pollination, following a grant from the UN Green Climate Fund (GCF).

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

MARKET

Lawsuit – Brazilian public prosecutors asked a federal court this week to suspend carbon credit concessions launched by the state of Amazonas, citing concerns around potential violations of Indigenous rights, according to a national media outlet. The Federal Public Prosecutors’ Office (MPF) filed a lawsuit earlier this week in a federal court asking it to halt, on an emergency basis, carbon credit concessions launched by Amazonas for REDD+ projects on conservation units (UCs) in its territory, Folha de Sao Paulo reported. The MPF alleges that Indigenous communities in the region were not party to prior consultation, as guaranteed by Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO). (Carbon Pulse)

Biodiversity credit crunch – The Vietnamese government is seeking to develop a biodiversity credits mechanism via its Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment, Viet Nam News has said. The institute aims to formalise them by 2035, having already conducted research into the topic, it said. “While carbon credits are difficult to establish, plastic credits present an even greater challenge. Biodiversity credits, however, are expected to be the most challenging of all three credit types,” said the institute.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Big deal! – Five companies behind a high-profile alliance to end plastic pollution produced 132 mln tonnes of plastics over the past five years, around 1,000 times more than the 118,500 tonnes of waste they cleaned up in the same period, the Guardian reported mentioning data obtained by Greenpeace. The group include large oil and chemical firms such as ExxonMobil, Dow, Shell, TotalEnergies, and ChevronPhillips.“The recycling schemes they’re promoting can barely make a dent in all the plastic these companies are pumping out,” a co-executive director at Greenpeace told the Guardian.

Fabric and bridges – The Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, in collaboration with the EU Environment and Climate B&B Platform, has updated its overview of biodiversity-related collaborative investor engagements with corporations with two new initiatives. These are the Fostering Action for Biodiversity through Responsible Investment in Clothing (FABRIC), and the BRIDGE project on corporate water management. The overview now includes information about 20 ongoing engagements.

Reeling in exposure – Non-profit Planet Tracker’s Seafood Database coverage has tripled to cover 300 corporates along the global seafood supply chain. The information seeks to provide investors with an open-access tool to identify companies most exposed to overfishing, illegal fishing, and other risks. The analysis revealed how profit margins decline with increased dependence on overfished stocks. Despite improvement, seafood disclosure has remained poor, especially for listed companies.

TOOLS & GUIDANCE

Nature in Baku – WWF is calling for a Climate Nature Work Programme to be established under the UNFCCC. The proposed four-year Baku Work Programme on Climate and Nature aims to encourage mutually reinforcing climate and nature action, increase the deployment of nature-based solutions, and help countries design coordinated national plans. The programme should be launched at COP29 with a decision to be adopted at COP30 in Brazil.

POLICY

Gearing up – France and Brazil have agreed to make the protection of the oceans and marine and coastal ecosystems a priority in their joint commitments. The announcement was made during the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, as France prepares to host next year’s UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, and Brazil gears up for COP30 in Belem. “Our goal is to develop a fair and sustainable blue economy, while strengthening the resilience of marine and coastal communities,” countries said in a press release.

Back to back – Azerbaijan will host the international conference Synergy for Sustainable Forestry and Biodiversity in June 2025, according to the country’s Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Vugar Karimov. The announcement was made during the ongoing COP29 UN climate summit in Baku, as reported by the Azerbaijani government press agency APA. The event is expected to gather scientists, environmentalists, politicians, and representatives from international organisations, the private sector, and civil society. Last month, Azerbaijan lost its bid to host the COP17 UN biodiversity summit in 2026, which will take place in Armenia.

Second phase – Switzerland’s federal council has approved the second phase of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) for 2025-30. The plan, aiming to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, includes a set of 15 measures, such as the adaptation of animal and plant species to climate change as well as increased support from cantons and municipalities in the promotion of biodiversity in urban areas. A total of CHF24 mln ($27.1 mln) has been allocated to implement the plan.

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