The Oregon Department of Energy (DOE) shared modelling of energy demand during a public meeting on Thursday to express the need for early adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), which could provide a net benefit to the grid.

A major India-headquartered offset project developer has sold off its wholly-owned accreditation services firm even before operationalising it, as market participants labelled the endeavour a conflict of interest, Carbon Pulse has learned.

A new international carbon offsetting code from the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), as well as eventual obligations under the UN aviation sector offsetting scheme, are reshaping voluntary carbon market (VCM) demand, panellists said during a Thursday webinar.

Long-term offtake agreements are critical to unlocking capital and scaling engineered CO2 removal (CDR) technologies, experts said Thursday, warning that expectations of falling prices may be misplaced as the burgeoning market enters delivery phase.

Tarmac targets - Airports Council International - Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) recently announced that 100 airports in the region have achieved accreditation under the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, which serves as the global standard for airport carbon management. The milestone makes Latin America and the Caribbean the third-highest region globally in terms of accredited airports. The programme evaluates airport efforts across seven levels of certification, with Quito International Airport being the only one in the region to reach Level 4+, indicating alignment with global climate goals such as the Paris Agreement.

Employment Purging Agency - Rewiring America, a non-profit that focuses on housing electrification, has laid off more than a quarter of its staff after the EPA blocked it from accessing its grant dollars. E&E News reported that the non-profit has been barred from accessing its grant dollars for nearly three months, leading to the layoff of 36 employees. The non-profit was part of a coalition awarded $2 bln last year under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund programme, which was terminated by the EPA last month based on alleged fraud, waste, and abuse. The termination of that programme is currently being challenged in court.

The Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) released on Thursday a revised edition of its High-level Principles to Guide the Biodiversity Credit Market, featuring 21 principles covering the certification process for biodiversity credits, the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and the governance of this emerging market.

The UK Supreme Court this week ruled that third parties who knowingly participate in a company’s fraudulent trading can be held liable under insolvency law, in a case stemming from a multi-million pound VAT scam involving EU carbon allowances.

Greening NY - A New York fund for environmental projects will be getting a boost under the governor’s budget plan. The Environmental Protection Fund will get $425 mln this year, a $25 mln increase over levels the fund has been at in recent years, according to reporting by E&E News. The Environmental Protection Fund supports capital projects like park improvements, solid waste management, habitat restoration, and more. E&E News said that Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) agreed to boost the fund under pressure from Democratic lawmakers.

Pick me - A bipartisan pair of Indiana lawmakers are urging the US DOE to include and prioritise their state as part of a regional hydrogen hub. US Senator Jim Banks (R) and Congressman Frank Mrvan (D) sent a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright Monday pushing for hydrogen production in the state’s northwest region along the Lake Michigan coast. In particular, the letter identifies the Whiting Refinery as an ideal location for blue hydrogen generation. The northwest region of Indiana is within the conceptual boundary of the Midwest Hydrogen Hub, which also includes Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

New hire - Carbon data platform CTrees announced Thursday that Christopher Woodall is joining as director of US forest science and policy. Woodall previously served in senior science and policy roles in the US Forest Service, and in his new role, will lead CTrees’ work on US forest carbon accounting, overseeing development and application of technology to quantify forest biomass carbon and assess the impacts of land use activities, forest management, and wildfires. He also plans to engage with CTrees’ partners in government agencies, civil society, and the private sector to try to ensure that stakeholders working on natural climate solutions have access to scientific data for estimating land carbon stocks, emissions, and removals at spatial and temporal scale.

A study published Thursday suggests that co-practising enhanced rock weathering (ERW) near geologic carbon sequestration sites could serve as a prewarning system for CO2 leakage while also mitigating seepage.

No news is good news - Despite the drop-off of Canada’s biggest bank from its climate commitments, other major financial institutions in the country seem to be holding on to their targets, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The publication reached out to Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and National Bank of Canada, all of whom directed Bloomberg to their most recent sustainability reports or other publications including the targets. RBC pointed to new greenwashing provisions under Canada’s Competition Act as part of its rationale for its withdrawal from climate finance commitments.

Carney carbon can-can – Canadian PM Mark Carney should step up on modernising industrial carbon pricing, said think tank Canadian Climate Institute on Thursday. The organisation noted that the measure can help Canada address economic threats, particularly as the EU maintains its climate targets and China has committed to stronger emissions reductions and seize new market share in light of US pullbacks. It recommended three approaches: 1) to strengthen emissions performance standards predictably over time; 2) to support linkage between regional carbon markets; and 3) to set clear expectations for the future of industrial carbon pricing in Canada. Improving Canada's industrial carbon pricing system was a campaign trail promise of the PM, as stakeholders are following closely to see what he may implement.

The Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), a best-practices-sharing group comprising 144 central banks, published on Wednesday its first report on the effects of short-term (2025-2030) climate policy scenarios over GDP, trade, unemployment, inflation, and other financial and economic outcomes.

A committee in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved Wednesday a proposal to allow the use of forestry-based carbon offsets against agricultural tax obligations.

A ‘brutal reality’ is coming to many project developers of durable carbon removal (CDR) because buyers are increasingly baulking at the high price of credits, a new survey has found.

A US hyperscale data centre developer is tapping natural gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to power its flagship project.

New governance - The Brazilian presidency of COP30, this year's UN climate summit, has called for new global climate governance mechanisms to help nations implement their commitments to curb global warming, according to a letter released Thursday. Countries have so far committed to plans that would limit warming to around 2.6C, but are struggling to adopt plans to limit emissions enough to prevent catastrophic heating levels. The proposal was first introduced by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last November, when he proposed creating a "United Nations climate change council" to help countries implement commitments they made. It has now been adopted by Brazilian ambassador Andre Correa do Lago, who will preside over COP30, and is calling for ways to institutionally strengthen implementation capacity. The COP Presidency letter proposes that the United Nations General Assembly, not COP30 itself, should be the forum for this discussion. (Reuters)

Indonesia could fetch higher prices and driver bigger emissions reductions by developing a more sophisticated carbon market framework, according to industry group IETA.

European carbon's recent price rally came to a halt on Thursday as selling activity gained in strength after the market hit a six-week high and bumped up against a technical resistance level, before falling back to end the session in line with another technical support, while UK Allowances also halted their bull run after climbing to a new 18-month high.

Russian registry update - The operator of the Russian registry of carbon units has published a form for analysing applications for the registration of voluntary climate projects. Further details here.

Challenge accepted - A growing group of influential voluntary carbon market participants have urged the greater use of the sector to address Scope 3 emissions. A joint statement issued by VCMI, now has backing from the International Chamber of Commerce, We Mean Business Coalition, The Nature Conservancy, Emergent, Verra, Carbon Market Institute (CMI), Anthesis Group, Patch, CNaught, Climate Impact Partners, GenZero, and Puro.earth. The collective want more organisations to sign up to the Scope 3 'challenge' to push for greater carbon credit use and pressure governments and corporate leaders to adopt more supportive policies for the market.

The carbon removals market will not scale without clear regulatory frameworks, targeted public support, and a mix of engineered and nature-based approaches, speakers told the Carbon Forward Turkiye conference in Izmir.

Former CDU and SPD members of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, have said they expect the new government to sign off on a Carbon Management Strategy before the summer, although some remain nervous about a renewed focus on carbon capture, utilisation, or storage (CCS/CCU).

A Web3 carbon startup has announced it will open source its digital infrastructure, also unveiling a new venture to help sustainability teams meet reporting and regulatory requirements.

Uganda will decarbonise while increasing oil and gas (O&G) production by leveraging international carbon markets, according to officials and panellists speaking in Kampala at the East Africa Carbon Markets Forum on Thursday.

A British biochar manufacturer is working with research institutions and a poultry business to improve poultry welfare, productivity, and cut emissions through the application of 'chickenchar' to bedding and manure, which will generate carbon removal credits.

Only a minuscule fraction of the deep seafloor has been visually observed over the past 70 years, with scientists defining the lack of knowledge "a critical problem" as interest in ocean mining grows.

US-based tech giant Google on Thursday announced carbon credit deals for the equivalent of 1 million tonnes of CO2e over the next century from a commercial cooling project in Indonesia and a landfill activity in Brazil.

The European Parliament voted to bring greater flexibility in the gas markets on Thursday, on the same day they voted to delay more ambitious CO2 rules for new cars and vans.

India is emerging as a front-runner in the global race to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, as enhanced rock weathering (ERW) startups working with smallholder farmers and plantation estates bet on the South Asian country’s basalt-rich geology and vast agricultural terrain to scale durable carbon removals.

More soil carbon - Food snack giant Mondelez International has invested in Estonian-based oil carbon project developer eAgronom, as part of the company’s Series A2 fundraising round. The investment will enable eAgronom to expand and accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices to over 4 million hectares of farmland by 2026 from the current 2.5 mln it covers now that spans across 10 European countries, including Poland, Romania, and Sweden. Mondelez made the investment through its Sustainable Futures division.

National pledges to the Paris Agreement are often disconnected from national policy and investment plans because they are developed by consultants rather than integrated into government processes, a former EU minister told the Carbon Forward Turkiye conference on Thursday.

Turkiye is drawing up a strategy for trading international carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, keeping open the possibility of both hosting projects and buying units to meet its own goals, government officials told the Carbon Forward Turkiye conference on Thursday.

The UK and Norway are set to sign a bilateral agreement on the cross-border transport of CO2, as they seek to capitalise on the North Sea's potential to become a major hub for carbon capture and storage (CCS).

A UK government impact assessment has said its previously announced plans to overhaul environmental rules and introduce a system centralised around a Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) lack data to underpin them.

A Ghana-based e-mobility project taking place under the country’s bilateral Article 6.2 accord with Switzerland has achieved authorisation, Carbon Pulse heard on the sidelines of the East Africa Carbon Markets Forum in Kampala on Thursday.

India has released a draft taxonomy to help channel as much as $3 trillion into climate-aligned infrastructure and adaptation efforts, as it pushes to close a widening funding gap for its net zero transition, as per a press release this week.

Calls continue to grow to link the UK and EU emissions trading schemes, with an influential energy body writing to the British government on Thursday to call for progress on the matter at talks during an upcoming summit between the two jurisdictions.

Partnership continued - DG Clima, which leads the European Commission's efforts on climate change, has renewed its long-standing partnership with the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) to collaborate on climate action and policies. Achieving the EU target of net zero by 2050 requires easy access to Earth observation data, which it's hoped this partnership will enable. EUMETSAT is leading efforts to develop and implement innovative climate technologies including artificial intelligence.

A specialist investor focused on decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors has announced the launch of its Latin America strategy and also completed a merger with another investment manager.

The Federal Network Agency has widened the scope of its biennial "energy scenario" frameworks for the next 12-20 years to consider slower growth in power demand and the introduction of gas plants with CCU/CCS to the power mix in 2045, although hydrogen remains the star decarboniser alongside renewables.

Japanese goings-on - Tokyo-based developer Faeger has teamed up with a manufacturing subsidiary of the Toyota group to promote sustainable agriculture and carbon neutrality in the Tohoku region, it announced Thursday. Faeger said it will work with Toyota Motor East Japan to expand local production and consumption of carbon credits and agricultural products, without disclosing a specific target. In a separate release, carbon trading platform operator Carbon EX said it has supported measuring instrument company Nihon Denkei to develop a J-Credit initiative, from project registration to credit issuance. A total of 108 J-Credits were generated from Nihon Denkei's rice-focused project.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has recommended that proposed EU changes to reporting requirements on areas including biodiversity following the so-called omnibus should align with its framework in order to simplify corporate reporting.

A group of carbon market governance bodies and participants on Thursday called on national governments to recognise and support voluntary climate action by companies, saying it can work alongside official efforts under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 framework.

A UK energy from waste company has selected a removal registry to work with on its carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Wales.

A UK non-profit has launched a nature restoration strategy in Formentera, Spain, including plans to generate 1 million urban biodiversity credits over the next 20 years.

Indonesia's environment ministry on Thursday signed a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) with Gold Standard, a move that will help enable Indonesian carbon projects to access international markets.

Fresh eyes - Climate Impact Partners (CIP) has appointed Sam Israelit, chief sustainability officer at consultancy Bain & Company, to its board of directors, it announced in a release Thursday. Sam has over 30 years of consulting experience and has helped to shape the climate strategies of global corporations, as well as building an advanced corporate carbon portfolio, including reforestation and blue carbon. CIP has delivered more than 600 carbon reduction and removal projects across 56 countries over its 27-year history, and is dedicated to market leadership and innovation in the voluntary carbon space, the release stated.

Turkiye is more likely to rely on free allocation of carbon allowances to protect its industrial sectors under its planned emissions trading system (ETS) — despite its initial proposal for a domestic Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), experts told the Carbon Forward Turkiye conference in Izmir. 

Indonesia this week launched a new nature-based fund with an initial allocation of $83 million that is expected to trap at least 128 mln tonnes of CO2 by the end of the decade.

Better than expected - Heidelberg Materials reported forecast-beating first quarter results from current operations (RCO), rising 1.3% to €235 mln, beating the €207 mln average forecast provided by analysts. The world's second-largest cement maker cited strong growth in Africa driving the year's strong start, despite the political and economic uncertainties and difficult weather conditions in some places. Heidelberg still expects RCO this year of €3.25 bln - €3.55 bln, compared with a €3.44 bln consensus estimate. Its North America RCO was down by nearly two-thirds. (Reuters)

A lack of capacity and the small-scale of potential emissions reductions are holding Pacific Island nations back from fully participating in Article 6 mechanisms, according to market participants.

The Australian carbon ecosystem is set to strengthen and grow off the back of renewed policy certainty, despite deep wells of frustration from project developers over the slow method development process.

The development of clean ammonia is “the best thing we can do” to cut Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, the chairman of an Australian gas giant told his company's annual general meeting Thursday.

Energy giant ExxonMobil has signed a long-term offtake agreement with a Japanese trading house for roughly 250,000 tonnes of low-carbon ammonia per year, the companies announced Thursday.

Carbon-catching buildings - Cement maker Holcim and architecture firm Elemental have presented new biochar technology that they say transforms buildings into carbon sinks, Holcim announced on Thursday after showcasing it at the Venice Architecture Biennale. One kilogram of biochar can prevent the release of up to 3 kg of CO2. After applying it for the first time in a full-scale Basic Services Unit housing prototype, the two companies said the technology can be used in cement, mortars, and concrete, for infrastructure, buildings, and other projects. Using the technology, Holcim has created a net zero-emission biochar concrete that uses 100% recycled aggregates, it said.

Indigenous engagement in carbon projects needs to go further, be more than a box-ticking exercise, and be implemented from the get-go in order to design the most effective projects without damaging biodiversity, a conference heard this week.

Multiple carbon market participants have responded to a call for input on the standards that underpin the new Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), welcoming the progress made already this year, but citing concerns with some of the draft documents published ahead of a crunch meeting of UNFCCC officials next week.

South Korea's 2050 target for blue carbon sequestration should be achievable, considering the country's track record in seaweed restoration, according to a paper published this week.

Test the water - Seoul-based developer Ecoeye recently held an initial consultation meeting with stakeholders in Vietnam to discuss the potential of refrigerant recovery and recycling projects in the Southeast Asian country, particularly through carbon credit mechanisms, according to a statement released Thursday. Ecoeye said it plans to formulate methodologies, refine project proposals, and establish collaborations with local stakeholders in the future, supporting the Vietnamese government in developing the country's carbon market.

Climate cash – ANZ Bank’s climate finance spend came to A$21.64 bln ($13.97 bln) in H1 2025, the bank said on Thursday in its interim results, exceeding its 2025 target of A$18.5 bln. This brings its total climate finance spend or facilitated funding to A$60.6 bln since Apr. 1, 2023 – against a 2030 target to fund or facilitate A$100 bln. This spend includes initiatives to cut emissions, protect nature, increase access to affordable housing, and promote financial wellbeing, the bank said.

A stocktake of the first 18 months of Vietnam and Indonesia's Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) has found less progress in some areas than hoped.

The US could support a variety of sectors to decarbonise while boosting federal and state economy by leveraging the 45V production tax credit and encouraging the development of blue hydrogen, according to a report published on Monday.

Canada's Clean Fuel Regulation (CFR) credit values moved higher following re-election of the Liberal government late April, while programmes across the US largely stabilised heading into May anticipating actions that would direct price trajectory.

Cap-and-trade reauthorisation post 2030 presented California lawmakers with an opportunity to redesign elements of the ETS based on policy priorities, rather than defer key decisions to ARB, a legislative agency recommended in a report Wednesday.

Green zone – The NSW government has given the green light to a multi-billion dollar 10 renewable energy projects investment, which will connect to its Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone, the Australian state government announced on Thursday. With a combined capacity of 7.15 GW, the developments will avoid 10.29 MtCO2e of emissions annually. The projects are a mix of wind, solar, and battery storage, including a 1,332 MW wind farm. Last month, the NSW government announced that the REZ project was proceeding, with the help of A$750 mln ($484 mln) of funding from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Attorneys general (AGs) from more than 15 states filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a federal agency following its February suspension of a $5 billion electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure programme.