Unit economics, profit margins, and customer pain points have taken centre stage for climate tech investors as they assess prospective investees in an uncertain market, conference attendees heard Wednesday.

New territory - The government of Canada's Northwest Territories (GNWT) is adopting a new, integrated approach to climate change by combining its climate and energy strategies. This joint strategy aims to deliver more effective and coordinated actions across government to address the complex and interconnected impacts of climate change, particularly in areas such as energy security, infrastructure, health, and the economy. The Department of Environment and Climate Change will lead efforts to build climate knowledge, enhance resilience through adaptation measures, and reduce land-based greenhouse gas emissions. The approach prioritises maintaining affordability, safeguarding infrastructure, and supporting economic development aligned with net zero goals, including opportunities in resource development, tourism, agriculture, and carbon offsets. Collaboration with Indigenous governments and communities is seen as central, recognising their leadership in adaptation and the need for shared advocacy and resource use. Federal investment is also considered essential to implementation. The final strategy and revised Climate Change Action Plan are expected in spring 2026, following continued engagement with Indigenous organisations, youth councils, and other stakeholders.

A UN-backed incubator of nature market models on Thursday announced support for seven initiatives around the world with the aim of unlocking up to $200 million in restoration investment.

ICE’s North American head of environmental products has left the exchange operator to join a US-headquartered broker-dealer to help them build their carbon and energy trading business.

Brazil’s national development bank approved on Wednesday the financing of R$131.1 million ($23 mln) for the largest biomethane producer in Latin America.

Offset issuance in California thinned over the latest two-week stretch, state data published Wednesday showed, with no new units offering direct environmental benefits to the state (DEBs).

Iowa state lawmakers have passed a bill to establish a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) tax credit to support production in the state.

The Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) has unveiled a new open-access online platform aimed at accelerating the development of clean cooking carbon projects by improving access to household energy data.

The Brazilian state of Sao Paulo is in the final stages of allowing the private sector to access 38,000 hectares of public lands for restoration and the development of carbon and biodiversity credits in the Atlantic Forest, an official told Carbon Pulse.

Drill baby drill - US biofuels producer Conestoga Energy completed drilling operations of its first carbon storage well on Wednesday, the company announced. The Class VI well, located near Garden City, Kansas, is engineered to inject 100% of the CO2 generated from Coenstoga’s bioethanol production process, as well as offer the opportunity to store CO2 from third-party sources to generate carbon credits. Once operational, it is expected to store over 150,000 tCO2 annually. Conestoga plans to submit its full Class VI permit application to the US EPA this summer, as Kansas does not have primacy over CO2 storage wells.

Peru will include, by the end of this week, five additional methodologies from the voluntary carbon market (VCM) in its National GHG Emissions Reduction Registry (RENAMI), the country’s top climate official announced on Wednesday.

Bon Bonn - Brazil's COp30 presidency sees June's intersessional meeting in Bonn as an opportunity to restore confidence in climate negotiations, accelerate action, and instil a sense of urgency, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The presidency plans to hold at least 12 events over the 10 days, and play an prominent role in plenary and negotiating sessions. It will follow three pillars of work during the SB62 meeting, it said: strengthening multilateralism and the UNFCCC regime, connecting climate decisions to real world lives, and accelerating implementation of the Paris Agreement. Brazil is also proposing a "Day Zero" of informal talks among heads of delegations, before the first day on June 16.

Raise the roof – The California Assembly on Tuesday voted 60-2 to approve amended Assembly Bill 1207 (AB 1207), which aims to adjust the cap-and-trade price ceiling in alignment with the US EPA’s 2023 social cost of carbon (SCC) estimate of $190/tonne. The bill was originally introduced to reauthorise the cap-and-trade programme beyond its 2030 sunset under the current statute, but that language has since been removed. The bill will now be considered in the state's Senate.

A blockchain-based carbon metadata project has released a new version of its model, which is now available for public consultation.

A German court has dismissed a landmark climate lawsuit brought by a Peruvian farmer against energy giant RWE, but an important precedent may have been set where big emitters can be held liable for the impact of their greenhouse gas emissions.

A four-year initiative funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is gearing up to set up pilot projects aimed at laying the groundwork for establishing a voluntary market for biodiversity credits in the Dominican Republic.

Geothermal energy is racing up the leaderboard for innovation to become a contender as the next technology to transform the energy sector, although oil majors may slow progress after many cut spending on low-carbon projects, analysts have said.

A paper released on Tuesday called on sports organisations to assess their direct and indirect impacts on nature to mitigate biodiversity-related risk and align with global regulations and targets.

Standards body and registry Verra announced a long-term partnership Wednesday in support of the organisation’s efforts to automate and digitise project development for the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Carbon markets seek to incentivise climate action by attaching financial value to emissions reductions, but a senior research scholar at Stanford has instead proposed shifting to a system where carbon emissions are treated like long-lived financial liabilities.

Dollars for marine CDR - Non-profit Carbon180 has opened up a funding opportunity for environmental organisations interested in exploring ocean-based carbon removal. Candidates are asked to apply here before the deadline of June 20. The award amount is a capacity-building grant of $100,000 and US-based organisations focused on marine, ocean, and water issues who want to learn more, or are already working on, carbon removal are particularly welcome.

Canada’s finance minister this week tabled a motion to remove the consumer carbon tax from law, formalising Prime Minister Mark Carney’s earlier move to zero out the levy.

US engineers say they can improve direct air capture (DAC) efficiency six times by adding an intermediary step in the DAC process.