A sustainable finance analytics firm revealed on Thursday that Q2 2025 saw a rise both in credits issued and retired as compared to the same period the year prior, but across project types, prices dropped by nearly one-third year-on-year (YoY).

The Washington Department of Ecology (ECY) published on Thursday a draft proposal for considerations to extend the offer of free allowances for emissions intensive, trade-exposed (EITE) facilities under the state's cap-and-trade programme beyond 2035.

The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) on Thursday recommended that the Welsh government meet emissions reduction targets through domestic mitigation, not international carbon credits.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices dipped even as market activity picked up as the market remained void of regulatory and political updates ahead of next month's auction, while Washington Carbon Allowances (WCAs) inched higher above levels required to trigger additional reserve volumes, traders said.

Agency aid axed - US House Republicans have advanced a fiscal 2026 spending bill that would eliminate funding for the International Energy Agency (IEA), citing concerns that the Paris-based agency has shifted from objective energy analysis to promoting climate policy, E&E News reported. The proposed cut, approved by the House Appropriations Committee, marks a significant break from decades of bipartisan support for the IEA, which was founded in response to the 1970s oil crisis.

Rollbacks endangered - The Trump administration is expected to soon release a proposal to topple the EPA’s landmark endangerment finding, but E&E News reported the strategy comes with big risks. The outlet reported that, if the EPA pins too many regulatory rollbacks to revoking the endangerment finding, rule repeals may not stand up in court.

Ditch the diesel - The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has closed a C$24-mln ($17.6 mln) loan to support remote First Nation community, Atikamekw of Opitciwan, in Northern Quebec. The Onimiskiw Opitciwan Ltd. Partnership will construct and operate the 4.8-MW Centrale de cogeneration d'Opitciwan to generate electricity by burning bark, sawdust, and woodchips produced by an adjacent sawmill as the community moves away from diesel-based energy. The project is expected to cut more than 11,000 tonnes of emissions and reduce the use of diesel by 4.6 million litres annually.

Transmission troubles - The US DOE has cancelled a $4.9 bln loan guarantee for the Grain Belt Express, a major transmission project intended to carry renewable energy from Kansas to the eastern US, E&E news reported. The agency said the commitment was rushed out during the final days of the Biden administration.

Zero-emission zeal - California regulator ARB approved amendments on Thursday to its Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) and Zero-Emission Powertrain Certification regulations to provide manufacturers with added flexibility while preserving emissions reductions. The changes include adjustments such as allowing credit pooling between states, expanded credit offset options, and updated requirements for near-zero emission vehicle range and certification protocols. The changes follow President Trump’s June attempt to revoke federal waivers for California’s emissions rules, which is currently under legal challenge.

Bills, bills, bills - New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed HB 123 into law last week, enacting a moratorium on carbon sequestration projects in state forests and creating a study commission to examine their fiscal and ecological impacts. The bill defines pre-sequestration timber tax revenue and directs the new commission to evaluate implications for state and local tax bases, forest management, and the logging industry.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has told a federal appeals court it does not plan to revisit its contested climate disclosure rules, asking for pending legal challenges to proceed.

Brazil’s proposed global fund for preserving tropical forests and jurisdictional REDD (J-REDD) can work in unison rather than as rivals, a webinar heard Thursday.

It ain't easy being green - In the first round of earnings calls since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, renewable energy developers sounded optimistic tones while simultaneously indicating the growing toll the Trump administration is having on the sector. GE Vernova, for instance, said sales of its wind turbines were down while orders for its gas turbines were up. NextEra Energy, meanwhile, underscored the importance of renewables and battery storage for bridging the gap to meet near-term demand while waiting for new gas and nuclear capacity to come online. (E&E News)

Hurry it up - The American Clean Power Association, a US renewables group, is pushing the state of California to allow utilities to speed up renewable energy purchasing before tax credits expire, according to E&E News. The group filed a motion in the state’s Public Utilities Commission this week asking regulators to allow developers to “undertake immediate procurement” to ensure that ratepayers benefit from the tax credits that are set to soon expire thanks to Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The group is asking the commission to initiate an emergency procurement track next month.

GHG emissions from farming - How effective government and policy initiatives are in mitigating agricultural GHG emissions across 16 countries in West Africa between 2015 and 2020 is assessed in a study published this week on sciencedirect.com. Complex socio-economic and environmental dynamics in the region compound the problem of GHG emissions from agriculture. Yet despite challenges, countries such as Benin and Cape Verde have achieved reductions or stability in emission levels through policy measures for sustainable agriculture, institutional capacity-building, and regional cooperation.

European carbon prices rose the most in more than three weeks on Thursday after a strong afternoon session, shrugging off an early decline driven by falling gas amid analyst reports showing the EU was set to meet its storage mandates, and rejecting a move below a key technical support level.

Microsoft’s thirst for bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) credits dominated the carbon removal (CDR) sector in the second quarter, according to a data platform.

Gold Standard’s new process of approving private insurance policies for carbon project developers looking to sell credits in the UN aviation offsetting scheme could help to boost supply in a crunched market – particularly if other standard setters follow suit and big insurers join in, officials involved in the arrangement told Carbon Pulse. 

AI ambitions - US President Donald Trump unveiled an executive order and action plan aimed at rapidly expanding US AI infrastructure by streamlining permitting for data centres and prioritising fossil fuel and nuclear energy to power them, E&E News reported. The plan proposes regulatory changes to environmental review processes and encourages the use of federal land for construction, while largely omitting wind and solar. While the administration promotes energy “abundance”, analysts say current policies may instead restrict power supply just as AI-driven electricity demand is projected to surge.

Biorefinery upgrade - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €500 mln, 15-year financing agreement with Eni to convert its Livorno refinery into a biorefinery. This would be Eni’s third such plant in Italy, following Venice and Gela. The project involves the construction of new facilities to produce hydrogenated biofuels from renewable sources such as used cooking oil and food waste. Using Eni’s Ecofining technology, the site would generate HVO diesel, HVO naphtha, and bio-LPG. The plant would also be designed with future capability to produce SAF. The initiative forms part of Enilive’s strategy to exceed 5 mln tonnes of biorefining capacity by 2030, aligning with Italy’s plan to boost annual biofuel use to 1 mln tonnes by the same year.

Ondrej Knotek, a far-right Czech lawmaker who was appointed as the European Parliament’s speaker on the EU’s 2040 climate target, has called for rejecting the proposed objective, warning of the negative impact it would have on Europe’s economy.

On the naughty list - The European Commission opened infringement procedures by sending letters of formal notice to 26 EU member states (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden) for not communicating the full transposition of the amended Renewable Energy Directive into national law. The deadline was May 2025, and the new rules aim to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in all sectors of the economy, not only in the power sector. To date, only Denmark has notified full transposition of the directive by the legal deadline. Member states now have two months to respond, complete their transposition and notify their measures to the Commission.

Shareholder payout - Repsol has confirmed its shareholder payout target on Thursday after 2Q adjusted profit fell less than expected, despite a €175 mln hit from a huge blackout in April and other power supply problems. The April 28 blackout that caused chaos in cities across the Iberian Peninsula also cut power to five of the Spanish utility's refineries and three chemical plants in the region. Repsol is considering potential legal action about the impacts of the outage. Including dividends, shareholders will in 2025 receive between 30% and 35% of the cashflow the company generates from operations. Repsol booked a quarterly adjusted profit of €702 mln, compared with €859 mln a year earlier, and a company-provided average forecast of 500 mln. Net profit fell to €237 mln from €657 mln. (Reuters)

Turkiye’s new law and regulation establishing a national emissions trading system (ETS) has relegated major decisions to later legislation or implementing authorities, potentially compromising environmental integrity, a Turkish legal expert has told Carbon Pulse.

Forward purchases, innovative debt structures, and buyer coalitions will remain critical to unlocking investment in engineered carbon removal (CDR) this decade, as supply struggles to keep pace with demand, according to a report released Thursday.

The carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry has listed its demands for the upcoming revision of the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), asking for the introduction of differentiated carbon removal certificates in the bloc’s carbon market, and a clear definition of residual emissions going forward.

The Indian government is working on plans to ensure its aviation sector has access to eligible carbon credits for the compliance start of the UN aviation offsetting scheme CORSIA, an official told a webinar Thursday.

A Canadian carbon project financier on Thursday said it finalised settlement agreements over two troubled carbon offset projects in Indonesia and Mexico, but is continuing to pursue a lawsuit against former executives and consultants over alleged misconduct and mismanagement.

In a joint declaration on Thursday, Brussels and Beijing pledged to submit new climate plans for 2035, and reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation on carbon markets, but critics said the statement lacked specifics when it comes to phasing out fossil fuels and climate finance to developing nations.

Redirecting projected climate-driven profit losses from the US homeowners’ insurance market to mitigation efforts could fund up to 85% of the global annual carbon reductions needed to limit warming to 1.5C, according to a peer-reviewed study published Thursday.

Scaling sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) from novel technologies and non-food feedstocks remains a challenge in the EU, despite new climate legislation, and risks derailing climate goals, according to a climate think tank. 

The development of a carbon-differentiated market for commodities is primarily held back by a lack of standardisation in the monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of product-level emissions, even though regulations like the EU's carbon border levy will directly tie emissions to financial value, said analysts on a webinar Thursday.

Earnings drop - TotalEnergies reported a 23% drop in 2Q earnings on Thursday, due to the impact of lower oil and gas prices outweighing a rise in production and electricity sales. Adjusted net income fell to $3.6 bln for the three months to June 30, down from $4.7 bln a year earlier, and $4.2 bln in the first quarter, Reuters reported. Brent crude prices have declined 20% from a year ago as OPEC+ producers began to unwind output cuts of 2.17 mln barrels per day in April. Profit from the company's integrated LNG unit was down 9.6% YOY and 20% lower than the first quarter of 2025, due to lower prices and less volatility. Yet the integrated power unit outperformed expectations, with a 14% rise in profit to $574 mln.

The government of China's Fujian province is seeking comments on a draft allowance allocation plan for the regional emissions trading system.

Solar land grab – The UK ‘s push into solar power will be the largest land grab since the Enclosure Act in 1776, according to a new pressure group. The campaign to Stop Oversized Solar says up to 5% of cropland is now at risk of solar development, threatening to take farmland out of use in some of the UK’s best food-producing regions for decades, but more likely for good. Solar sites in the pipeline would cover around 655,000 acres, the equivalent of Derbyshire. “We struggle to get even 10% average energy yields on solar, so it’s much more logical to prioritise local solar schemes like commercial rooftop arrays or car park canopies instead of grid-scale mega schemes on good farmland,” Professor Tony Day of the Stop Oversized Solar said. “Now we could see these sensible schemes squeezed out while even more super-sized schemes get the grid connections.”

Australian bank Macquarie was hit with a shareholder strike against its remuneration report on Thursday at its annual general meeting, amid a push for it to disclose the extent of its new coal, oil, and gas funding.

Last year saw a record for global total coal demand, with a rise of 1.5% to nearly 8.8 billion tonnes globally driven by power demand, but this will slow in 2025 and reverse by next year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its mid-year coal update.

Registry updates - Version 3 of the UK's Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) is launching on Aug. 1 whilst the UK Land Carbon registry is moving to an enhanced platform on July 27, the registry announced in a release on Thursday. Developers can start using Version 3 of the code from the start of August, though projects already in development can continue to submit for validation or verification using Version 2.2 until June 30, 2026. All data on the UK Land Carbon Registry will migrate automatically to the enhanced platform except activity logs and S&P Global will notify users when the new platform is live.

H2 exit - Oil major BP will withdraw from the Australian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) in WA’s Pilbara, exiting both ownership and operatorship just two years after acquiring a 40.5% stake, Boiling Cold reported. The decision follows a broader reset in BP’s strategy to prioritise oil and gas growth over renewables. The move, which may leave dozens of staff redundant, caps off a rough week for Australia’s hydrogen sector, with miner Fortescue also scaling back projects.

Southeast Asia’s efforts to mitigate climate change are under growing strain as Western donors cut back on aid, tightening already limited budgets for energy transition in a region dominated by coal, an analysis released this week has found.

Solar jet fuel – Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has become the world’s first airline to integrate solar-derived jet fuel into its regular flight operations, the company announced on Thursday. Swiss clean-tech firm Synhelion delivered a 190-litre barrel of synthetic crude oil, produced using solar energy at its DAWN facility, to a refinery in northern Germany. Refined into certified Jet-A1 fuel, the solar-derived blend was then fed into SWISS’s infrastructure at Hamburg Airport and covered about 7% of the fuel used for a Hamburg-Zurich flight. The partners hailed the move as both a symbolic and substantial step for the global upscaling of solar aviation fuels. SWISS and Synhelion are now working towards sustainability certification under the EU’s renewable energy directive, targeting commercial-scale production and market entry from 2027.

Resilience funding - The New Zealand government has awarded F$4.3 mln ($1.9 mln) in funding to Fiji through the Pacific Agriculture and Sustainable Land Management Partnership, FBC News reported Thursday. The partnership will focus on landscape planning using environmental and socio-economic data, and cost effective soil monitoring for improved productivity. The support is part of a $18.5 mln regional initiative running from 2025-29 across six Pacific nations.

During the summer period, with European activity quieter than usual, the focus of many EU carbon participants has turned to the market's correlation with gas prices, but with policy-driven changes to affect the supply dynamic in the EU ETS next year, analysts consider for how long the fuel will retain its strong influence over benchmark EUAs.

Indian exports - Indian conglomerate Godrej Enterprises has secured an order to manufacture and supply its largest equipment to date to a carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) facility in Europe, the Economic Times reported. The equipment, which is designed for CO2 separation and capture, surpasses all the previous equipment exports by the company both in terms of scale and complexity, the company said. Godrej is increasingly diversifying its global footprint amid rising global demands for clean energy technologies, it added.

Premium UK carbon credits that provide genuine carbon removal alongside biodiversity and community impact are forecast to reach £500 per tonne by 2050, according to market analysis by a project developer, which outlined the price divergence between different credit quality levels.

India risks losing billions of dollars in trade revenue and millions of jobs to lower-carbon competitors unless it accelerates the transition to clean energy as global climate policies tighten, according to a report released Thursday.

On the agenda - China's environment ministry is planning to include blue carbon in the country's next five-year plan (2026-30) to protect marine resources, China Environmental News reported. The government plans to build a solid "blue carbon pool", support new research, build a relevant standard system, and deepen international cooperation, a ministry official told a forum this week. The ministry will also continue to support Hainan province in implementing pilots and exploring new paths for blue carbon development. Hainan's mangroves store an average of 274 tonnes of carbon per hectare, the highest rate in China, according to China Daily.

SAF it up - LanzaTech was awarded £6.4 mln from the UK to accelerate development of its major SAF projects in the region, the company announced Tuesday. The grant was awarded from the UK government’s Advanced Fuels Fund under the Department for Transport. It supports LanzaTech’s Dragon 1 and 2 projects that convert recycled carbon fuel ethanol into SAF in South Wales, and convert waste CO2 and green hydrogen into ethanol for power-to-liquid SAF at a soon-to-be-determined location in the UK, respectively.

Australian miner Fortescue on Thursday said it is still well-placed to meet its "real zero" emissions target by 2030 even after mothballing two of its green hydrogen projects.

An Australian energy company, an agricultural outfit, and the New South Wales state government have announced financial close on a green hydrogen project they say will lower emissions in the fertiliser sector.

The proponent of an Indigenous Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) method expects to present a draft to the government by the end of the year, despite still waiting for formal guidelines.

An Australian mineral processor technology company has been awarded A$44.9 million ($29.6 mln) in government funding to build a demonstration plant using its novel Zero Emissions Steel Technology (ZESTY).