The US Supreme Court declined on Monday to consider a number of cases, including one alleging Washington’s carbon trading programme discriminated against other states through the exemptions offered to in-state electric utilities.

The stockpile of privately held NZUs crept up in the September quarter, however it is facing a clear structural decline thanks to the government keeping limits to auction volumes in place in the coming years.

Solar and wind power met all the world’s growth in electricity demand in the first half of 2025, overtaking coal generation for the first time on record, new data from energy think tank Ember showed on Tuesday.

SBCE hearing - The Brazilian Senate's Agriculture Committee (CRA) will hold a hearing Wednesday on the nation's future ETS (Portuguese: SBCE). The debate was requested by Senator Luis Carlos Heinze (PP-RS), who has argued there remains a lack of clarity around the subject, driving away investment and hindering sectoral planning to adapt to the regulated carbon market. According to Heinze's request, the debate aims to clarify the reasons for the lack of regulation to date, discuss a possible extension of the deadline, and establish clear commitments from relevant agencies, intending to ensure predictability and legal certainty for the effective implementation of the SBCE. Officials from the following ministries confirmed their attendance: Science, Technology, and Innovation; Agrarian Development and Family Farming; and Agriculture and Livestock. 

ECY opens information public comments - Washington state’s Department of Ecology (ECY) opened the informal public comment period for updates and linkage rulemaking related to its cap-and-invest programme, the agency announced Monday. The comment period will run from Oct. 6-31, and all comments will be used to inform the rule language. The rulemaking is related to HB 1975, which was passed during the 2025 legislative session to amend the state’s Climate Commitment Act and adjust the 2026-27 price ceiling and Allowance Price Containment Reserve (APCR) volumes for the second compliance period.

Refinery retreat – Phillips 66, a US energy manufacturing and logistics company, said its 156,000-barrel-per-day Los Angeles refinery will cease crude processing around Oct. 16 after receiving its final waterborne shipment, marking a key step in its planned year-end closure. The company has already idled several processing units and expects to incur roughly $70 mln in environmental costs tied to groundwater mitigation, along with a $30 mln asset retirement charge in its midstream division.

FPIC questions – Tocantins’ jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD+) programme is facing accusations of misconduct in consultations for free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC). Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), the state Secretariat for the Environment and Water Resources (Semarh), and social movements met last Friday to discuss the case. The Articulation of Tocantins for Agroecology (ATA), the Landless Workers' Movement (MST), and other associations said the state government is restricting benefit-sharing talks and pushing the programme forward irregularly. They pointed to a recent call from the Federal Public Defender's Office (DPU) to suspend the programme to support their claims. DPU declared previous consultations were invalid and criticised the workshops held with Indigenous Peoples, quilombola, and local communities, according to MST. After the meeting, Semarh said it will review the concerns raised and keep dialogue open with the social movements.

Firing up the vineyard – Vineyard Wind, an 800-MW offshore wind project off the Massachusetts coast, now has half of its wind turbines now generating and delivering electricity to the state’s grid. Iberdrola executives provided the update during the company’s annual capital markets day presentation in London last month, according to E&E News. The project was one of the first to be permitted by the federal government before suffering a major setback in 2024 when a turbine blade crashed into the ocean. Executives added that they expect the project to be fully completed in the coming months.

Watt woes – A surge in electricity demand from data centres is driving steep cost increases for customers across PJM Interconnection, the largest US power grid, with new analyses warning of higher bills and long-term inflation risks, E&E News reported. Monitoring Analytics found data centre growth added nearly 12,000 MW to PJM’s projected 2025 summer peak load, while capacity auction payments rose 82% to $16 bln. The Union of Concerned Scientists reported $4.3 bln in transmission costs passed to ratepayers, and the Natural Resources Defense Council estimated consumer bills could climb by $163 bln through 2033. PJM is weighing whether to require data centres to provide their own generation amid concerns over reliability and unchecked expansion.

Replacing existing US biofuel policies with a modest carbon tax and a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) tax credit could meet the country’s 2030 jet decarbonisation goal at nearly half the current cost, according to a new study published on Monday.

A recent study finding that the world’s geological CO2 storage capacity is far smaller than previously believed should not pose any barriers to scaling CDR, experts said Monday.

Pipeline progress – The US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is set to vote this week on the bipartisan Pipeline Safety Act of 2025, which would reauthorise the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s safety programmes for the first time since 2020, E&E News reported. The measure, introduced by Chair Ted Cruz (R) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D), marks the committee’s latest effort to update oversight of the nation’s oil and gas pipelines.

Germany has launched a €6 billion industrial decarbonisation programme aimed at helping EU ETS-covered heavy industries such as steel, cement, chemicals, and glass cut emissions and transition to cleaner production methods.

Chile on Monday announced it had authorised a carbon project under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, becoming the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to do so.

A carbon finance startup has launched a new Request for Proposals (RFP) designed to match carbon market projects aligned with international regulated frameworks to institutional investors for deployment in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Babis against the Green Deal - Right-wing populist Andrej Babis secured a decisive win during this weekend's Czech Parliamentary election, news which does not bode well for the EU's Green Deal. Babis has vowed to confront the European Commission over the Green Deal and has promised cheaper energy. He is also a vocal opponent of the Emission Trading System for heating and transport (ETS2), set to be introduced in Jan. 2027. Babis already served as prime minister from 2017-21. (Politico)

Concerns continued to mount about a shortage of Phase 1 CORSIA-eligible carbon credits last week, while the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) approved a fresh batch of methodologies for its high-integrity stamp.

European carbon fell for the first time in four days on Monday as profit-taking spread through the market after prices had breached an important psychological level in the morning and set a new ten-month high, leading some to question the viability of the current rally.

Market streamlining - Carbon insetting registry 123Carbon is partnering with CO2 management software platform ZERO44 to link the voluntary and compliance carbon markets for shipowners, operators, and charterers. The collaboration will see the two integrate their two platforms - allowing companies to allocate low-carbon fuel impacts either to regulatory compliance of voluntary carbon insetting, and to monitor vessels in real time. The systems ensures users can assign specific fuel volumes to either compliance or voluntary use, avoiding risk of double counting. It will support compliance with frameworks including FuelEU Maritime, the EU ETS, and the Carbon Intensity Indicator. (Smart Maritime Network)

A carbon removal financier is betting that its offtake-financing model, which converts long-term carbon purchase contracts into upfront loans, can help plug the capital gap for early-stage carbon removal projects.

Waste carbon from industrial sources and discarded biomass will be required to produce sufficient green fuels to decarbonise aviation and shipping, particularly as feedstock for the conventional waste oil pathway will be surpassed by demand as soon as 2030, said a fuels developer.

Renewable wind power is reducing day-ahead wholesale electricity prices in Britain, meaning that, without it, household bills could be even higher, a London-based non-profit said.

The UK's independent railway safety and standards has kicked off an initiative to standardise carbon measurement and reporting across the country's rail industry, as part of an effort to decarbonise, it announced on Monday.

September saw voluntary carbon credit retirements fall by over 1 million compared to August, and down over 1.3 mln on Sep. 2024 levels, while issuances hit their highest level since last December, new Carbon Pulse analysis of registry data shows.

Ocean removals - Ocean carbon removal startup Vycarb has raised a $5 mln seed round to build larger systems on coastal industrial sites, Axios reported Monday. The funding will help the New York-based company scale its operations to capture and store CO2 by enhancing the ocean's natural alkalinity - converting CO2 into stable biocarbonate molecules that can be permanently sequestered using real-time measurement.

Gold Standard has announced that every credit of a 2026 vintage or later will be issued through methodologies aligned with the Paris Agreement.

The UK opposition Conservative Party has said it would slash energy bills 20% by scrapping the country's "carbon tax" and abolishing public wind farm funding if it enters government at the next election.

A swift move to approve Article 6 carbon credits issued under the new Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) for CORSIA could ease the supply tightness in the international aviation offsetting scheme, said the current chair of an expert UN body.

The Indonesian government is planning to expand its carbon market and forest-based emissions reduction efforts under the country's Ministry of Environment and Forestry's 2025-29 Strategic Plan, setting the stage for broader Article 6 cooperation and domestic trading to meet its climate targets.

Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has urged the European Commission to hold back on imposing comprehensive regulation for CO2 transportation infrastructure, saying there is currently “no justification for regulation” as the market does not yet exist.

Majority backing - Some 51% of voters for the UK Conservative Party polled by Queen Mary University of London support the country's net zero plans, whilst 45% were opposed. This compares to 69% of the general public backing the target, and just 20% opposing it. The majority backing from Conservative voters also comes despite party leader Kemi Badenoch pledging to scrap landmark climate legislation if the Conservatives win the next election, and also follows her recently announced plans to repeal the Climate Change Act. On that latter plan, former prime minister Theresa May said it would be a "retrograde" step - ending almost 20 years of cross-party collaboration on tackling climate change. The act committed the UK to cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050, with five-yearly carbon budgets to stay on track. Under May, in 2019, the target was updated to reaching net zero by 2050. (the Independent)

How to consult - Insights from social sciences and humanities are underrepresented in some areas of national UK government decision-making, including in the area of carbon removals, according to a study by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The centre published a good-practice guidance aimed at improving the inclusion of qualitative social science insights in decision-making. The guidance is based on its findings that it can be difficult to synthesise qualitative evidence and theoretical insights using quantitative decision-making tools and policies. As a result, assessments of feasibility and decision-making in areas like CDR can tend to omit real-world complexities. This poses risks for the implementation of specific projects, and ultimately the transition to net zero emissions. The risks are bigger in the more informal consultations, rather than formal statutory ones, because they have more fluid procedures, the research found.

Norwegian companies are struggling to prepare for incoming EU climate regulations such as the border carbon fee and corporate sustainability reporting requirements, with consultants warning that ongoing changes and delays are creating confusion and undermining investment planning.

Singapore and Mongolia have signed an implementation agreement on carbon credit collaboration via Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, making it the 10th agreement signed since the city-state’s first with Papua New Guinea at COP28 in Dubai in 2023.

Direct ocean capture and storage projects registered under a standard based in London and New York will need to adhere to new monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) requirements and procedures set out in a protocol published Monday.

Polish renewables leader - R.Power has become the largest independent power producer in Poland, in terms of installed capacity in PV and onshore wind energy, the company announced in an emailed release on Monday. R.Power boasts over 718 MW of capacity already in operation, and more than 1 GW when including projects under construction. The company says it is helping to boost the share of clean, domestically produced electricity in a traditionally coal-reliant country, thereby strengthening the long-term stability of Poland's national power system. The company is preparing to deploy its mid-term battery energy storage system portfolio in Poland, as well as a project in Romania.

Japan’s steelmakers claim to be making steady progress on decarbonisation, yet critics argue the measures are modest at best and obscure a rise in emissions intensity, with emissions from non-operated foreign assets left out of short-term targets.

A UN body of experts will meet this week to discuss a crucial standard that deals with addressing permanence risks under the new Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), as pressure builds on rule-setters to ease language in the framework to enable nature-based removals into Article 6 carbon crediting, with several governments now urging a delay to implementation until consensus can be found.

Removals repository – Brussels-based NGO Carbon Market Watch is researching European countries’ reliance on engineered carbon removal, it said on Monday. The NGO is collaborating with Climate Litigation Network to create a public database on countries' approaches to carbon removal, encouraging legal scrutiny of technologies' role in national climate policies. Carbon Market Watch said it would like the database to contain information on the types of removal technology the EU and seven European states intend to deploy, as well as the volumes of greenhouse gases they plan to capture and store. The project builds on research published earlier this year by the University of Oxford and is funded by the European Climate Foundation.

Scientific evidence has become more tightly woven into policymaking in the 10 years since the Paris Agreement was clinched, accelerating the take-up of low-carbon technologies and emission reductions – yet the lack of long-term is still slowing policy decisions down, found a report published Monday.

Belgium has urged the European Commission to adopt a light-touch regulatory approach to its upcoming CO2 transport regulation, warning that efforts to harmonise rules for carbon capture and storage (CCS) across Europe must preserve the country’s unique, regulated market architecture.

African carbon projects are commanding sharply higher premiums for verified, top-rated carbon credits, trading at up to 200% above lower-grade equivalents, according to experts.

Biochar firms led the pack as an Amsterdam-based non-profit announced 16 climate startups selected for its carbon dioxide removal (CDR) accelerator programme in India on Monday.

Better together - TotalEnergies and Veolia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate further on the energy transition and circular economy by pooling their industrial competencies. Veolia is looking to deploy drone technology developed by the oil major to measure methane emissions at its landfills - helping it reach its target of 80% capture by 2032. Whilst Veolia will support TotalEnergies to reduce its freshwater withdrawals 20% by 2030 compared to 2021 at sites of water stress. Meanwhile, TotalEnergies will support the waste and water management company in accelerating deployment of low-carbon energy at its desalination plants. (MarketWatch)

Partially linking the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) with a cap-and-trade scheme for livestock could ease growing pressure on the industrial sector and cut agricultural emissions more quickly, according to analysis from a Dutch energy consultancy.

An India-based enhanced rock weathering (ERW) start-up said on Monday it is expanding into biochar-based carbon removal, and announced a suite of digital tools to help companies scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR).

Australian carbon prices have returned to year-to-date highs as compliance buying re-emerges. However, upcoming unit issuances are likely to keep a lid on prices in the short term, as stakeholders wait for new methods to be finalised.

Obscure - Global Energy Monitor’s (GEM) latest report suggests a large amount of fossil fuel holdings on Australia’s stock exchange is via nominee companies, obscuring the real owners and limiting their ‘direct’ exposure to fossil fuel investment. It said companies with ownership obscured through nominee structures account for 23 MtCO2e of emissions per year and most are branches of the world’s largest banks like Citi, HSBC, and JPMorgan, and are tied to over 50-plus projects.

SAF boost - The African Development Bank (AfDB) and Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to cooperate in developing sustainable aviation fuel projects across Africa. Under the agreement, AfDB will coordinate with governments and map potential project pipelines, while JGC will conduct demand and technical feasibility studies and introduce Japanese clean-fuel technologies in the African continent. The partnership aligns with AfDB’s strategy to decarbonise transport and energy in Africa, and could unlock co-financing and global partnerships in the SAF sector, according to the statement.

FEED it - Singapore’s Energy Market Authority and Maritime and Port Authority have appointed a Keppel-led consortium to conduct the next phase of a project to provide low-carbon ammonia for a power and ammonia bunkering project on its Jurong Island. The Keppel-led group will enter front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the power aspect and Sumitomo will conduct a FEED study for the bunkering aspect. Singapore is already a major liquid fuel hub. The plan is to eventually generate 55-65 MW of power from using clean imported ammonia to power a combined cycle gas turbine and develop 100,000 tonnes of bunkering capacity. The project is part of Singapore’s National Hydrogen Strategy launched in 2022, which outlines Singapore’s approach to explore low-carbon hydrogen as a decarbonisation pathway as part of the nation’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Weekend wind - Australia’s Labor government continues its renewable energy approval spree with the 107th project approved over the past weekend, a 1,300 MW wind farm in New South Wales’ Riverina region. The Pottinger wind farm will generate enough energy for some 590,000 households and its speedy approval brings the government closer to its target of 82% renewable energy by 2030, but will come with strict conditions to minimise environmental impacts. Environment minister Murray Watt said the project has the potential to reduce emissions by 3 MtCO2e.

Doling it out - National Australia Bank (NAB) said on Monday it has delivered A$2 bln ($1.3 bln) of new green finance to support the transition. Funding has gone to customers to underpin energy efficient equipment, electric vehicles, sustainable farming projects, and commercial property upgrades, it said. NAB in January teamed up with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to launch a A$300 mln co-financing programme to help cut emissions. The bank aims to deliver over $80 bln of environmental financing between 2024-30.

The 2025 batch of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement reveals a decisive shift in favour of carbon pricing, according to a Carbon Pulse analysis of each submission.

Over 11% of ship operators failed to comply under the EU ETS for their inaugural year in the scheme, notching a delinquency rate more than triple that of other regulated emitters.