Washington’s largest agricultural association has urged the state’s Supreme Court to invalidate Department of Ecology regulations that it says unlawfully deprive farmers of the fuel-cost exemptions promised under the state’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA), arguing the agency’s approach has left producers paying cap-and-invest surcharges that lawmakers explicitly sought to avoid.

A proposed partnership between two US-based climate-tech startups has been abandoned, Carbon Pulse has learned.

California unveiled major updates to its wildfire and prescribed fire emissions inventory during a public webinar on Thursday, introducing a new event-based system that estimates emissions by date and location.

Brown to green - A recently passed bill in Ohio will fast-track renewable energy projects in former coal mines and brownfields to meet growing demand from data centres, Canary Media reported. House Bill 15 (HB 15) allows the state’s Department of Development to designate properties as priority investment areas at the request of local governments. Owners of properties with this designation will be allowed to sidestep some regulations that have bogged down other energy projects. Ohio has more than 576,000 acres (233,000 hectares) of mine lands and 50,000 acres of brownfields.

Restoring Amazon – The Brazilian government will disburse R$150 mln ($27.6 mln) from the Amazon Fund to restore rural settlements created under agrarian reform programmes in the Amazon biome. The Ministry of Environment (MMA), Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming (MDA), and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) announced on Thursday the selection of 17 proposals submitted by civil society organisations. The resources will support the restoration of around 4,600 hectares of forest through sustainable agroforestry systems across 90 rural settlements, benefiting 6,000 farming families. An additional R$146 million has been allocated to the National Institute of Colonisation and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) to help regularise land titles for 13,000 families.

The co-founder of a US-based carbon credits registry says credit buyers need to avoid getting caught up in the “heuristics” of the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Launching the EU ETS2 for road transport and building heating from 2027 would only modestly raise household costs if allowance prices are effectively capped, while unlocking billions in climate investment and creating more than 100,000 jobs in Czechia, according to a new study for the Czech Ministry of the Environment - but critics aren't convinced.

The US DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) has granted renewable fuels producer Gevo a loan guarantee extension for its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in South Dakota, allowing the company to alter the project to better adhere to “energy policies and priorities”, according to a recent filing.

Researchers from major environmental organisations in the US are proposing to launch the world’s largest ecological field experiment to quantify the climate benefits of natural climate solutions (NCS) against dollars spent, according to a paper released Wednesday. 

Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency (EAD) and French energy major TotalEnergies have launched a year-long seagrass restoration programme as part of the emirate’s climate change strategy, aiming to enhance blue carbon storage and strengthen marine biodiversity.

The Article 6.4 Supervisory Body (SBM) last week adopted Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) decisions governing reversals, additionality, and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) market transition, codifying new flexibilities and deferring hard calls to future work.

European carbon prices extended Wednesday afternoon's rally and posted a 2.1% gain, as bulls took advantage of early strength in gas as European energy traders reacted to overnight attacks by Russia on Ukrainian gas infrastructure, and pushed on in the afternoon to take carbon back within close reach of its recent 10-month highs.

A new sustainability index for aviation can help to smarten up investments in clean, cutting-edge technologies by managing risk, according to a study published on Thursday.

The United States, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and other petrostates are pressuring the EU to pledge that it will exempt the shipping sector from its Emissions Trading System (ETS) and green fuels mandates if a new global carbon pricing system is approved this week during UN talks in London.

A draft letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and backed by several EU countries calls for “a targeted postponement” of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme for road transport and heating fuels (ETS2) “at least until 2030”.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has issued an executive degree establishing a provisional body to manage the country's future ETS (Portuguese: SBCE).

German H2 capacity reservations now open – German hydrogen core network operators on Thursday published guidelines for reserving hydrogen transport capacity starting in 2026, in a move aimed at accelerating the ramp-up of the hydrogen sector in Germany and Europe. Under the concept, binding reservations for entry and exit capacities for hydrogen deliveries can be made, providing greater security for project planning. Initial capacity marketing will occur within clusters, supporting flexible and cross-cluster transport. The new rules will later be incorporated into standard contracts and regulatory procedures. Reservations will later be replaced by capacity bookings.

CDR snapshot – Grant Faber, standards lead at Absolute Climate, has compiled what he described as "the most comprehensive and up-to-date CDR company list in the world". The database features 708 entities across technologies and countries. Biochar leads with over 40% of the total, followed by BECCS (11.9%) and DAC (11.3%). The US hosts 32.6% of the companies, with Germany and the UK accounting for 9% and 8.1%, respectively, the analysis showed.

Carbon project developer South Pole has promoted CFO Nadia Kaddouri to the position of CEO, the company said Thursday, as previous boss Daniel Klier steps down after fewer than 18 months in the job.

Verde Resources has signed a 10-year exclusive licensing agreement with a materials company to commercialise its carbon-sequestering technology across North America. 

The head of the Saudi Arabia’s Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) project has announced they will "close this chapter", in a LinkedIn statement on Thursday.

Emissions trading systems and similar carbon pricing mechanisms now cover 28% of global emissions – and nearly 50% when looking at sectors like energy – the European Commission said on Thursday.

Direct air capture (DAC) is entering a more sober phase of development, with just 0.05% of 2.47 million tonnes of contracted credits delivered by mid-2025 despite $2.4 billion invested in the sector since 2021, a new report released Thursday has found.

A New York-based data and analytics company and an international bank published a paper on Thursday aiming to help companies select nature-based projects that address carbon and biodiversity goals simultaneously.

Another Japanese study - BP and the Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI) have been selected by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) to conduct a feasibility study on developing a CCUS methodology under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) between Indonesia and Japan. The initiative aims to create a JCM methodology that would allow the Tangguh CCUS project in West Papua to be recognised for generating international carbon credits, while also expanding the potential for carbon capture and storage technology deployment across Indonesia’s industrial sector.

Analysis conducted by a carbon ratings agency for a global study into wildfires has shown that 18% of forestry projects in the voluntary carbon market were impacted in 2024, the highest level since monitoring of these areas began in 2021.

Carbon removal developers must move into a position where they do not rely on public subsidies, the author of the UK’s independent review into the sector told an industry conference Wednesday. 

India must accelerate the rollout of its domestic carbon pricing system and strengthen emissions reporting across industries to reduce trade risks from the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), according to a report published Wednesday.

EU Allowances will be issued after 2039 and more ETS revenues will be returned to energy-intensive industries, said a top European Commission official on Wednesday, also proposing that international credits be centrally purchased by a public procurement mechanism.

Some like them green - HotGreen Solutions, a UK clean-tech startup, has raised £1.2 mln in a pre-seed round led by Empirical Ventures, with investors including Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, First Imagine! Ventures, The Conduit Impact Fund, and Almanac Ventures, to develop ultra-efficient high-temperature heat pumps for industrial process heat. The company’s technology claims to offer four times the efficiency of traditional boilers and integrates easily with existing infrastructure. Installations take just 3-5 days and can save facilities hundreds of thousands of pounds, as well as 3,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, with payback in under two years, combining economic and environmental benefits, HotGreen Solutions said.

PHEV the engine - New analysis by Transport & Environment has found that plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) emit almost as much CO2 as conventional petrol cars in real-world driving. While official tests suggest large emission cuts, real data from 127,000 vehicles shows PHEVs average 135 g of CO2 per km, only 19% less than petrol cars at 166 g/km, the NGO claimed. Even in electric mode, their combustion engines still operate, producing around 68 g/km. Owners also face hidden fuel costs of about €500 a year, T&E claimed. The report warned that classifying PHEVs as clean vehicles misleads consumers and risks undermining Europe’s shift toward genuine zero-emission transport.

Think smart - The Climate Group has launched the Smart Energy Coalition, a network of over 100 companies including Siemens, ABB, Schneider Electric, and AstraZeneca, to advance energy efficiency as a key driver of sustainable growth. The coalition - formerly EP100 - focuses on three priorities: managing the rising energy demand from AI and data centres, developing smarter cooling and heating systems amid global temperature increases, and enhancing energy security. Members operate across 200 markets and 15 industries, achieving an average annual energy productivity improvement of over 8% and saving $164 mln in 2024, demonstrating that efficiency delivers both economic and environmental benefits.

The EU should introduce "transitional" carbon credits within its Emissions Trading System (ETS) to help finance the decarbonisation of new member states wanting to join the bloc in the coming years, Brussels' former head climate official said on Thursday. 

The European Commission on Thursday unveiled its “global climate and energy vision”, outlining the bloc’s strategy ahead of the COP30 climate talks and pledging to make clean industrial growth the cornerstone of its foreign, trade, and investment policy.

The European Union will head to this year’s UN climate summit in Brazil with a smaller delegation than usual due to difficulties finding accommodation, officials have said, while the bloc's leaders are also still weighing whether to attend amid a planned US boycott.

Investing in environmental adaptation and resilience projects could create jobs and prevent large economic losses for large global companies, according to a report launched at the World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington D.C. on Thursday.

A coalition of 131 companies, investors, and business groups has urged EU leaders to endorse the European Commission’s proposed 90% net emissions reduction target for 2040, ahead of high-level talks in Brussels next week.

A UK High Court judge has dismissed a legal challenge brought by an environmental campaign group against the government’s approval of the Liverpool Bay CCS project, ruling that all regulatory and environmental assessment requirements were met and that the claim had been filed too late.

A lifecycle assessment software company has introduced a set of digital tools to help construction and manufacturing industries comply with incoming carbon disclosure and life-cycle assessment requirements in the EU, as well as new standards in North America, it announced on Thursday.

Early pre-purchase agreements for carbon credits generated under Verra’s flagship new afforestation methodology have seen prices exceeding €65 per unit, driven by the recent final approval of the methodology for the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label, experts from a large developer told an industry event this week.

Clean cash for clean cars - Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has proposed new subsidies for electric vehicles aimed at low- and middle-income buyers. The plan suggests a minimum €3,000 buyer’s premium for fully electric cars purchased between 2026 and 2029, restricted to vehicles priced below €45,000 before tax and produced in Europe. Automakers or dealers would also provide additional discounts. The SPD wants to extend existing tax exemptions for electric cars and introduce a targeted EV leasing scheme by 2027. The proposal is intended to make electric mobility more accessible, support Germany’s car industry, and safeguard employment during the transition to clean transport. (Clean Energy Wire)

Trash talk - Germany’s emissions authority DEHSt has reminded operators of municipal waste incineration plants over 20 MW that are only reportable under the EU ETS to submit their verified 2025 emissions reports by Mar. 31, 2026 using the government's official Excel template. Any significant changes to monitoring plans must be reported immediately through the “3-in-1 Monitoring Plan” system, with reviews of revised plans valid from 2025 having begun in October 2025. Updated guidance on preparing monitoring plans and emissions reports is available on DEHSt’s website.

Urgent action needed - India has called on COP30 to shift from rhetoric to delivery, calling attention to the “urgent lack of resources” constraining climate action in developing nations. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told the Global Stocktake session in Brasília during pre-COP earlier this week, that “the time for continuous reviews without action has passed”, and insisted that the summit must focus on translating ambition into financed mitigation and adaptation efforts. (Press Trust of India)

Expanded pipeline - Japanese trading company Kanematsu has teamed up with offset project developer Green Carbon for a technical project to reduce methane emissions from rice paddies in Bukidnon, the Philippines, based on an increasingly popular methodology. The companies plan to conduct a year-long feasibility study and aim for full-scale commercialisation in 2026. They will also seek project registration under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM). Kanematsu has a track record of 10 JCM projects in the energy sector, including those in Vietnam and Thailand.

Low-carbon transport - Japanese startup Spatial Pleasure has achieved Japan's first J-Credit certification for a heavy-duty EV through collaboration with domestic bus operators, including Iyotetsu Bus and Shinki Bus. The project is developed based on a methodology that recognises fuel-efficient modes for heavy-duty vehicles (EN-S-012). The formation of the Mobility Carbon Credit Group (MCCG) has been formed to accelerate decarbonisation in the transportation sector, Spatial Pleasure said.  

A digital infrastructure provider for carbon projects is looking to expand to new methodologies and integrate with other external monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) tools after formalising its split from a project developer’s digital unit, an executive at the company told Carbon Pulse.

The COP30 UN climate conference should be a landmark event for sustainable agriculture that introduces a lasting focus on the activity, a World Economic Forum (WEF) executive has said.

A majority of Canadians said they believe carbon removal (CDR) is important for the country's long-term success, despite somewhat limited knowledge of the topic, according to a poll released Thursday.

A growing preference for carbon removals over emission reductions risks creating a “false narrative” that could slow climate finance, sideline projects in developing nations, and distort what constitutes lasting climate impact, a conference heard Thursday.

The EU's sweeping climate reforms, notably through the bloc's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), are poised to trigger a seismic shift across global industry, with research published this week arguing that hydrogen-based green steel could become cost-competitive within the next year.

Issuance quality in September fell sharply, dragged down by a single low-integrity cookstove project that released over 21 million carbon credits, accounting for more than 40% of the monthly total, according to analysts at a rating agency.

The Philippines is advancing plans to introduce a hybrid ‘cap-and-invest’ carbon pricing model that would blend features of an emissions trading system (ETS) as well as a carbon tax.

A waste-to-energy facility in western France will host a carbon capture pilot project designed to process up to 10 tonnes of CO2 per day at a 90% capture rate from 2026.

Singapore is urging Australia to form deeper ties with the city-state to create a regional leader in carbon markets and unlock decarbonisation finance, a conference heard Thursday.

Guiding the take-off - Shell Low Carbon Solutions has released a new CORSIA Procurement Guide to help organisations navigate requirements and strengthen their decarbonisation strategies under the UN's international aviation offsetting scheme. The guide provides an overview of compliance obligations and timelines, checklists and tips for planning Eligible Emissions Units (EEUs) procurement, and insights into market trends, supply, and demand, Shell said. It also outlines key factors for selecting EEUs and suppliers. Designed for those involved in procurement, compliance, or sustainability planning, the interactive guide supports informed decision-making in a changing regulatory environment.

Supermarket chain Lidl has announced an investment of £30 billion to advance sustainable farming in the UK.

The Philippine government on Thursday released guidelines for the generation, management, and monitoring of carbon credits in the energy sector.

A draft of Fiji’s third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) showed that the Pacific Island nation is planning to leverage carbon markets to finance its climate ambitions.

Off track, on the record – New Zealand’s climate minister, Simon Watts, has conceded that the lower end of the government’s revised biogenic methane target is not aligned with 1.5C of warming, Newsroom reported. The revised target, for a 14-24% reduction below 2017 levels by 2050 instead of 24-47%, was announced on Sunday – despite the government saying just two hours prior that 24% was achievable. Watts stressed that the methane panel the government established to review the target said that the 24% target was aligned with 1.5C, a goal which is also enshrined in New Zealand law, said the outlet. Pressed further, the minister conceded that the government was also advised that the 14% target was not aligned. Observers have told Carbon Pulse that the rollbacks in New Zealand’s climate policies leave it open to legal challenges and dents its international reputation.

Tax refund – Clean hydrogen and graphite developer Hazer has received its A$4.6 mln ($3 mln) tax incentive refund, it said in an ASX announcement on Thursday. The refund is associated with costs incurred for R&D in FY2025, and it also expects a refund next year for costs incurred in the current financial year. Earlier this month, the UK government declared a project Hazer is involved in as being of national significance.

ACCU expectations – Australian oil and gas company Santos said on Thursday that it expects its Moomba CCS project to receive its first ACCUs imminently. In its Q3 report, the company said that the project has, so far, stored more than 1.3 MtCO2e in its first year; it has capacity for 1.7 MtCO2e. It also revised down its production projection for the year, to 89-91 mmboe from 90-95 mmboe, partly due to ongoing flood impacts on its Cooper Basin site – home to the Moomba project.

Climate change effects have seen tropical rainforests in Australia become a source of emissions, found a new study – warning of what could come to pass in other forested regions, including the Amazon.

Washington's Department of Ecology (ECY) detailed at a Wednesday webinar proposed changes to the state’s cap-and-invest programme’s, including in regards to Allowance Price Containment Reserve (APCR) allocations from 2027 to 2040, in order to implement recent legislation meant to facilitate linkage with the California-Quebec market.

Low-carbon shipping – Shin Nippon Kaiyosha, a subsidiary of Japanese shipping group NYK Line, has obtained third-party certification for the environmental values created through the operation of an ammonia-fuelled vessel. The certificated values, the first of their kind in the world, are expected to help reduce Scope 3 emissions. NYK said it intends to build a fuel ammonia value chain, with plans to develop an ammonia-fuelled medium gas carrier in the coming years.

In progress – The Philippine government is in talks with the private sector to advance policies on forest carbon projects and the operationalisation of Article 6 under the Paris Agreement, Daily Tribune reported. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently held a meeting with member companies of the CarbonPH Coalition and the Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) Industry Group to explore ways of integrating NbS into national climate strategies. The government is working to provide more policy clarity on how investors can utilise the country's forest lands to create carbon credits.

Supersize me – Supernode, Australia’s largest battery storage project, is set to expand to potentially 1 GW/5 GWh of capacity, Renew Economy reported on Tuesday. Based on the outskirts of Brisbane, the Quinbrook Infrastructure project’s first 260 MW stage started operations in September, and has two more stages planned – including to fulfil a contract with Origin Energy – taking its capacity to 760 MW/3,070 MWh. The potential fourth stage would likely add a further 250 MW/2,000 MWh of capacity, the publication said.

Switching to homegrown clean power across transport, buildings, and industry could halve EU fossil import dependency by 2040, a report released Thursday has found.