Green tires a go – Sustainable tire additives and solutions company Flexsys has had its near-term and net zero GHG emissions reduction targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Its targets include reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions 42% by 2030, from a 2022 baseline, cutting Scope 3 emissions in key categories 25% by 2030, from a 2023 baseline, and achieving net zero across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 by 2040. The company said its commitment to 100% sustainable materials by 2040 will play a central role in reducing Scope 3 emissions and positioning the company as a leader in sustainable tire additives.

US refrigerant and air conditioning manufacturers are urging the EPA to scrap plans to delay deadlines for phasing out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in a number of different applications, claiming that the delay would upend investment timelines while providing an advantage to foreign competitors.

Burgum bust – US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has concluded wind is bad for everyone, amid diatribes against wind energy from the Trump administration, E&E News reported. The outlet said Burgum made his comments at a panel hosted by the American Petroleum Institute. He also said offshore wind only exists because of subsidies, and said the idea trades something that makes sense for something that doesn’t.

Fuel to the fire – The wildfires that devastated LA earlier this year were worsened by climate change, according to the science journal Earth System Science Data's State of Wildfires 2024-25 report. The report found that climate change effects made the LA fires twice as likely and 25 times larger. One of the report’s coauthors explained that this is in part because climate change is influencing the rates at which vegetation grows and provides fuel for fires to spread, according to Yale Environment 360. In LA, for instance, uncommonly heavy rainfall drove the growth of shrubs, which turned into fuel when the region was hit by an exceptional drought.

The World Bank has been formally appointed as interim host and financial trustee of the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF), the major conservation finance initiative led by Brazil expected to be launched during next month’s COP30.

The New Zealand government announced Wednesday it will rollback elements of its mandatory climate disclosure rules as a way to ease cost burdens on businesses, arguing it will free up cash to spend on direct emissions reduction activities. 

The Washington Department of Ecology (ECY) adopted amendments to the Clean Fuels Program Rule on Monday to support emissions reductions in the aviation and heavy-duty trucking sectors.

There is a critical window for the UAE and Brazil to build on the growing momentum around energy efficiency by bringing together existing initiatives and multilateral banks ahead of COP30, according to a think tank.

Global lenders have made little progress in cutting financed emissions and, in some cases, have watered down their climate commitments, a study released Wednesday by a London-based research centre found.

California gasoline consumption in July witnessed its largest year-on-year (YoY) drop of 2025, while diesel sales rebounded after two straight months of declines from 2024 levels to reach their highest level for July since 2021, state data showed.

Voluntary carbon programme operator Verra has made further revisions to its methodology quantifying GHG reductions from the adoption of improved farmland practices, just days after the last updates.

Verra has finalised a methodology change for two African cookstoves projects, replacing now-cancelled credits under the old VMR0006 methodology with some 3.4 million new ones under the CORSIA-eligible VM0050 v1.0, the project developer announced on Tuesday.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has placed the economy and environment at odds thus far, placing pressure on forthcoming “carbon competitiveness” policy guidance to deliver meaningful climate outcomes, according to the head of a national environmental advocacy network.

Most Canadian companies lack credible corporate transition plans to address climate risks and position for a low-carbon economy, leaving them exposed to policy, investor, and market pressures as global standards tighten, according to a new report released on Tuesday. 

Welcome to the neighbourhood – Former policy and advocacy staff of Breakthrough Energy have founded a new nonprofit with the mission of making clean energy the top choice for affordable, reliable, and fast power, Axios reported Tuesday. The new organisation, Clean Economy Project, is a product of multimillion-dollar investment from philanthropy, VC investing, and beyond. The group still has a strong relationship with Bill Gates-funded Breakthrough Energy, though he has reoriented his philanthropy around global health, the outlet reported.

Empire state zaps crypto – New York State Democrats introduced bill S8518/A9138 to apply an excise tax on crypto for all electricity purchased, produced or acquired within the state. Off-grid facilities powered with renewable energy would be exempt from the levy. The assembly version of the bill was introduced Friday by Representative Anna Kelles, following the introduction of the Senate version on Oct. 1 by Liz Krueger. The legislators indicated that crypto mining has driven up electricity bills state-wide, adding a combined $244 mln in electricity costs for small business and households. The legislation was introduced as local groups oppose Greenidge and Digi Power X crypto mining operations in Finger Lakes and North Tonawanda, NY, E&E News reported.

Coming to your defence – Twenty-three states and Washington, DC, in the case of State of New Jersey et al. v. US Office of Management and Budget et al,  asked a Massachusetts federal court on Friday to find that federal agencies unlawfully cancelled grants under a Uniform Guidance rule by invoking “new” priorities added after awards were issued. The coalition said the rule was misapplied, that hundreds of grants have already been revoked with billions more at risk, and urged the court to grant summary judgment and block further terminations.

UN undercut – US Republican lawmakers announced on Tuesday that they will introduce legislation aimed at blocking the UN from imposing what they call a “global carbon tax”, following the Trump administration’s pressure campaign to delay a vote on a shipping emissions plan last week. The UNtaxed Act, led by Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger (TX-11) alongside House Energy Action Team (HEAT) leaders Troy Balderson (OH-12) and Randy Weber (TX-14), would cut off US funding to UN agencies pursuing carbon tax proposals, ban federal enforcement of any global tax schemes, and require Senate approval before such levies could apply to Americans.

France and Spain have urged the European Commission to maintain the 2035 ban on internal combustion engine vehicles when reviewing the EU’s car CO2 emissions regulation later this year, resisting pressure from other member states calling for the ban to be scrapped.

Nations most vulnerable to climate change will be looking to raise the issue of weak Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted so far, which are setting the world on a path to warming far in excess of 1.5C, at COP30 next month, experts told a webinar on Tuesday.

The European Commission’s 2026 work programme, published on Tuesday, features a long-awaited revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and updates to the bloc’s renewables and energy efficiency laws to bring them into line with the EU’s upcoming 2040 climate target.

Independent research organisation Resources for the Future (RFF) has taken over the Washington DC-based Pricing Carbon Initiative (PCI), integrating its bipartisan dialogue series on carbon pricing policy into RFF’s broader programme of climate-focused events and research.

A group of 22 young Americans has appealed after a federal judge dismissed their climate lawsuit against President Donald Trump last week, ruling that the court lacked authority to block executive orders expanding fossil fuel production and freezing clean energy grant programmes.

EUA prices dipped slightly on Tuesday after bulls had failed to take a key resistance level at the opening, with European traders largely ignoring a strong natural gas market and instead looking across the Atlantic for an anticipated push from bullish-positioned traders.

LNG-fuelled gas-fired power will not be able to outcompete European solar and onshore wind even if prices collapse, due to its associated carbon compliance costs, new research indicates.

Shutdown scramble - The ongoing US government shutdown has cast uncertainty over congressional attendance at next month’s COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, E&E News reported. While the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Institute plans to send up to 20 Democratic lawmakers, a bipartisan Senate delegation led by Sens. John Curtis (R-UT) and Chris Coons (D-DE) may be shortened or cancelled if the shutdown continues. The Trump administration is not expected to send an official delegation following its exit from the Paris Agreement, and the State Department offices that typically coordinate international climate engagement have largely been shuttered. Despite the disruption, some lawmakers, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), say they still intend to attend the talks to demonstrate US climate leadership.

ExxonMobil has been granted three permits for Class VI CO2 injection wells related to the oil major’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Texas, the US EPA announced Tuesday.

Stick to Paris - Climate neutrality is Europe's greatest economic opportunity and the EU should strive to achieve a 90–95% net domestic reduction of GHG emissions by 2040 (compared to a 1990 baseline) in order to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, wrote the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change in an open letter signed by 2178 signatories.. The scientists cautioned the political discussion is moving further away from the scientific evidence, particularly with respect to revising the EU's 2040 climate target, and they urge policymakers to stick to the Paris Agreement ahead of the summit of heads of state and heads of government on Oct. 23.

Green energy stocks are making a comeback, with the green total return index (TRI) delivering its best six-month performance since 2021, analysts said in an update circulated Tuesday.

Corporate buyers of carbon removal (CDR) credits are mostly driven by the opportunity to spearhead an emerging industry and be seen as good role models, as well progressing on their targets for net zero emissions, speakers told a conference in London on Tuesday.

An area of forest equal to the size of Cuba still vanishes every year even as global deforestation slows, according to new data.

A carbon standard has entered into an early-stage agreement with a South Korean trade group to jointly develop carbon-market infrastructure across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The European Commission intends to strengthen the role of the supply management mechanism in the incoming EU Emissions Trading System for heating and transport fuels (ETS2), and to start auctions a year earlier than currently foreseen, according to a letter by the EU's climate commissioner to member states, seen by Carbon Pulse.

It's all in the numbers - The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), a global authority on carbon accounting, has proposed its first major update in a decade, introducing stricter rules for reporting power-sector emissions. The changes could make it harder for major electricity users such as Amazon and Meta to meet their climate goals, the FT reports. The revised guidelines would require companies to match renewable energy generation with their actual power use in both time and location, rather than relying on certificates from distant markets. The move aims to ensure that reported emissions data are more accurate, comparable, and credible, aligning disclosures with real-world energy consumption.

Certified update - SustainCERT's updated Verification Requirements for Value Chain Interventions, introduced this week, clarify the rules governing value chain audits and Scope 3 emissions reporting. The revisions aim to improve definition clarity, align with industry standards and best practices, and simplify the document’s structure and use, certifier said. These requirements guide companies in defining, designing, and accounting for value chain interventions within their emissions disclosures.

A UK government-appointed advisory organisation has issued guidance to help businesses and investors develop sector transition plans that will help to capture the economic opportunities of decarbonisation.

The average spending per tonne of carbon credits has roughly doubled year-on-year, with removal credits increasing about 2.5 times compared to 2024, according to a new analyst report.

Africa's first fuel - Energy efficiency is the fastest and most affordable way to expand energy access in Africa, and drive sustainable development, the IEA said during its Africa Energy Efficiency Policy Training Week, underway in Accra between Oct. 20-23. Ghana is a prime example of an African country advancing ambitious energy efficiency policies, it said. It's one of the first countries to take steps to prevent the influx of outdated and inefficient technologies, by banning second-hand appliances and restricting imports of products that fail to meet minimum energy performance standards. At the same time, Ghana has introduced comprehensive measures to promote clean cooking and e-mobility, and support electrification.

The European Commission said it would no longer delay the EU’s anti-deforestation law by a year, but announced measures narrowing its scope and postponing several obligations to address what it described as glitches in the bill’s IT data collection system.

A new fleet of gas-fired power plants to be constructed in Germany will total an initial capacity of at least 12.5 GW, rather than 20 GW, and will not require conversion to hydrogen by a certain date, several media outlets reported on Tuesday.

International carbon trading under the Paris Agreement offers African countries the chance to boost sustainable development and adaptation to climate change in a way that the more complex, emissions-focused Kyoto Protocol never did, experts told a conference in South Africa on Tuesday.

Biochar and cookstove carbon credit projects are becoming higher integrity as methodologies grow more robust, according to a ratings agency.

Only a small share of UK companies have adopted formal net zero targets as high costs, limited financing options, and regulatory uncertainty continue to slow business decarbonisation, according to a nationwide survey released Tuesday.

Ukraine would need 88 years of carbon revenues to finance its planned decarbonisation targets, according to new analysis highlighting the huge financial gap facing the country’s green transition.

Warsaw has thrown its weight behind the creation of a new agency to regulate the supply of international carbon credits in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) as debate over the bloc’s 2040 climate target picks up ahead of an EU summit later this week.

Liabilities for potential failure of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project need to be more evenly shared among the value chain, rather than falling too heavily on a project developer, said a legal expert speaking at a conference in London.

International collaborations - Pakistan is teaming up with international organisations, development partners, and private stakeholders to create a national carbon trading framework to monetise climate action, an official from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination told local media outlet Independent News Pakistan in an interview. The initiative will target key sectors such as energy, forestry, and construction, and is eyeing a partnership with China in bringing carbon-market technical expertise and regulatory know-how. However, gaps in regulatory structures, limited institutional capacity, and low awareness remain major hurdles to a fully functional system, and have kept international investors at bay, according to the official.

The researchers behind a critical paper into the practice of auditing carbon projects have defended their work in response to criticism from an international auditor group.

None of the Energy Community’s contracting parties currently meet the criteria for exemption from the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), though progress picked up in 2024, according to a report released Monday.

The Climate Vulnerable Forum and its V20 Finance Ministers (CVF-V20), in partnership with a voluntary carbon markets integrity body, announced the expansion of a new climate finance capacity building programme to 2028.

East Asian REDD+ projects are trading at their highest prices since early 2023, with the gap between prices across regions widening in recent months, data from analysts shows.

Battery powered - PPC Group, through its subsidiary PPC Renewables, has begun constructing a new battery energy storage system (BESS) in Amyntaio, near the Amyntaio TPP. The facility will use liquid-cooled LFP batteries, providing 50 MW of power and 200 MWh of storage capacity, enough to supply 50 MW continuously for four hours, the Greek utility said Tuesday.

An infrastructure provider for carbon markets has teamed up with a voluntary carbon standard to automate trade settlement and streamline portfolio management of voluntary verified emissions reductions and CORSIA credits, the companies announced Tuesday.

Partnership - The Philippines and Japan have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to boost clean energy investments, Manila Bulletin reported. The four-year term partnership will allow both nations to exchange expertise and best practices in a broad range of areas, including renewable energy, grid integration, energy storage, hydrogen, ammonia, and CCUS. The announcement comes shortly after the Philippine government released guidelines for the generation, management, and monitoring of carbon credits in the energy sector.

IATA raps UN climate policies – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has flagged a “severe design flaw” in the coordination of global climate and aviation frameworks, criticising the disconnect between the ICAO’s CORSIA scheme and UNFCCC processes. Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s chief economist, said airlines face mandatory obligations to buy carbon credits, but states have no corresponding responsibility to supply them. She described this imbalance as “Alice in Wonderland stuff” and attributed it to a lack of communication between UN bodies. IATA called for better policy alignment to ensure shared responsibility for aviation decarbonisation. (Times of India)

A large food and drink conglomerate has signed a deal with an agri-tech company aimed at accelerating the adoption of regenerative farming practices among rapeseed oil producers in the UK, France, and Belgium.

Mozambique mangroves - UAE-based project developer Blue Forest has been awarded its second large-scale forest restoration license in Mozambique, it announced on LinkedIn. Only five such licenses have been awarded so far, with Blue Forest receiving two of them. It will progress its project together with 20 partners including Removall Carbon and Sumitomo Corporation, and the over 50 coastal communities near to the project area.    

Forty-five meat and dairy companies emitted more than 1 billion tonnes of CO2e over 2022-23 with methane emissions accounting for over half, according to a paper published this week.

South Korea’s financial flows remain misaligned with its climate commitments, as Korean financial institutions continue to channel significantly more capital to fossil fuels than to clean energy, a new report has found.

UK project accelerator - The National Wealth Fund (NWF) has launched the Regional Project Accelerator, focusing the UK policy bank's support on the places and flagship projects with the greatest potential to drive local growth, it announced on Tuesday. In particular, the new accelerator programme offers strategic partnerships, a flagship project advisory support, a local government knowledge service, and low-cost lending direct to local governments. The NWF focuses its investments on clean technologies and infrastructure that are lacking, helping to de-risk and crowd in private investment.

A carbon removal platform has announced the integration of an industry-led carbon capture and storage (CCS) methodology framework into its crediting programme, which will align standards for bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture with carbon capture and storage (DACCS) under a unified certification system, it said Tuesday.

Solar start - Reliance Industries is set to begin solar power generation from its massive project in the Kutch region of Gujarat, India, in the first half of FY2027, Business Standard reported. The site spans roughly 550,000 acres - about three times the size of Singapore - and the output will feed both its captive power needs and green-fuel production. The move aligns with Reliance’s broader push into clean energy and its target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2035.

Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCUs) prices have returned to year-to-date highs, as the Clean Energy Regulator issued some 2.6 million units in September, according to data released Tuesday.

Here comes the sun - The Australian federal and Victorian governments have opened the the third round of its Solar for Apartments Program, they announced Tuesday. The A$32 mln ($20.7 mln) programme provides funding through body corporates to support the installation of shared rooftop solar systems on eligible apartment buildings. Round 3 of the programme has 5,000 rebates of up to A$2,800 per apartment and A$140,000 per building. Since being launched in February last year, the programme has helped more than 3,200 families living in apartments, according to the government.

European lenders are moving faster than their US and Latin American counterparts to limit financing for oil and gas extraction in the Amazon, according to a report released Tuesday.

Contributions to Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emission Reduction (TIER) programme have decreased 46% over 2022-24, with fund credits submitted last year adding up to less than a third of 2020 figures, according to a government report.

A leaked version draft of a cross-cutting decree in Colombia would effectively give the government rights over all carbon credits, going against constitutional provisions, according to the head of the national carbon markets industry group.

Australia’s carbon market integrity body will add four new members to its board in order to deepen its expertise, Carbon Pulse has learned.