Failing to expand Indigenous and protected lands in Brazil's Amazon could trigger a surge in deforestation, according to analysis released Tuesday, however designating some 63.4 million hectares more could result in 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in avoided emissions by 2030.

A voluntary code of conduct for Australia's carbon sector saw the highest number of withdrawals last year, according to its annual report, but was able to recoup its losses with new signatories. 

A major US-based carbon offset certification body is expanding its reach in Latin America by publishing a draft protocol to issue carbon credits to landfill gas projects in Chile.

The founder of carbon removal (CDR) buyers club Frontier said voluntary corporate buyers play a large role in growing the market, but policy drivers are still needed to reach net zero emissions goals, speaking at a conference on Tuesday.

Airing energy concerns – Lawmakers from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New Jersey held a hearing Tuesday to press energy providers and grid operators on electricity affordability concerns, according to the local Fox45 news station. Stephen Bennett of PJM Interconnection said that while the grid isn’t expecting blackouts, the grid could see a deficit in resource adequacy in the next few years without course correction. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers blamed affordability concerns on Democrats’ poor policy decisions, like RGGI and other climate policies. Maryland Republicans in particular voiced their desire to leave RGGI altogether.

Absolute greenhouse gas emissions from Canada's oil sands rose by less than 1% in 2024 even as production climbed 150,000 barrels per day (b/d), underscoring a decade-long trend of efficiency-driven decoupling between output and emissions, but an oil analyst notes that these incremental gains are approaching their natural limits.

The shutdown of the federal government is delaying the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attempt to dismiss a California lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s preemption of the state’s EV mandate.

The founder of a carbon ratings agency noted the growing interest in corporate buyers in carbon removals of super pollutants during VERGE, a series within the Trellis Impact 2025 conference, on Tuesday.

Free pass – New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority will no longer take action against listed companies which fail to lodge climate statements if they will become exempt from the climate disclosure reporting regime once changes proposed last week are passed, it said in a statement on Tuesday. The ‘no action’ approach will take effect from Nov. 1, the regulator said – meaning that those with outstanding reports for the year ending June 30, 2025 will still be expected to lodge them by Oct. 31. The FMA added that it will revisit this approach if the changes have not been passed around the time that companies would have to start preparing their 2026-27 reports. The government is intending to lift the threshold for participation in the system, to a market capitalisation of NZ$1 bln ($578 mln), from the current NZ$60 mln, reducing the number of participants from 164 to 76.

New data from a global land-monitoring consortium show that carbon offset projects account for nearly 9 million hectares of large-scale land acquisitions across the Global South, prompting warnings that these investments can threaten local land rights and access in the absence of strong safeguards. 

SBTi explainer – SBTi has released an explainer on how its Financial Institutions Near-Term Criteria and its recently launched Financial Institutions Net-Zero Standard are interconnected. Written by SBTi Financial Institutions Standards Lead Howard Shih, the report detailed distinctions between target timeframes, operational targets, and financial activities scope, among other things.

H2Gen Korea – US-based industrial decarbonisation company, Utility, has announced a project agreement with the Seongnam Municipal Government of Korea to establish a hydrogen demonstration and certification plant. The project, dubbed Frontier Korea, will be located at the Seongnam Water Reclamation Centre – the first of its kind outside of the US.

India’s planned coal power expansion risks creating stranded assets as surging solar, wind, and storage capacity drive down coal utilisation and push up costs, a report released Wednesday has found.

Canada’s decarbonisation sector is moving toward integrating carbon removal directly into industrial processes rather than relying mainly on large direct air capture (DAC) projects, stakeholders said during a panel on Tuesday.

The UK government on Tuesday launched a consultation on whether targeted support is needed to protect regional air links after free carbon allowances for the aviation sector are withdrawn under the UK ETS in 2026.

Fighting back - A California EV company is pushing back against the termination of its $5 mln grant, which the US DOE cancelled earlier this month in a broad and abrupt cancellation of 321 financial awards. The company, Plug In America, is suing the administration after receiving a letter from the DOE saying that its remaining funds of $3 mln “no longer effectuates programme goals … due to a shift in the Department of Energy’s priorities", according to E&E News. Plug In America is one of the first grant recipients to challenge the legality of its grant termination. Funds for the grants were initially approved by Congress during the Biden administration.

The climate crisis will cost the EU a staggering €5 trillion in lost production if there is 3C global warming by 2050, warns a study. 

Countries' updated climate commitments fall catastrophically short of preventing global temperatures from breaching the Paris Agreement's 1.5C threshold, with current national pledges delivering just 10% of emissions reductions required instead of the needed 60%, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.

European carbon prices ticked higher on Tuesday, ending a run of five successive declines and surprising many market participants who had been forecasting further weakness after Monday's gloomy decline, as energy markets and US equity futures rose after a strong performance yesterday.

Climate scientists have unveiled a new scenario calling for steeper emission cuts and stronger protection of natural carbon sinks to counteract the world’s impending breach of 1.5C of warming, which they say is now unavoidable due to insufficient progress in cutting emissions.

The EU must adopt tough quality criteria and put rigorous safeguards in place when using international carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, German experts said in recommendations released on Tuesday.

Nordic politicians should press home their advantage as first movers in international carbon markets, an executive at Norway's largest oil and gas company said on Tuesday, calling for the region's governments to work together to create policies that will boost demand.

The US DOE extended an emergency waiver on Friday that lets an oil-fired generator in Maryland operating beyond a state-imposed limit, citing grid reliability risks ahead of winter. 

National climate action plans submitted so far make clear that governments are falling far short of their promises under the Paris Agreement, experts said in response to the UNFCCC's synthesis report, published on Tuesday.

Senegalese mangroves - Project developer Allcot, which was acquired by Karbon-X in June, and Australia's Woodside Energy, have completed planting across 7,000 hectares of mangroves in Senegal, marking an important step in their ABC blue carbon project, they announced on Tuesday. The planting was carried out over several years, with thousands of local people taking part – a process that created jobs and provide skill training, Karbon-X said in a statement. The project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by over 2.8 Mt over a 40-year lifetime, at an average of 71,548 tonnes per year, generating verified blue carbon credits.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ruled Norway’s oil drilling activities do not violate human rights, but said the country must assess the global climate impact of oil and gas before opening new oil fields.

Industry groups have urged EU policymakers to prioritise zero-emission ship and plane technologies in the upcoming Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP), warning that policy gaps are slowing deployment.

Potential in farms - Tokyo-based project developer Green Carbon has teamed up with consultancy Farmage to promote decarbonisation and carbon crediting projects for Japan's dairy farming sector, based on a methodology (AG-002) under the domestic voluntary J-Credit programme. AG-00 involves the introduction of forced fermentation equipment for livestock waste from chicken, pig, and cows, thereby increasing the fermentation rate and reducing GHG emissions. Currently, around 60% of farms rely on heap fermentation, which takes about six months of fermentation. Green Carbon said it is building a funding project that covers the costs of equipment installation and credit certification fees.

Saudi diversification - TotalEnergies' plan to build a 400-MW solar plant in Saudi Arabia, together with much larger refining and petrochemical projects, will help achieve the country's Vision 2030 plan to boost renewables and diversify the economy, said CEO Patrick Pouyanne. On Tuesday, it was announced a consortium comprising the French oil major and  Saudi developer Aljomaih Energy & Water (AEW) was awarded the license to develop, build, and operate a 400-MW solar project in As Sufan, by the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) following a tender process. The electricity will be sold via a 25-year power purchase agreement to SPPC and the project is expected online in 2027 and will power almost 70,000 homes. Saudi Arabia is aiming for renewables to account for half of its electricity mix in 2030, up from 1.4% in 2023. TotalEnergies is also building an $11 bln petrochemical complex in the kingdom as an expansion of the Satorp refinery it co-owns with state-backed Saudi Aramco. (Reuters)

Athletes call for adaptation - A new global multimedia campaign has been launched by athletes to urge governments to prioritise and fund investment in climate adaptation ahead of COP30 next month. The Adapt2Win campaign is backed by the Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust and aims to use the sway of athletes to persuade policymakers that more needs to be done to adapt to climate change. Some 40 athletes have signed an open letter stressing the impact of climate change on sports, as well as everyday lives across the world. Climate-related disasters caused $417 bln in economic losses in 2024, yet less than 10% of global climate finance is directed toward adaptation. Letter signatories include NBA player DeAndre Jordan, Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira, and former England soccer player Raheem Sterling. A film showing the impact of extreme weather on sports venues will be aired at COP30, starting with the caption 'this can either be the worst defeat in history or the greatest comeback of all time'. (Reuters)

Zambia aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 47% below business-as-usual (BAU) levels by 2030, and plans to tap carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to help meet its conditional target, according to its latest Paris Agreement contribution. 

Nordic countries could be in the market for up to 72 million tonnes worth of Article 6.2 carbon credits, if EU allows for their use towards its 2040 emissions reduction target, a report released on Tuesday has found. 

The UK has handed out is first environmental permit for carbon capture using proprietary solvents, for a proposed carbon plant expected to capture over 3 million tonnes of CO2 annually from the combined heat and power (CHP) facility, according to one of the companies involved.

The Enhanced Weathering Alliance has expanded its activities under the coordination of the Carbon Business Council (CO2BC), uniting stakeholder organisations to advance enhanced weathering as a key CO2 removals pathway.

The Japanese government this week completed another round of discussions to determine the benchmarking methods for several industrial sectors under the country's emissions trading scheme.

Leave your thoughts - Japanese project developer Sagri on Tuesday said its new project featuring digital soil mapping, based on a new methodology (VT0014) under Verra, has entered the public comment period. This project, derived from a collaboration with Idemitsu Kosan and Lam Son Sugar Joint Stock Corporation, aims to generate carbon credits through improved land management in sugarcane fields in Vietnam.

Exploring the oceans - Japanese shipping major MOL has teamed up with Okinawa prefecture's Kumejima town to implement ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and direct ocean capture (DOC) projects, it announced Tuesday. The alliance aims to push forward the world's first OTEC commercialisation project, aiming to begin operations within FY2031. They will also consider small-scale demonstration tests for DOC, which directly separates and recovers CO2 dissolved in seawater using electrochemical methods.

A Japanese cement maker is betting on recycling CO2 into artificial limestone and carbon capture to cut emissions as it targets net zero by 2050, it said Tuesday in a report.

Temasek-owned decarbonisation investment platform GenZero has joined one of the world’s largest timberland managers in a major reforestation drive across Latin America.

A project in the Caucasus nation of Georgia is injecting woody waste into a sealed mine to lock away CO2 for more than 1,000 years, marking the first commercial deep mine storage (DMS) initiative, the company’s CEO told Carbon Pulse.

A recently launched business coalition, backed by BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners and ExxonMobil, said on Tuesday it will form an independent technical panel to develop guidelines for a carbon emissions accounting system in partnership with Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Malaysia has launched what it calls the world’s first climate sukuk, a RM118 million (about $25 mln) Islamic green bond blending Shariah-compliant financing, carbon credits, and digital innovation.

The Portuguese government officially launched the country’s national voluntary carbon market (VCM) on Friday, providing a new digital platform to register transactions, with the first approved methodology focusing on the expansion of forest carbon sinks.

National contributions to the Paris Agreement are helping to gradually bend down the curve of emissions, but not nearly fast enough, according to the UN's synthesis of the latest batch of pledges from just around one-third of the parties that have signed up to the accord.

Going nuclear - Indonesia plans to start operating its first nuclear power plant by 2032, the government announced this week. It aims for 44 GW of nuclear capacity by 2060, including 9 GW for hydrogen production, and expects nuclear to supply 5% of the energy mix by 2030. Deputy Minister Yuliot said nuclear is now a “strategic option” rather than a last resort, though high costs of around $3.8 bln per plant and long build times remain key challenges. Indonesia also plans to build out 5.2 GW of new geothermal capacity by 2034, but analysts say the plan is ambitious.

REC framework - Singapore has partnered with the International Tracking Standard Foundation (I-TRACK) to develop a Cross-Border Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) Framework for Southeast Asia, the government said on Tuesday. The initiative, led by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Energy Market Authority, aims to standardise how RECs are tracked, traded, and accounted for across regional electricity markets. The framework will complement ASEAN’s plan to establish a regional REC system by 2027 and prevent double counting.

Kilograms - Thailand’s KBank last week launched the country’s first carbon credit tokenisation pilot under the central bank’s regulatory sandbox, aiming to create digital tokens divisible into units of kilograms of CO2e. . The scheme will use blockchain to digitise carbon credits from the Doi Tung forest conservation project. TGO, the market regulator, will oversee credit registration under the T-VER standard, according to a press release.

Fueling fossils - Nearly one-third of Japan’s energy cooperation deals under its Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) framework involve fossil fuel technologies, despite the initiative’s stated goal of advancing decarbonisation across Southeast Asia, according to research by Zero Carbon Analytics. The research involving analysis of more than 300 agreements since 2023 found that 31% of AZEC deals, including 15 new agreements signed in Oct. 2025, feature gas, hydrogen, ammonia co-firing, or carbon capture projects. Researchers warned the trend could slow ASEAN’s clean-energy transition, and risk locking developing economies into costly and unproven routes to transition at a time when the region needs renewable-focused pathways. The research comes as members of the Japan-led bloc met over the weekend to reassert their commitment to address climate change while ensuring economic growth. According to AZEC’s action plan for the next decade, countries see advancing carbon markets as a key priority for the alliance.

Concerns about war and conflict now dominate worries among the general public, pushing aside concerns about climate among participants to a new global survey.

The Singapore government has launched a S$15 million ($11.5 mln) grant programme to develop the finance sector’s carbon market capabilities, as well as guidance on how companies can best use carbon credits in their decarbonisation strategies, it announced Tuesday.

Robot award – The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has awarded nearly A$5 mln ($3.3 mln) to a company developing robotic solar construction and integrated tracking technologies, it announced on Tuesday. Nextracker will use the A$4.96 mln grant to rollout its proprietary technology to several solar farms, including the 450 MW Goulburn River Solar Farm in New South Wales, the agency said. ARENA added the project marks another step forward to automating large-scale solar installation and is aiming to reduce the overall cost of renewables. The NX Earth Truss solution lays foundations in a single pass, rather than the multiple steps in conventional methods, ARENA said, and is aligned with the agency’s Ultra Low-Cost Solar strategy.

Mozambique has sharply revised down its reported forest-based emission reductions after UN experts found inconsistencies in its original REDD+ calculations, with the updated results now deemed transparent, consistent, and technically sound, according to a UNFCCC report released Monday.

Leading the way – The Western Australia government has selected ASX-listed NH3 Clean Energy’s clean ammonia project for support under the state’s Lead Agency Framework, the company announced on Tuesday. Under this framework, the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification will help guide NH3 through the approvals process, accelerating the progress of the WAH2 project. It remains on track to complete all the front-end engineering design work, which began in August, by the end of 2026, it added.

Entrenched power hierarchies, poor communication, and elite capture – where local leaders and influential families dominate decision-making and divert project benefits – have limited fair participation in a long-running Gola REDD+ programme in Sierra Leone, according to a new study.

The cost of direct air capture (DAC) has not followed a clear decreasing trend over time, with more plausible pathways of up to $600/tCO2 per year at scale, according to an October review of scientific literature on DAC technologies.

Global clean energy deployment and investment have surged far beyond the projections made since the Paris Agreement was signed a decade ago, with renewables, electric vehicles (EVs), and climate policy momentum all outperforming expectations, an analysis published Tuesday has found.

Climate finance to Pacific Island countries is steadily growing, led by contributions from Australia, despite a short-term unwinding of funds that came in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new analysis. 

An Australian agtech company announced it has cancelled agreements with a carbon project developer, according to a quarterly update Tuesday.

Pumping the brakes – Consulting firm ClearBlue Markets published an article on Friday to note a pivot in Canada’s EV policy, following recent announcements from the federal government and Quebec. The two governments said they will not abandon their climate goals while pausing their zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandates in order to realign with market realities. The Canadian government announced in September that it will pause its 2026 ZEV sales mandate, launching a 60-day review of the regulation that could bring revisions to annual targets and industry definitions. Quebec is easing its 2035 ban on internal combustion engine vehicles to a 90% zero emission vehicle target, including hybrid vehicles. Any rollbacks in ZEV mandates could reshape carbon markets, leading to tighter compliance markets by making it more difficult to meet overall reduction goals, ClearBlue said. This would happen due to slower reductions in emissions from the transportation sector, as ZEV adoption slows down.

Pressing pause - Organisers of one of Canada’s largest environmental conferences, Globe Forum, have announced they will pause the 2026 edition due to rising event costs, a crowded sustainability event landscape, and challenging economic and geopolitical conditions. In a statement, the organisers said that while convening stakeholders to tackle Canada’s sustainability challenges remains critical, they will use the hiatus to reassess how best to deliver value and impact to participants. They acknowledged community feedback that many climate and sustainability events lack strategic value and tangible outcomes, adding that the pause will allow them to “reimagine how we can come back stronger, more focused, and more impactful than ever”. The Globe series, launched three decades ago, has been a key venue for sustainability and climate leaders to exchange ideas and drive action. While the Forum will not take place in 2026, the organisers said they will continue convening stakeholders through the Profoundry group, which includes Globe, Delphi, CBSR, and Leading Change Canada.