Australia should prioritise market-wide whole-of-system electricity grid planning in order to realise its green iron, aluminium, and steelmaking ambitions that will require gargantuan amounts of renewable energy, according to a report published Monday.

Move and be moved - Mazda has developed a prototype carbon-capture system capable of trapping around 20% of a vehicle’s tailpipe CO2 emissions, as part of efforts to make combustion engines cleaner while electric vehicles remain dependent on fossil-fuelled grids. CFO Jeff Guyton told reporters at the Tokyo motor show that the exhaust-mounted device stores captured carbon in a small onboard tank using a crystalline zeolite substrate. The system draws hot exhaust gases through a drying process, retaining roughly one-fifth of the CO₂ that would otherwise be emitted. Mazda plans to test the technology in an endurance racing car later this year to assess its performance under high-load conditions before considering road-car applications. The captured CO2 could potentially be reused in recycled plastics or industrial materials, linking to Mazda’s experiments with carbon-based composites featured in its Vision X-Coupe concept. The project is part of Mazda’s Multi-Solution Strategy, which also includes hybrids, rotary-range extenders, and biofuel research. The company contends that such approaches could deliver scalable emissions reductions even for markets with limited EV infrastructure, such as Australia, where Mazda continues to prioritise incremental improvements to combustion technology over rapid electrification. (Car Expert)

The carbon and nature standard BioCarbon unveiled seven dedicated workstreams under its digital monitoring, reporting and verification (dMRV) Working Group, marking the next step in its plan to digitise key processes across the carbon credit value chain, it announced this week.

Global fossil fuel emissions reached an all-time high of 40.8 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2024, while fire-related losses in tropical primary forest surged 370%, according to a climate report published a week before the start of the UN climate summit in Brazil.

Exchange operator ICE will launch eight new carbon credit auction futures contracts on Dec. 8, promoting a new primary market mechanism for the voluntary carbon market (VCM) and the UN aviation offsetting scheme CORSIA.

Remaining rules for the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)'s implementation will be voted by EU member states in mid-November, a European Commission official said this week, while an anti-circumvention and extension proposal will be proposed in early December.

Governments should jointly design and develop a global advance market commitment (AMC) to accelerate carbon removal (CDR) funding and deployment, according to a new paper.  

Singapore on Friday launched its second request for proposals (RFP) for Article 6-compliant carbon credits, which will be used to meet the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement through 2030.

The global construction sector's carbon footprint has ballooned to account for 33% of all global emissions and is on a trajectory to exhaust the world's entire remaining 1.5C carbon budget by 2030, a new analysis has found.

Permits in China's national emissions market fell to around RMB 50 ($7.03), the lowest level since Dec. 2021, amid lingering selling pressure among power companies, while weekly trading volumes almost tripled as the year-end compliance deadline draws near.

The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) has urged policymakers to integrate CO2 removals into compliance carbon markets and establish harmonised global standards, arguing that voluntary efforts alone cannot deliver the scale of removals required to meet mid-century climate targets.

More countries have embedded nature-based solutions within their national climate policies but human rights provisions are lacking, a report published this week said.

The upcoming Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) in India faces key design choices, a recently published report argued, as without a price or supply control mechanism (PSAM), the market could repeat same problems that have hampered other emissions trading systems.

Amsterdam-based environmental commodities trader STX Group is closing the Vertis Global Carbon Fund, a short-lived vehicle launched in 2023 to give institutional investors exposure to emerging compliance carbon markets worldwide.

The national policies and measures planned or implemented for 2030 would hardly make a dent in global emissions – with some sectors expected to see slight increases, and land sinks to shrink, according to the UN's first synthesis of transparency reports under the Paris Agreement.

A hot deal - Korea Gas Corp has signed an agreement with the Korea Energy Agency to reduce GHG emissions in the building sector and improve energy welfare for low-income households. The state-owned company will donate KRW 15 bln ($11 mln) over three years to replace around 10,000 boilers with high-efficiency models under the agency’s Corporate Emission Matching Program (CEMP). The programme allows participants to earn carbon credits by registering the projects as external reductions under the Korean ETS.

A South Korean provincial government has signed an agreement with Mongolia to cooperate on carbon reduction projects under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, local media reported earlier this week.

The world’s biggest industrial gas makers are “hiding in plain sight” as major emitters of greenhouse gases, despite being lauded as leaders in sustainability, according to a report published this week that found their electricity needs rival that of small nations, while much of their carbon footprint remains unreported.

Providing protection - Indonesia and the UK will advance two new programmes - the Multistakeholder Forestry Programme (MFP-5) and the Land Facility-Indonesia Country Support Project, the Southeast Asian country's Ministry of Forestry said. MFP-5, running 2025-30, will build on earlier projects that helped with Indonesia’s forest governance. The Land Facility project, starting next month, will focus on helping indigenous communities manage customary forests and improve food security in Papua, West Papua, and Southwest Papua.

Malaysia has identified a broad list of potential mitigation activities that could be authorised under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, including projects in renewable energy, carbon capture, waste management, and land-use sectors.

Crunch time - Time is running out for the Australia government to secure its bid to host COP31 in 2026 in partnership with the Pacific, David Dutton, director of research at the Lowy Institute think tank, wrote in The Interpreter. Dutton said while hosting COP31 is replete with risks, it could become an enduring achievement for the Albanese government, bringing trade and investment to Australia while paying diplomatic dividends. He wrote that the Prime Minister and key ministers should steer a whole-of-government taskforce which integrates expertise and capabilities across portfolios and mobilises the diplomatic network. Australia and Turkiye are still at loggerheads over who will get hosting rights, with a final outcome to be decided in the final hours of COP30 in Brazil, according to observers. Dutton said if Albanese wants to seize the opportunity of COP31, he needs to move fast.

Just transition - Indonesia is drawing up new rules to make its shift from coal fairer for workers and communities, according to draft consultation papers. The Standard 9 framework under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) calls for retraining, social protection, and investment in new industries to support regions dependent on coal. Both national and local governments will be tasked with planning economic diversification and monitoring social impacts, according to the documents. It added that the transition must be gradual as coal still provides most of Indonesia’s fiscal revenue.

Swift purchase - Australia gentailer AGL will spend A$185 mln ($121 mln) purchasing four new gas turbines from Siemens AB as part of the development of the Kwinana Swift Gas 2 project, it announced Friday. It follows 176 MW of capacity from the project being assigned as Peak Certified Reserve Capacity by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). The project is slated to commence on Oct. 1, 2027, with AGL highlighting the need for new firming capacity to support the energy transition. A final investment decision on the project has not been made, however AGL said the project would provide back-up capacity to support the build out of renewables in Western Australia and assist the state government phase out state-owned coal-fired generation by 2030.

Leaders from Singapore, Chile and New Zealand announced the start of negotiations as part what they called a Green Economy Partnership Agreement (GEPA), according to a statement Friday.