The future of forest carbon accounting and the effort to rebuild market confidence hinge on digital monitoring, reporting, and verification (dMRV), speakers at a recent online event suggested.

Full implementation of countries' updated climate commitments could reduce global CO2 emissions by 25% from current levels by 2035, according to an analysis by an energy research firm.

China has declined to invest in Brazil’s Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), while talks with India have faltered, dealing a blow to the recently launched conservation fund aimed at protecting global forests, according to media reports.

Nearly 1 million people have lost their lives to about 10,000 extreme weather events over the past three decades, with damages totalling $4.5 trillion, according to a report launched at COP30.  

Passive hit - Morningstar Sustainalytics reported that European climate-focused funds saw heavy investor withdrawals in the first half of 2025, even as the overall sustainable investment universe grew. Total assets in European climate-themed funds, including mutual funds and ETFs, rose 8% to $553 bln. However, investors pulled $13 bln from the sector amid economic pressures and regulatory uncertainty. ETFs and index funds, representing 53% ($316 bln) of total climate assets, suffered the largest blow, accounting for $8.3 bln in outflows between January and June. The biggest losses came from the 'low-carbon' category, which saw $5.5 bln in redemptions as investors shifted towards more sophisticated climate transition strategies. Three ETFs alone – iShares Environment & Low Carbon Tilt Real Estate Index Fund-UK (-$3 bln), Xtrackers MSCI USA ESG ETF (-$1.3 bln), and Xtrackers MSCI World ESG ETF (-1.1 bln) – accounted for over $5.5 bln in withdrawals. Despite the broader sell-off, investors continued allocating to climate transition strategies, which attracted $1.6 bln in new money. UBS’s Equities World ex CH Climate Aware NSL and Global Equity Climate Transition funds led inflows, collectively raising $1.7 bln. The move reflects a preference for active management: while passive transition ETFs lost $2 bln in H1 2025 (up from $600 mln in all of 2024), active transition funds drew nearly $2 bln. Morningstar attributed outflows from Paris-aligned benchmark trackers (-$1.7 bln globally) to tracking errors, fossil-fuel exclusions, portfolio turnover, and growing competition from bespoke transition strategies. The 'clean energy/tech' category rebounded strongly in performance, averaging 11.8% returns versus 9.9% for the Morningstar Global Index, but still lost $2.9 bln in investor redemptions. Assets in this segment fell 1.8%, as sentiment remained weak. Product development also slowed sharply, with only 25 European launches in the first half of 2025 compared to 62 a year earlier, and just 20% of these were passive. Morningstar described this as a historical low but said it reflected a normalisation after years of rapid expansion. The firm cited the ongoing review of the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR 2.0) - potentially delayed until early 2026 - as a major factor behind the slowdown. Managers have adopted a wait-and-see stance amid uncertainty over whether the current Article 8 and 9 fund classifications will be replaced with new 'sustainable' and 'transition' labels. (Citywire)

New milestone - UK energy-from-waste operator Enfinium has submitted a planning application to Flintshire County Council to install carbon capture technology at its Parc Adfer energy-from-waste facility in Deeside, which processes up to 232,000 tonnes of unrecyclable waste each year. The project, first announced in Apr. 2024, was recently shortlisted by the UK government as a standby project for grant support to connect to the HyNet North West CO2 transport and storage network. A public consultation ran from Sep. 8 to Oct. 6, allowing residents and stakeholders to provide feedback. If approved, Parc Adfer would become Wales’s largest carbon removals project, with a decision expected in early 2026.

Stakeholders remain cautiously optimistic about the long-term expansion of global carbon markets, but note that growing geopolitical tensions are impacting integration timelines and climate policy design, according to a new survey.

Beatriz Soares da Silva, coordinator-general of green finance at Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA), misspoke in announcing that her country anticipates closing an MoU with Sweden on Article 6 cooperation at COP30 in Belem. Soares da Silva actually meant Switzerland, having mixed up the two countries' names.  As a result, Carbon Pulse has withdrawn the story.

A European private equity firm on Tuesday announced it has received over €100 million in commitments for its nature-based solutions (NbS) strategy, predominantly targeting restoration projects in emerging economies.

A global non-profit announced a four-year, $1.4-billion commitment at COP30 on Friday to help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia adapt to worsening climate impacts and expand access to innovations that boost food security and resilience.

A Brazilian state has signed a letter of intent with the non-profit that coordinates public-private buyers’ club the LEAF Coalition, it was announced Tuesday at COP30.

Companies that must comply with the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will have to follow verification rules closely aligned to those already in place for the bloc’s carbon market, and will have to undergo a physical check already in 2026, according to a draft text seen by Carbon Pulse.

Cooling-related greenhouse gas emissions could almost double by mid-century as global demand for inefficient methods surges, according to a report launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Tuesday at COP30 in Belem. 

European carbon allowances advanced for a second day on Tuesday, rallying after a bout of early selling pressure and shrugging off early weakness in gas and power to break above a key level and stabilise.

COP32 is set to be hosted in Ethiopia, although this decision is still to be formally adopted later on Tuesday during the UN’s ongoing climate talks in Belem, Brazil.

Two large global standard setters have welcomed the COP30 Action Agenda’s emphasis on harmonising carbon accounting frameworks.

Clearing up accounting questions will now be key to potential integration of carbon markets, and in particular Article 6, into the new global climate finance goal, agreed last November in Azerbaijan, according to experts.

Forty-four governments, representing roughly 40% of the world’s mangrove coverage, have endorsed an initiative that seeks to generate finance to protect and restore the important ecosystem for climate and biodiversity.

A new facility that claims to be the next generation for commercial scale production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is set to be built in Singapore.

Ukraine aims to cut its greenhouse gases by more than 65% by 2035 – mostly through domestic measures – while also taking part in international carbon trading through Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, according to the country's latest contribution to the UN pact.

Renewables refinancing - Absa Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) has closed a $372 mln refinancing facility for Africa renewables provider Infinity Power. The refinancing relates to Infinity Power’s existing 368MW Bid Window 3 wind portfolio under South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). This includes the Noupoort Wind Farm, Loeriesfontein 2 Wind Farm and Khobab Wind Farm, located in the Northern Cape. The deal strengthens the capital structure, lowers financing costs, and positions the business for further growth, stated the press release Tuesday. Infinity Power is a joint venture between Egypt’s Infinity and Masdar, with a 1.3 GW portfolio of solar and onshore wind assets.

Banks across the eurozone provide cheaper loans to more sustainable businesses and households, according to survey results published Monday.

The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) will spend £6.7 billion in 2024-25 – about £200 million more than the previous year – with nuclear clean-up continuing as its largest single expense, according to a new report from the National Audit Office (NAO).

UK wind farm FID - CWP Energy has reached financial close on the Sanquhar II Wind Farm in the UK, alongside German's KfW IPEX-Bank, they announced in a release Tuesday. The £400 mln onshore wind project in Southern Scotland will be the the fourth-largest onshore wind farm in the UK once operational. Sanquhar II will generate enough clean electricity to power about 335,000 homes annually, and offset over 540,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year. Construction is already underway, with nearly half the workforce drawn for local areas.

Day 2 at COP in Belem. Activity and anticipation are picking up as attendees continue to shuffle in more and more following the first day of negotiations. In our daily running blog, Carbon Pulse will report relevant or useful updates throughout the day. Timestamps are in local time (GMT-3).

A leaked draft proposal to overhaul the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) signals a sweeping shift in how climate-focused investments funds are categorised in the EU, introducing looser requirements for compliance.

A new UK- and UAE-based carbon consultancy has launched with the aim of connecting early-stage regenerative agriculture and reforestation projects to corporate buyers and investors, its managing director announced last week.

A Copenhagen-based firm has received validation from SustainCERT for a Scope 3 emissions project focused on regenerative farming, it announced last week.

EU member states are poised to extend tax exemptions on fossil fuels used by the aviation, maritime, and fishing sectors until 2035, in a move that critics say undermines the bloc’s climate ambitions.

Making lower-carbon choices generated collective savings of more than $54 billion for companies last year, according to disclosure data released by an international non-profit on Tuesday.

There has been a large uptick in the use of misleading narratives around the affordability and national security benefits of fossil fuels, likely in response to outcomes of the Global Stocktake (GST), according to analysis published Tuesday.

A new study by climate governance experts has set out a practical method for assessing whether governments’ climate pledges genuinely reflect the 'highest possible ambition' required under the Paris Agreement — a term long criticised for its vagueness and uneven application across countries.

REDDy for finance – Burundi is looking to international carbon markets to support its REDD ambitions, according to its third NDC, published on Monday. Participating in international markets “offers an opportunity to monetise efforts to protect forest ecosystems”, said the plan, which flagged REDD as one of its key mitigation measures. It added that its evaluation of its second NDC showed the importance of international markets, including potentially Article 6, to mobilising finance. Burundi is seeking $8.4 bln of climate finance to implement its third NDC, split into $4.4 for mitigation and $3.9 bln for adaptation. The East African nation is pledging a 23% reduction in GHG emissions by 2035 against BAU, split into 3% unconditional and 20% conditional on financial support.

Canada, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Peru, Switzerland, and Zambia have officially endorsed principles promoted by a Singapore-led coalition to grow carbon markets, even as their motivations and perceptions of quality appear to differ.

Over half of the 85 countries analysed by a UK-based research institution have renewable energy pipelines exceeding their current fossil fuel capacities, a paper published Tuesday said.