Seoul mates – Korea will contribute to the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) next year, the Pacific Island Forum secretariat said in a press release following a meeting of foreign ministers in Seoul this week. The PIF ministers emphasised the urgency to act on climate change and to align with a 1.5C of warming trajectory. They also welcomed Korea’s initiative to co-host with Chile the 2028 UN Ocean Conference, saying it is an opportunity to drive further action and investment to safeguard oceans. The PRF is the first Pacific-owned and led investment vehicle to address climate change mitigation and adaptation. It is seeking to raise $500 mln in pledges by the end of next year; to date, it has secured $167 mln, including from the US and Japan. Part of the COP31 hosting agreement between Australia and Turkiye will see a session on climate finance for Small Island Developing States, which will provide a platform for PRF pledges.

Corporates should be allowed to use Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) to count directly towards targets set by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a non-profit has urged, while another flagged concerns with the voluntary tiered approach and a lack of guidance for near-term carbon removals. 

Charger surge – The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) on Wednesday announced A$21 mln ($14 mln) to support the rollout of EV charging infrastructure. The majority of the cash – A$18.1 mln – is going to Flow Power’s project to develop and operate an ultrafast battery EV charging station network across Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, in collaboration with EV charging network company Gridserve. ARENA has awarded a further A$2.3 mln to Essential Energy for the rollout of public EV chargers in rural and regional New South Wales, and A$1.1 mln to support UTS & RACE for 2030 CRC in their quest to establish the country’s first Vehicle Grid Network in order to accelerate EV grid integration. The agency also noted that a previous recipient of funding, Zenobe, officially opened its first off-site electric truck charging depot in NSW on Wednesday.

If there’s one overarching takeaway from Brazil’s COP30 climate summit, it’s that it was a particularly strange and messy one, reflecting the challenges of negotiating real, immediate efforts to fulfil the Paris Agreement – and the pressing need to change how the annual talks are run. 

Nepal has formally launched its first national carbon trading framework, creating a state-controlled system for carbon credit exports and private participation in the domestic market, according to the regulations published in the official gazette this week.

India and Sweden have agreed to deepen cooperation on industrial decarbonisation aiming to accelerate the deployment of clean technologies, energy efficiency measures, and low-carbon solutions across key sectors.

Rice project - Japanese project developer Green Carbon has teamed up with a group of local partners, including trading company Kanematsu, for a rice cultivation project that can generate domestically issued J-Credits, it announced Wednesday. They will work with rice producers who are suppliers to restaurant chain operator Skylark, and thereby reduce methane emissions from rice paddy fields by extending the mid-drying period. Green Carbon did not disclose further project details in the statement.

Stay tuned - More details about how to define businesses with high carbon leakage risk under Taiwan's carbon levy scheme will be revealed by the end of this year, a move that will affect how much Taiwanese emitters will have to pay. Under the carbon pricing system, regulated emitters will pay their first fee in 2026. Those classified as businesses exposed to high carbon leakage risk are eligible for an 80% discount on their carbon fees. The government is still closely monitoring the US-Taiwan trade issue, but the scope of the tariff impact is mostly known, Environment Minister Peng Chi-ming told local media Monday, adding that the assessment principles for carbon leakage-exposed sectors will be announced by year-end.      

Blue carbon dataset - Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries will publish an updated national blue carbon dataset to set a  baseline for marine carbon projects, Ecobiz Asia reported, citing a government official. The data will cover mangroves, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs, identifying restoration needs and guiding investment. Last month, the Southeast Asian country launched its blue carbon action guide and roadmap to support the government integrating blue carbon ecosystem into later Nationally Determined Contributions.

Sacred offsets - Indian state of Madhya Pradesh is reviewing plans to make the 2028 Simhastha religious gathering, which is held once every 12 years, eligible for carbon credits by rolling out large-scale waste, water, and plastic recycling systems, TOI reported. About 300 mln pilgrims are expected to attend the gathering, with proposals under review for bio-waste processing, which will be one of the biggest challenges.

Removing emissions pricing for agriculture and not replacing it with any other action would leave New Zealand facing a bigger gap to meet its third emissions budget, environment ministry officials warned the government.

A report has called for Australia’s specialist investment vehicles (SIVs) to overhaul how they deploy capital to better match the pace required for the clean energy transition.

A new analysis has found that legally-binding climate commitments have led to a “substantial increase” in the share of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) holdings in mutual funds – the first study to provide empirical evidence of climate finance being mobilised by climate laws.

Farming solutions – New Zealand’s Ag Emissions Centre and public-private partnership investor Agrizero have opened a call for expressions of interest in 2026 funding for ag tech solutions to cut GHG emissions. Specifically, they are looking for ideas which overcome barriers to the development, measurement, or delivery of solutions. The partners are keen on projects which can lead to emissions reductions via dietary manipulations, low-emissions fertilisers, and new or improved approaches to lower emissions from ruminants, among other things. A total of NZ$2 mln ($1.2 mln) is available for full proposals, or up to NZ$50,000 for R&D ideas. The funding round closes on Feb. 24, with the winning projects notified by May 1.

Protect the farm – New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told a Federated Farmers meeting that leaving the Paris Agreement would be a dumb move, Farmers Weekly reported. Doing so would hurt farmers, he said, as international companies would cease to buy New Zealand’s dairy products. Luxon also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to meeting net-zero by 2050 – except for biogenic methane – and repeated his belief that the agricultural sector does not need to have a carbon price applied to it as it is already reducing emissions. National’s coalition partners, Act and NZ First, have both been calling for the country to exit the 2015 climate agreement, and have welcomed government moves this year to weaken climate policies. Luxon’s comments came just days after finance minister Nicola Willis defended her decision not to budget for offshore carbon credit purchases, despite New Zealand facing an 84-MtCO2e gap to its 2030 NDC, saying there is no legal obligation to meet it.

Trucking along – Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Volvo Group Australia have launched a A$70 mln ($46.5 mln) financing scheme to lower the cost barriers for fleet operators to adopt heavy-duty battery electric trucks (HD BEVs), it announced. The package offers an interest-rate discount (up to 0.5%) for leasing medium and heavy-duty electric trucks, as well as a “residual-value support” mechanism to improve end-of-lease valuations and reduce long-term leasing costs. By reducing upfront and leasing costs — and supporting charging-infrastructure deployment — the initiative aims to accelerate the shift from diesel to electric freight transport, helping cut emissions from a sector that currently contributes about 22 % of Australia’s national GHG output.

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) operates more like a differentiated, over-the-counter (OTC) marketplace for "emotionally-appealing marketing claims" than a unified commodity market, according to a new study that draws on data from one of the largest offset dealers globally.

Australia’s draft electricity plan for its largest grid has cut the amount of new transmission infrastructure required, saying more of the heavy lifting will be done by households and batteries to meet the country's climate targets. 

Ten of the world’s largest oil and gas companies would generate substantially greater shareholder value by stopping exploration and sharply curtailing new upstream development, according to an analysis released Wednesday.