A hot sale - The Bureau of Land Management will hold annual competitive geothermal lease sales on industry-nominated federal parcels, accelerating from the current biennial schedule required under the Geothermal Steam Act, according to an instruction memorandum sent last week to field offices, E&E News reported. BLM Acting Assistant Director Tina Roberts-Ashby said the policy shift reflects the bureau's commitment to accelerating reliable baseload energy development and supporting the Trump administration's American Energy Dominance Agenda. The new policy prioritizes yearly sales in states with pending nominations where land is available for leasing.

Big apple shrinks - New York City's GHG emissions dropped 5% in 2024 to pandemic levels, with a 25% reduction since 2005, according to the city's annual inventory released Monday, the City reported. Buildings emissions fell 27% versus 2005 levels driven by fuel oil phase-out and Local Law 97 that took effect in 2024 capping carbon emissions from large buildings. Transportation emissions declined 22% from 2005 despite recovering from pandemic lows. The city must achieve 40% emissions cuts by 2030 and 80% by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.

Go north - US-based Mantel Capture said that Alberta is an optimal location to scale-up carbon capture technology, CBC reported. The company began last week an early engineering and design study for a commercial-scale project in Canada's oilsands located in the province. It's designed to capture 60,000 tCO2 per year.

Maryland’s environmental commission recommended that the governor’s office assess options for an economy-wide cap-and-invest programme, resurfacing an ask that the group first made in 2024.

Hear them out - A federal judge has denied Texas’ motion for summary judgement in a case where the state is defending a recently-passed law regulating proxy advisory firms. The firms, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, are suing the state claiming that its new law, SB 2337, violates the First Amendment by seeking to change the firms’ shareholder voting recommendations. Earlier this month, the state attorney general filed a motion for summary judgement, which was denied by the federal judge Dec. 19, according to case filings. The law has also been put on hold by the judge as the lawsuit plays out.

The US EPA has proposed a draft permit for a Class VI carbon sequestration well in central Kansas that will enable an ethanol producer to sequester nearly 2 million tonnes of CO2 annually.

A Brazilian bank, project developer, and agtech company have unveiled a financing partnership to link the generation of carbon credits with crediting lines for regenerative agricultural practices in the country.

NJ NbS cash - New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded nearly $11 mln in previously announced funding to three nature-based carbon sequestration projects. Nearly $2.8 mln will go to restore tidal wetland vegetation on Scotch Bonnet Island, while $5 mln will go to Stafford Township to restore 23 acres (1.2 hectares) of tidal salt marsh and more than $3 mln will go to Montclair State University to plant over 900 trees to replace dead or diseased trees on its campus. $19 mln in grants remain available in a second round to eligible blue and green carbon projects.

Empower+ empowered - New York is steering $230 million in revenues from regional power sector cap-and-trade scheme RGGI to its Empower+ programme over the next two years after deep cut to the initiative were floated earlier this year, reported New York Focus. The programme allows low- and moderate-income households to permanently reduce their bills by paying for energy efficiency upgrades, including home insulation and new appliances. Officials said the boost in funding should be enough to keep the programme stable until at least 2027.

Disbursement completed - Brazilian forest restoration firm re.green has become the first company to complete the full disbursement of resources from the BNDES Native Forests Climate Fund, almost two years after it was originally announced, unlocking R$187 mln ($38 mln) in what marks the fund’s inaugural restoration contract, it announced Monday. The financing, backed by bank guarantees from Itau BBA and Banco Bradesco, has now prompted BNDES to approve an additional R$250 mln. The capital will support the restoration of around 35,000 hectares and conservation of a further 70,000 ha across the Atlantic Forest and Amazon, with projects expected to reduce nearly 1.2 MtCO2 annually from 2030.

Clean heat update - Massachusetts' Department of Environment Protection (DEP) has issued a notice it is extending the planned phase in of the state's future Clean Heat Standard (CHS). Under the new schedule, emission reduction and electrification requirements are expected to take effect in 2028, rather than next year, as originally envisioned. Until that point, DEP said it intends to evaluate new fuel and emissions data; analyse affordability trends; monitor progress under the energy efficiency update Mass Save programme; and collect further information.

Merry Christmas - Alberta published its Enhanced Oil Recovery quantification protocol version 2.0, finalising updates that were first proposed in November. Offsets generated via this methodology would be eligible for compliance under the province's carbon market, known as TIER.

E-bussin' - The World Bank Board of Directors has approved the first phase of the Brazil Electromobility Multiphase Programmatic Approach (MPA), aiming to help cities public reduce emissions through the introduction of electric buses and associated infrastructure. Phase 1, implemented by public financial institution Caixa Economica Federal, represents a $500 mln investment and will support the creation of a national credit line to finance the replacement of diesel buses with e-buses, the upgrading of depots and power distribution networks, and the provision of technical assistance to cities and operators. As one component of the project, $10 mln will fund a Project Development Facility and institutional strengthening, including support for developing a carbon market service to aggregate and trade credits from e-bus projects.

Coming up short - Colorado is now two years behind its state GHG reduction targets for 2025 and 2030, reported the Colorado Sun, and state officials are blaming the Trump administration’s attack on renewable energy programmes. Environmental watchdogs, meanwhile, claim that the state was already slated to miss its targets before Trump’s second term. The state’s 2025 climate goal is to cut emissions by 26% from a 2005 baseline. However, a report released last week shows that the state has only achieved cuts of 21%. Its 2030 climate goal is to cut GHG emissions 50% by 2030 from a 2005 baseline.

Electrifying low- and medium-temperature industrial heat in the US could reduce cumulative climate pollution by between 930 million and 1.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2050, with the largest near-term opportunities in states including California, Washington, and New York, according to an academic roadmap published on Monday.

Coal to solar switching - Maryland’s largest solar farm in the western part of the state is now operational on a former coal mine. The 160 MW project, called CVP Backbone Solar, is operated by Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Renewable Power, is expected to generate enough energy to power 30,000 homes. CVP says the project is designed to demonstrate the role of brownfield redevelopment in the energy transition, according to Electrek.

Development practitioners lack clear, practical guidance for valuing carbon benefits from forestry projects, according to new study that provided recommendations on how to conduct cost-benefit analysis.

European carbon prices broke out of a narrow morning trading range on Tuesday to race to their highest in 28 months, even as activity continued to diminish ahead of the two-day holiday break later in the week, while UK allowances set another 32-month high, further eroding their discount to the EU market.

The European Commission has adopted amendments to its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) state aid guidelines to expand the number of sectors eligible for compensation and adjust support levels in response to higher carbon prices and rising carbon leakage risks.

A European forestry investment fund has completed the first close of its fourth main vehicle, reflecting strong demand from international investors for professionally managed forest assets, the company said.

The shift to fully and hybrid electric cars in the EU continued to accelerate in November ahead of the European Commission watering down its plans this month to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035, data showed Tuesday.

A bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project in England has become the first UK project from the sector to be listed on carbon removals registry Puro.earth.

A state in southern India has invited bids to develop a biochar project inside a major tiger reserve, aiming to generate carbon credits by converting invasive plant species into biochar.

Climate confusion - A growing number of British newspapers are focusing on 'net zero' while failing to mention climate change or similar terms in the same article, exacerbating issues with public understanding of what net zero actually means. In 2018, a year before the UK passed its net zero by 2050 goal, analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) found that all the articles across nine major UK national newspapers mentioning the term ‘net zero’ at least three times, including in the headline, also mentioned ‘climate change’ or a similar term such as ‘global warming’. But by 2024, this figure had fallen to 59%. Last year, more than 300 articles mentioned the term ‘net zero’ at least three times, including in the headline, without also mentioning 'climate change’ or a similar term. Over half of these 323 articles (166) were in the Telegraph. This comes amid public confusion around the term net zero, with 22% of respondents to a survey by Climate Barometer in April wrongly thinking net zero meant producing no carbon emissions at all. ECIU found clear differences between publications - 71% of 2024 articles referring to ‘net zero’ once also mention climate change in the Guardian, but that compares to just 23% in the Sun; 27% in the Express; 32% in the Telegraph; and 38% in the Times.

While human-led validation remains essential, integrating AI into desk reviews could cut audit times for validation and verification bodies (VVBs) by up to 50% and help reduce backlogs without compromising quality, an executive at a New York-headquartered firm told Carbon Pulse.

Warmest yet - 2025 is on track to be the UK's warmest year on record, with the average annual temperature tracking at 10.05C - ahead of the previous record of 10.03C set in 2022, according to the Met Office. The final figure is not yet confirmed and a forecasted cold spell is due over Christmas, but if it is, this year will be only the second year in observational records where the country's annual mean temperature has exceeded 10C. All of the top 10 warmest years will have occurred in the last two decades. The findings are "further evidence of the impacts of climate change in the UK" and the need to reach net zero as soon as possible, said Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. (sky.com)

A US-based carbon removal company has reported no signs of biomass decomposition after one year of monitoring at its first storage site in Arkansas, it said last week.

Green guarantee - The UK's National Wealth Fund is providing £800 mln of financial guarantee to support four electricity transmission upgrade projects to help more renewables connect to the grid in the north of Scotland. The guarantee for SSEN Transmission underpins a £1 bln financing facility arranged by a syndicate of banks led by Bank of America, with other lenders including JP Morgan and NatWest. The arrangement is expected to allow SSEN to access longer-term bank loans that more closely match the lifespan of new grid infrastructure being built, with the upgrades intended to boost transmission capacity in northern Scotland where much of the country's wind power is located. The four projects covered by the guarantee are the Skye Reinforcement, the Argyll and Kintyre 275kV Strategy, the Orkney Connection, and the Eastern Green Link 2 subsea cable project. The latter will transport electricity from Scotland to demand centres further south. (edie.net)

Water-hungry - The UK's largest planned data centre could use more than 50 times more water than the developer QTS claims, according to investigative journalists at The Guardian and Watershed Investigation. The $13.5-bln facility to be built in Northumberland is estimated to consume 124 mln litres in its first phase, they found, which is over 50 times higher than the 2.3 mln litres QTS has claimed. The UK govt is prioritising AI expansion as a vehicle for economic growth with almost 100 new data centres planned over the next five years, but concerns persist about whether it's moving too fast without updating plans on water, energy, and land use. (edie.net)

Get to work - Indonesia and Japan have approved two Indian firms as accredited third-party entities to verify carbon projects under their bilateral Joint Crediting Mechanism. The joint committee overseeing the scheme designated Galaxy Certification Services, a certification and inspection firm, and 4K Earth Science, a climate and geospatial analytics company. Third-party entities are responsible for validating project designs and verifying emissions reductions before credits are issued.

Blue carbon bet - Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan has invested in US agri-tech firm Symbrosia, which cultivates red seaweed to absorb CO2 from marine ecosystems, as it tests a carbon capture and utilisation business model in North America, the company said in a press release. The investment was made via Idemitsu’s US subsidiary, Idemitsu Americas Holdings, it said on Tuesday. Symbrosia’s seaweed cultivation is used as biomass to produce livestock feed additives aimed at cutting agricultural emissions.

Biomass credits - Tokyo-based Linkhola, a project developer, said on Tuesday that a wood biomass project in Iwate prefecture has issued 749 carbon credits, marking what it described as the country’s first ESCO-type scheme of its kind. The credits were generated by Environmental Energy Diffusion, which installed biomass facilities at two elderly care sites using resources from a local forest, according to the press release.

New Zealand’s Supreme Court has dismissed an application to hear an appeal against a lower court ruling in a lawsuit over advice which fed into the South Pacific country's first emissions reduction plan and budget.

Cash for communities – New Zealand has contributed an additional FJ $5 mln ($2.2 mln) to Fiji’s Climate Relocation of Communities Trust Fund, the Fijian environment and climate ministry said on social media on Friday. The cash will support the Pacific Island nation’s relocation programme for communities facing severe climate risk, including access to resources to shift when all adaptation measures have been exhausted, the ministry said. It emphasised that relocation is a last resort measure.

Diet on trial – Around 450 citizens are suing Japan’s central government over its unconstitutional inaction on climate change, in a first for the country, reported The Japan Times last week. Describing the country’s efforts on climate as grossly inadequate, the plaintiffs are seeking damages of JPY 1,000 ($6.40) each, with lead lawyer Akihiro Shima saying the aim of the suit is to focus on Japan’s responsibility to fight climate change and not the money. Past climate litigation in Japan has focused on companies and coal plants, whereas this is the first case to seek compensation from the state for climate change, the paper reported.

Fertiliser use on peatlands can either accelerate climate gains or make little measurable difference, depending on land use and hydrology, according to new findings from long-term field measurements in Finland and Malaysia that span afforestation, oil palm cultivation, and contrasting greenhouse gas pathways.

RGGI Allowance (RGA) futures fell last week as the market enters the holiday season, with traders saying they expect prices to drop further in the new year due to incoming supply.