The UK government is launching a £15 billion plan to help warm up millions of homes with clean and energy efficient upgrades – in an effort to tackle one of the country's biggest emitting sectors, it announced on Tuesday.

A new study quantified the upper bound of additional climate mitigation achievable through optimised forest management, finding gains of 9.2-10.2 tonnes of CO2 per hectare by 2100 once all major carbon effects are accounted for.

The European Commission has postponed its proposal for boosting the EU's clean tech industry and reducing strategic dependencies by nearly a month, to late February, according to its revised agenda published on Tuesday.

Conversations on risk could be an ideal vehicle for bringing nature and biodiversity into the corporate consciousness, a panel heard during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos on Tuesday.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to freeze the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), arguing that high carbon prices are destroying Europe’s industrial competitiveness.

EU carbon prices extended selling for a second day, driven to a five-week low by the busiest-ever day for front-December futures on the ICE Endex exchange, as long-positioned speculative traders continued to slash holdings in a sell-off that participants said was a reaction to many months of steadily increasing prices, while natural gas continued to recover after Monday morning's sharp drop.

Turkiye's Emissions Trading System (ETS) pilot phase did not launch on Jan. 1 as expected, with the start date now likely postponed to mid-2026 or even the start of 2027, several sources told Carbon Pulse.

Border battles - The UK's plan to introduce a new carbon border tax next year will accelerate the decline of its industry, warned the steel, chemical, and cement sectors. Industry groups say the UK Treasury has failed to heed their concerns and as currently stands, the UK policy will favour overseas competitors over domestic producers. The UK's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is set for entry in Jan. 2027, following this month's introduction of the EU's CBAM, both intended to prevent so-called carbon leakage. Legislation is currently passing through parliament to implement the UK CBAM and industry groups have warned time is running out to change what they say are major flaws. The policy as it stands risk under-reporting some import emissions, according to the Mineral Products Association, because the Treasury plans to apply a single rate to each sector covered by the CBAM, calculated on average emissions values, rather than differentiating by product type and country of origin, as the EU scheme does. Industry has also warned the UK CBAM would leave UK exporters exposed, and the one-year time lag between the EU and UK CBAM entry is already leading to products being dumped in Britain to avoid the EU import tax.  (FT)

The Science Based Targets initiative's (SBTi) updated Corporate Net-Zero Standard is set to recognise companies using carbon credits to compensate for their ongoing emissions as they transition towards net zero.

CDR collab - Carbon removal portfolio manager ClimeFi is working with Raisin to help the financial services provider explore and implement climate action. The Raisin platform allows savers and financial institutions to connect - driving better returns and stable retail deposit funding. By engaging with the carbon removal platform, Raisin therefore aims to contribute to climate solutions beyond its own value chain.

A carbon removal standard has issued the world’s first certified carbon removal credits from river alkalinity enhancement (RAE), they announced Tuesday.

Gold Standard has risked creating “serious operational bottlenecks” that could undermine investor confidence after it said fresh vintage credits must be Paris-aligned, warns a lobby group for project developers.

Carbon crediting rules for enhanced rock weathering (ERW) on farmland may be relying on flawed monitoring approaches and should focus on tracking weathering-derived cations rather than carbon flows in soils, according to a recent academic review.

A major European investor has secured $690 million in commitments for a newly launched blended finance fund aimed at supporting climate-related investments in emerging markets.

The UK government has announced a £43 million funding package to accelerate green aviation technologies, support high-skilled jobs and cut the environmental impact of flying.

EU plans to produce 35 billion cubic metres (bcm) of biomethane by 2030 risk being stymied by falling natural gas prices unless the 27 members states co-ordinate on strategy, warns a new research paper.

The UK’s new corporate sustainability reporting standards should focus on asking for the most relevant information – rather than following the EU example of demanding a “laundry list” of disclosures, according to experts. 

A carbon crediting body has launched a public consultation on a draft methodology aimed at measuring emission reductions from renewable energy projects that supply electricity directly to third-party consumers.

A California-headquartered and Alberta-incorporated carbon management firm and a UAE-based investment platform have launched a jointly governed vehicle aimed at investing up to $100 million in decarbonisation and energy transition projects by end-2027, they announced Tuesday.

The total number of companies that have climate targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) rose to nearly 10,000 corporates in 2025, up 40% year-on-year, data published by the organisation and tracked by Carbon Pulse indicates.

Mission accomplished - A new study conducted by a team of French researchers and published in Ecological Economics has concluded that EU ETS significantly reduced CO2 emissions in the power sector across 24 member states from 2005 to 2020, the period covering the first three phases of the scheme. To isolate the ETS’s causal impact from overlapping climate policies and weather influences, the authors use a Bayesian structural time series model to create counterfactual emissions estimates - what would have happened without the ETS - and compare them with actual emissions. The results show no statistically significant reduction in power sector emissions during Phase 1 (2005–07) but clear, statistically significant reductions in Phase 2 (2008–12) and Phase 3 (2013–20), reflecting the policy’s growing effectiveness over time. The paper highlighted the power sector’s central role in EU decarbonisation and contributes a novel methodological approach for evaluating carbon market impacts on sectoral emissions.

There are at least two viable ways to couple sovereign debt relief with carbon markets, rewarding measurable mitigation outcomes, according to the lead author of a discussion paper published Tuesday by an environmental non-profit and a think tank.

CCB credits - Over 250,000 Climate, Community and Biodiversity labelled credits have been issued by project developer TASC for a grassland restoration project in South Africa, it announced on Tuesday. The credits will be issued under Verra’s updated VM0042 methodology. The project covers over 95,000 hectares of South African grasslands and will employ almost 300 people, TASC said in a statement.  

Steaks, burgers, and other meat should be taxed more in the EU to help change people’s diets and cut related greenhouse gas emissions around the world, according to a new study.

Steel collapse case - The government of France is seeking €95 mln in damages from Greybull, declaring the UK private equity group was responsible for the loss of over 500 jobs at the Novasco steelmaker it previously owned. Greybull acquired Novasco in July 2024 and pledged to invest €90 mln to keep the company afloat, but the attempt failed and put hundreds of roles at risk. France is saying Greybull spent just €1.5 mln of the €90 mln it had committed, which ultimately led to Novasco's Hagondange plant in northeast France and some smaller sites to close down. The French state injected €85 mln into the plants but alleges Greybull didn't stand by its buyout agreement. The case comes as the European steel sector battles increasing competition from China and governments strive to prop the industry up in a bid to save jobs and industrial security. The first hearings in this legal case will start on May 7. (FT)

The Climate Fund Initiative, which calls for a substantial increase in public funding for climate protection, should be rejected when it heads to a public vote in March, both the Federal Council and Parliament said Tuesday.

Science Based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) proposal to use only removals, and not high-integrity reductions, for corporate climate action is “misaligned with the Paris Agreement” and risks slowing decarbonisation efforts, according to a note from an investment platform.

Partnership - South Korea and Sweden this week signed a MoU to strengthen their collaboration on energy transition, the Korean climate ministry announced. The partnership aims to expand the supply of renewable energy, improve the stability of the power grid, and cooperate in nuclear solutions like small modular reactors (SMRs). The two countries plan to combine Korea's industrial and infrastructure development capabilities with Sweden's policy and institutional experience.