Voluntary program body BioCarbon is consulting on a revised version of its biodiversity standard as it continues to pursue international recognition as a high-integrity certification body, this time seeking to align with the Biodiversity Credit Alliance’s (BCA) High-level Principles, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Wind and solar produced more power in the EU than fossil fuels in 2025, according to an energy think tank, generating a record 30% of the bloc's electricity.

A Norway-based carbon capture and storage (CCS) project developer has signed an offtake agreement with an international assurance provider for a total of 40,000 CO2 removal (CDR) credits worth at least NOK 100 million (€8.6 mln).

Emissions trading association IETA is launching a new taskforce for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to support the development of markets across the region, a senior representative told Carbon Pulse.

Carbon pricing is a key piece of the low-carbon fuels jigsaw, particularly as the market currently relies on subsidies and mandates, said industrty executives during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday afternoon.

A new leaf - The International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) has launched a new phase of EU-funded capacity building activities, which help to advance development of emissions trading systems (ETSs) globally. The project will expand ICAP's training, outreach, and technical support to jurisdictions developing or strengthening ETSs, and will run for several years. The two core work areas are global and regional capacity building, and tailored bilateral support. ICAP and the European Commission will jointly guide and coordinate all activities. More details here.

EU carbon allowance prices clawed back some of the last two days' losses as natural gas jumped by nearly 10% on Wednesday after Commitment of Traders data showed unchanged speculative EUA positions and a flip to net length on the TTF at the end of last week, while market participants digested the expiry of January EUA options and further developments at the World Economic Forum.

The UK’s first and largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project has signed a lease of the seabed in the North Sea that starts the ball rolling for storing up to 1 billion tonnes of CO2.

Investment in biofuels hit a new peak in 2025 as a result of increased debt financing, in a sign that more capital is going towards getting commercial-scale projects off the ground rather than validating the technology, according to new analysis.

Relying on non-permanent carbon removal to meet net zero targets risks creating a Sisyphean cycle of repeated mitigation and a growing carbon debt for future generations, according to a paper released Wednesday.

The European Parliament voted on Wednesday to suspend the ratification of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement until the European Court of Justice (ECJ) assess its conformity with EU treaties, a process that usually takes 16-18 months.

Some airlines are responding to a worldwide scarcity of CORSIA-eligible units by pre-emptively investing in promising pipeline projects, according to an insurer speaking last week at Carbon Forward Middle East in Abu Dhabi.

Permanence will become the dominant filter through which carbon removal buyers assess projects in 2026, the chief scientist from a carbon removals (CDR) marketplace said on Wednesday. 

A carbon removal registry has released a draft module designed to create a standardised framework for durably storing biomass in subsurface mine workings.

Three technology firms have announced a strategic partnership to build national-scale infrastructure for carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, targeting a huge pipeline of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs).

Call for EU ETS maritime freeze – The international ferry industry organisation (Interferry) has urged the EU to freeze the bloc’s maritime ETS coverage for ferries at 70% from 2025 instead of rising to 100% this year, warning of “severe competitive disadvantage” versus exempt road transport and a risk of cargo shifting back to trucks. The trade body said ferries, which move 400 million passengers and 200 million vehicles annually in Europe, are being taxed about €1 billion a year without clear rules on how ETS revenues will be reinvested in maritime decarbonisation. It called for road transport’s inclusion and ringfencing of funds for e-fuels and port electrification. (MarineLink)

The inclusion of waste-to-energy plants in the EU ETS would effectively make carbon capture and storage (CCS) mandatory for incinerators in Europe, increase costs for municipalities, and make the most polluting waste management option – landfilling – comparatively more attractive, industry executives told Carbon Pulse in an interview.

South Africa's big bailout – Bailing out South Africa utility Eskom accounted for 30% of state aid in 2025, according to a new International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) report. The country spent nearly R 200 bln (€10.4 bln) on energy subsidies last year, most of it for fossil fuels, slowing down its climate goals, the organisation found. In financial year 2025, energy subsidies totalled R 198 bln, with direct support for fossil fuels amounting to R110 bln - triple their level in 2018. More than 30% of total energy subsidy costs last year were linked to efforts to stabilise Eskom's financial position. Despite South Africa's carbon tax, most GHG emissions are not taxed in the country due to extensive exemptions, with Eskom not paying any carbon tax despite being the country's largest emitter. (Business Day)

EU names new green finance advisers – The European Commission on Wednesday published the list of members for the third mandate of its Platform on Sustainable Finance, which advises on the EU Taxonomy. Following a July 2025 call for applications, the Commission selected 28 members and 16 observers from public and private sectors, chosen for environmental and sustainable finance expertise, while aiming for geographical and gender balance. It also reappointed Helena Vines Fiestas, a Spanish markets regulator and UN Net Zero Policy taskforce co-chair, as Platform chair. The mandate runs from Feb. 2026 to end-2027.

The UK must accelerate clean energy delivery this year to have a chance of meeting its 2030 clean power goal, while taking steps to reintegrate with the EU’s power market, experts say.

Nestle blames Trump – Nestle chief executive Philipp Navratil has partly blamed US President Donald Trump for the food giant’s muted public stance on sustainability, citing a sharp drop in investor interest in ESG issues in the US since Trump’s re-election. Speaking to employees in December, Navratil said it was “a bit a pity” Nestle was not more vocal and added it was “also President Trump’s fault” as climate concerns had “totally gone off the agenda” in US investor meetings. He stressed Nestle remains committed to its net zero by 2050 goal, after already cutting emissions 20%. (Financial Times)

German green steel hopes – Germany’s struggling steel sector is betting on decarbonisation to revive output after production slumped in 2025 to its lowest level since 2009, the German Steel Association said Wednesday. The lobby group blamed historically weak demand, rising foreign competition, high energy prices, global overcapacity in Asia and unpredictable US customs policies for a roughly 9% drop in crude steel output last year. Managing director Kerstin Maria Rippel urged mandatory use of low-emission raw materials in public investment and EU “content rules” to strengthen demand for climate-friendly steel. (Clean Energy Wire)

EU hydrogen funding – The European Commission has signed grant agreements with six winners of its 2024 Innovation Fund renewable hydrogen auction, awarding €270.6 million drawn from EU ETS revenues, the EU executive announced on Jan. 21. The projects in Spain, Finland and Norway will install 381.25 MW of electrolysers to produce around 500 kt of RFNBO hydrogen over 10 years, avoiding an estimated 3.4 Mt of CO2. Winning bids ranged from €0.33 to €1.88/kg, with individual grants between €1.8 mln and €135.5 mln.

SMR roadmap for Poland – Poland should move quickly to deploy small modular reactors (SMRs) to cut coal use, bolster energy security and anchor industrial decarbonisation, the Clean Air Task Force said in a new roadmap published on Jan. 20. The paper urges Warsaw to create a dedicated SMR licensing path, strengthen regulators and set up an SMR finance task force. It recommends revenue-stabilising tools such as contracts for difference, a Regulated Asset Base model and long-term power purchase agreements, alongside EU taxonomy‑aligned green finance. Poland’s high public support for nuclear and repurposable coal sites make it well placed to become a regional SMR hub, CTF argues.

Concrete credits - Law firm Castren and Snellman has agreed to purchase the first certified carbon credits generated from Carbonaide’s CO₂ mineralisation technology in concrete, the developer said on LinkedIn. Carbonaide claims its technology stores CO2 permanently, whilst improving concrete strength and production efficiency - making green concrete profitable. The first credits will be based on CO₂ storage at the Lakka-konserni factory in Finland, certified by the Isometric registry.

A United Arab Emirates-based technology company has carried out its first Article 6 transaction for carbon credits from a large forestry project in Malawi, it announced on Wednesday.

Gold Standard has launched a new carbon methodology that enables farmers and project developers to earn credits by using microbes to lock atmospheric CO2 into agricultural soils.

Natural gas discovery - Orlen Upstream Norway and Equinor have discovered new natural gas resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), expected to produce about 1 billion cubic metres of gas for transport to Poland via the Baltic Pipe. The so-called Sissel discovery may be developed as a tie-back to the Utgard field, located five kilometers to the north, thereby accelerating startup and reducing costs. Utgard itself was developed as a tie-back to the Sleipner complex - one of Orlen’s key production centers on the NCS. The size of the Sissel discovery is estimated at 6.3–28.3 million barrel of oil equivalent.

Capital for distribution - Clean energy startup Cloover has secured $22 mln in Series A equity financing alongside a $1.2 bln debt facility to expand into additional European markets. The company's AI-powered platform supports the distributed energy economy by bringing workflow management, financing, procurement, and energy optimisation into one operating system. Its revenue grew more than eight times last year, approaching $100 mln in sales on the back of growing demand for solutions like solar, batteries, and EV charging, it said in a release Wednesday. It's projecting $500 mln in revenue this year as rising energy demand and grid instability provide a more expansive infrastructure opportunity. The equity round was led by MMC Ventures and QED Investors, with participation from Lowercarbon Capital, BNVT Capital, Bosch Ventures, Centrotec, and Earthshot Ventures, while the debt facility was provided by a European bank.

The top 10 corporate emitters of fossil fuel and cement CO2 in 2024 were all fully or majority state-owned companies and together accounted for more than one quarter of global fossil CO2 emissions, while a total of just 32 companies were linked to more than half of global emissions, according to a new analysis published on Wednesday.

Regulatory uncertainty in Indonesia’s carbon markets means sourcing investors remains challenging for a local waste-to-energy project, the developer told Carbon Pulse on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Indonesia has become the latest country to join the Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets, raising the number of nations in the group to 11.