Panellists on a Thursday webinar pointed project developers toward compliance and regulated markets rather than the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as the primary source of future demand and price formation.

The UAE is in the unique position of being both a potential buyer and seller of international carbon credits, carbon market participants said during the Carbon Forward Middle East conference last week.

Carbon credit purchases are increasing among mid-market buyers as oil and gas companies have reduced their volumes, and new cookstove projects favour newer, more rigorous methodologies, a director from a carbon market intelligence firm told a webinar on Thursday.

The EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) has cut emissions at limited economic cost until now, and could fully fund the bloc’s industrial decarbonisation needs if revenues and free allocation are overhauled in the upcoming 2026 review, according to new research.

While technology has rapidly expanded climate knowledge and solutions, protecting the world's natural assets should still be humanity's top priority, experts told the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos on Thursday.

European carbon prices posted a second daily gain on Thursday despite wild swings in the morning as the markets reacted to receding worries over additional US tariffs on European exports, before falling back and trading comparatively calmly as natural gas prices retreated after a brief spike of 7%.

More life in it yet - The UK seeks to extend the lifetime of its Sizewell B nuclear power station for a further 20 years in a bid to plug a gap in nuclear energy supply before new plants come online. EDF and Centrica are speaking to the govt about an £800 mln-plus investment to extend the operational life of the Suffolk plant, which supplies 3% of the country's electricity, from 2035 to 2055. New capacity at Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C isn't expected until 2030 at the earliest. Commissioned in 1995, Sizewell B is the UK's only running nuclear plant able to be extended for a long period. Extending its life is technically feasible but will require state-backed price certainty, EDF has said. (FT)

Climate adaptation portal - The EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change has launched a new portal to provide information and tools for regions, local authorities, and communities to understand climate risks and develop adaptation strategies in response. It offers detail about ongoing climate adaptation initiatives being funded, as well as tools, guidance, and tested solutions to support evidence-based adaptation planning and decision-making. Read more here.

10k reached - 10,000 companies have now set science-based targets under the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi),  representing more than 40% of global market capitalistion, the organisation announced Thursday. They span nearly every major sector, region, and company size, and are headquartered in more than 90 countries. European-based companies still account for a large share, but growth in Asia has sped up of late, with Japan now boasting the highest number of validated companies globally at over 2,000, followed by the UK, the US, and China. The final version of SBTi's updated Corporate Net-Zero Standard is expected soon, with potential implications for carbon credit uptake.

Nice rice - Green Earth Group, an investor, has made its first foray into Ghana by through a partnership with Pangea Global Ventures. The investor has provided structured financing to FarmerTribe into a modern rice milling facility in Walewale. It has also provided working capital facility that allows FarmerTribe to pay its network of 5,000 smallholder farmers immediately upon harvest.

A new international panel has appointed its first members to help develop a standardised system for tracking carbon emissions at the product level across supply chains, organisers said Monday.

After 25 years of negotiations, the EU and Mercosur signed a contentious deal to create one of the world’s largest free trade zones on Saturday in Asuncion, Paraguay, with its impacts on nature still being evaluated.

A voluntary carbon standard body has added three more risk maps for jurisdictional REDD projects, bringing the total to nine.

Portugal’s fertiliser industry has urged the EU to suspend the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and related tariffs on fertilisers throughout 2026, warning that current proposals could severely disrupt the sector.

A French satellite firm has partnered with a US agricultural modelling provider to integrate remote sensing with Tier 3 emissions modelling for rice cultivation, it announced this week.

The impact of the EU's Emissions Trading System for road transport and heating fuels (ETS2) on household finances will have a greater impact on some EU countries than others, a new study has found.

Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) is expected to play an increasingly marginal role in the global energy transition, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

The world is hoarding oil amid a glut of supply that looks set to continue throughout 2026, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said this week.

Project developer RePlanet aims to help bring 5 million biodiversity credits to market over the next 10 years, which it predicts will trigger a surge in demand, according to a strategy document.

African nature fellows - The African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) has appointed 15 people to its fellowship programme, chosen for their ability to influence capital, policy, and systems in favour of nature-positive economies, it announced on Thursday. As part of the second cohort of Nature Executive Fellowship, the fellows will go through a one-year programme designed to help emerging leaders bolster their expertise and networks in natural capital, biodiversity finance, and systems leadership. The new fellows represent institutions in banking, insurance, capital markets, development finance, regulation, and conservation. They come from eight countries – Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. ANCA was created by the Nairobi-based specialist development agency FSD Africa.

Forward thinking - Investors are pricing future carbon costs into European equities portfolio, but not the cost impact already borne by issuers, found a study by Dutch asset manager Robeco and the UK’s Lancaster University. In financial year 2023, companies in the top quartile of carbon expense intensity faced carbon expenses greater than or equal to 1.4% of revenue, 5.1% of gross income, and 12.4% of operating income. But in heavily regulated sectors such as materials, these ratios hit 5%, 17%, and 50%, respectively. Therefore, carbon compliance is exerting a non-trivial impact on profitability, but realised costs are yet to translate into a discernible risk premium, the research found. But the forward-looking analysis was clearer - suggesting equity market investors are pricing in the risk of future carbon regulation in an economically material way. (IPE)

The European Commission has drafted new rules to phase out biofuels with high deforestation risks from the EU’s renewable energy target, setting a binding yearly phase-down trajectory that would bring their contribution down to zero by 2030.

Worrying signs - Israel's foreign ministry is reportedly discussing the country's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement due to pressure from the US, according to local news outlet Haaretz. Doing so would be an abrupt turnaround by the Israeli govt, which has otherwise shown longstanding and enthusiastic support for climate accords and green energy. Such a move would be strongly decried by environmental groups that warn against the disastrous consequences of existing international climate agreements.

Carbon credits offered both opportunities and significant limitations for financing the conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems, according to an interim report published on Wednesday by a European state environment agency.