Watchdog electricity worries - Demand is quickly outpacing power generation as data centres and other large electricity customers come online, according to new findings by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC). E&E News reported the watchdog warned overall resource adequacy is worsening.

Path to US energy expansion - The nonpartisan Energy Infrastructure Alliance Forum has officially launched to improve US federal support for the commercial deployment of a range of energy tech, according to Axios. The outlet reported the organisation will focus on the DOE’s recently renamed loan office, The Office of Energy Dominance Financing, which has a $289 bln in available loan authority after a Trump administration overhaul that restructured Biden-era commitments, including for renewable energy.  It published a white paper outlining a roadmap for leveraging office funds to support energy infrastructure priorities of the federal government, including for nuclear energy, AI hyperscaler support, critical mineral supply chains, and grid resilience.

Producers increased their net length in two California Carbon Allowance (CCA) markets and in the RGGI Allowance (RGA) futures market, while reporting a net short in their Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) holdings, the latest US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday showed.

California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) recorded a net deficit of 1.7 million credits in the third quarter of 2025, the programme's first quarterly shortfall since early 2021, data from state regulator ARB showed Friday.

Canada’s federal financial system should better reflect the country’s climate and biodiversity commitments, and address gaps in disclosure, transition planning, and oversight, which could leave the economy exposed to climate-related risks, according to a parliamentary environment committee.

Brazil ETS workshop - Brazil's Extraordinary Secretariat of the Carbon Market held a product workshop recently that marked the official start of the country's future emissions trading system (Portuguese: SBCE). Representatives from the federal government, private sector, financial markets, and strategic institutions took part in the workshop that focused on design for the most appropriate scope for the system, encompassing all phases of carbon market implementation, according to Brazil's finance ministry. At the end of the three-day immersion, it is expected the work will result in the creation of a planning document known as an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), which will gather the minimum requirements necessary to guarantee the initial operation of the SBCE, with functionalities organised in phases, allowing it to evolve over time. Participants also discussed defining a necessary path to foster carbon trading and attracting national and international buyers. The workshop was held in partnership with Serpro, which is responsible for developing the digital platform where the system's central registry will be maintained.

RGGI hopefuls - Democratic delegates in the Virginia General Assembly are advancing House Bill 397, which would require the state legislature to re-enter Virginia into regional power sector cap-and-trade scheme RGGI. HB 397 was read in the House on Friday for the first time. On Thursday, the General Assembly’s Department of Planning and Budget released a fiscal impact statement for the bill, estimating that participation in RGGI could result in annual proceed of $115.6 mln per auction in Virginia, or $462.6 mln per fiscal year.

SAF landing – FedEx announced Thursday it had expanded its use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport late last year, lifting the total number of US airports where it uses blended SAF to five in 2025. The company has secured the equivalent of 5 mln gallons of neat SAF across these agreements, including 2 mln gallons to be supplied at DFW and JFK under a deal with World Fuel Services, delivered as a minimum 30% blend. FedEx said the DFW purchase marked the first non-pilot SAF procurement at the airport by any airline.

Hydrogen shift – The City of Edmonton has partnered with the University of Alberta and Diesel Tech Industries to study hydrogen-powered retrofits for municipal vehicles, a Canadian outlet reports. The collaboration will examine hydrogen combustion and dual-fuel hydrogen diesel systems for buses and other heavy-duty vehicles, with a focus on maximising hydrogen use while avoiding full engine replacement. The research is backed by funding from Emissions Reduction Alberta and Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and builds on Edmonton’s earlier trials of electric, hydrogen fuel-cell, and dual-fuel vehicles amid cost and cold-weather constraints. If successful, the partners aim to scale the retrofit model to other Canadian municipalities.

Colorado CCS - Colorado’s Geologic Storage Stewardship Enterprise Board set an annual stewardship fee for operators in the state to promote long-term protections for Class VI wells – 8 cents per tonne of CO2 injected. The board’s decision on Tuesday designated the fees to go into a fund to support the long-term care of those storage sites, to manage potential risks association with carbon capture and sequestration. The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission applied to the US EPA in 2025 for primacy over Class VI injection well permitting – a process that is in the proposed rulemaking stage.

Charging ahead - A report released Wednesday by US fast-charging data firm Paren found that the country’s public fast-charging network expanded rapidly in 2025, adding around 18,000 new DC fast-charging ports, a roughly 30% YoY increase, even as growth in EV adoption slowed. The study said charging demand rose in parallel, with an estimated 141 mln charging sessions over the year, also up about 30%, indicating new capacity was absorbed rather than left idle. Paren found that deployment increasingly favoured larger, higher-capacity sites, while utilisation rates remained broadly stable, pricing changed little, and operational reliability improved across most markets, suggesting the sector continued to scale sustainably despite a more cautious market backdrop.

Treaty tightening - Senate Republicans on Wednesday introduced legislation that would require Senate approval for any future US participation in international climate agreements, responding to how the Obama administration joined the Paris climate accord without submitting it as a treaty, E&E News reported. The bill, titled the “No Climate Treaties Act,” is sponsored by Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) and 23 other GOP senators and was released to coincide with the US's formal exit from the Paris climate agreement this week. The measure aims to prevent a future Democratic administration from rejoining the accord without a two-thirds Senate vote, after President Donald Trump initiated US withdrawal from the agreement upon taking office, reversing the decision by former US President Joe Biden to rejoin it following Trump's withdrawal during his first term.

Carbon questions – A US federal judge on Thursday issued supplemental questions ahead of a hearing, in the lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and British American Tobacco (BAT). The judge asked plaintiffs and defendants to clarify how “carbon neutral” claims should be interpreted and substantiated in motions to dismiss a California consumer lawsuit. The court also asked plaintiffs and Reynolds to identify the controlling legal or regulatory definition of carbon neutrality in consumer marketing and whether a reasonable consumer would understand the term to require zero emissions or to allow third-party verified offsets. The hearing is scheduled for February.

Debt down - US-based methane abatement firm Zefiro eliminated almost $1.8 mln in debt and secured $447,500 in cash after three creditors exercised nearly 10.8 mln warrants, with most of the value offset against outstanding loans and the rest paid in cash. The remaining debt and accrued interest were settled via share issuance, reducing 2026 maturities by 64%. CEO Catherine Flax participated by converting $800,000 of her own loan and related interest into equity.

Judicial joust - A coalition of 27 US Republican attorneys general on Thursday urged the Federal Judicial Center to remove a climate science chapter from the latest edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, arguing it is biased and could influence judges hearing climate-related litigation, E&E News reported. The letter, led by West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey, said the new section would tilt courts toward so-called left-leaning policies and harm US energy production, and accused its authors of ties to academic programmes that support climate lawsuits against states and energy companies.

To change, or not to change… - New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) is weighing potential changes to the state’s 2019 climate law during budget negotiations, citing concerns over affordability and grid reliability, a move that is already drawing resistance from fellow Democrats, E&E News reported. According to people familiar with the discussions, the administration is exploring possible “offramps” from the state’s legally binding emissions mandates, though no specific proposals have been disclosed. The prospect of revisions has raised alarms among Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups, who warn that reopening the law could weaken one of the country’s most ambitious climate frameworks and complicate budget talks as Hochul seeks re-election.

Rebate roadmap - California officials will release details next week on how the state plans to allocate about $200 mln in electric vehicle rebates proposed in Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D) budget earlier this month, according to the head of the state’s climate regulator, E&E News reported. California ARB Chair Lauren Sanchez said the structure of the incentive programme would be publicly outlined following internal planning, with the funding aimed at supporting EV uptake after sales slowed amid the Trump administration’s cancellation of federal EV tax credits last year.

Emissions from California's largest grid operator ended 2025 down by roughly 8.5% year-on-year (YoY), according to recently published data.

The Bahamas’ lower legislative chamber is debating two bills following up on prior carbon market laws from 2022, triggering a debate centred on government rhetoric versus outcomes.

Future funding - Voyager Ventures has raised $275 mln for a new fund aimed at investing in energy, industrials, and climate technology companies in North America and Europe, ESG Today reported. Fund II will target technologies that span energy production and distribution, advanced manufacturing, critical materials, physical AI, and compute. Investment sectors include carbon removals, distributed energy, and AI systems. Its initial funds focused on early-stage climate tech startups advancing decarbonisation solutions in mobility, energy, carbon removal, and more.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) has released its first dedicated global standard for accounting land-based emissions and carbon removals within corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, following five years of development, it announced Friday.

Land-intensive carbon removal (CDR) could hamper biodiversity protection unless site selection criteria are improved, a study released on Friday has said.

Calling all carbon capturers - Canada is collecting feedback on technical changes to its Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage investment tax credit (CCUS tax credit), the federal department of finance announced Thursday. The proposed changes would address technical issues to align the measure with policy intent and facilitate administrative efficiency by clarifying the legislation, and also proposed that the designation of specific geological formations be permitted under the CCUS tax credit. The federal government is accepting feedback until Feb. 27.

Battery swap - ASX-listed Janus Electric has entered into a strategic agreement with a consortium of unnamed Canadian transport logistics companies to integrate its heavy-duty EV technology into a series of captive, circular energy projects in Canada, it announced earlier this week. Janus has developed proprietary swappable battery technology that can convert existing tucks, and the agreement will see this combined with developer of waste-to-energy infrastructure to create a first-of-it's kind closed-loop logistics hub, the company said. The alternative energy technology is intended to enable the supply of low-cost, low-emissions energy to the integrated fleet, potentially reducing the reliance on both grid electricity and diesel fuel. Final terms of the partnership remain subject to financing, Janus said.

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco) have agreed to acquire a controlling stake in a Brazilian low-carbon aluminium producer to unlock its next stage of growth, it announced Friday.

California has issued less offsets to-date compared to the same timeframe in 2025, according to data published Wednesday.

California Carbon Allowances (CCA) futures continued to fall last week towards the $30 mark, with the Dec-26 V26 contract hitting its lowest settlement since early September as traders remained split on whether the slide reflects tactical positioning ahead of next month's auction or deeper concerns about regulatory threats and waning investor appetite.

Canada’s largest pension fund is failing on a number of key climate obligations, coming in with an overall “D Grade” on a scorecard initiative by a national environmental charity.