A group of 114 civil society organisations published an open letter Tuesday to the COP30 Presidency, calling for the planned roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels to be science-led and equity-based to ensure it does not become "another document that gathers dust". 

Representatives from the EU and Britain will meet for another round of talks on linking their Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) on Wednesday, but sources have said there are significant areas of disagreement, notably around the UK's willingness to align its regulation with that of the bloc.

The head of the European Commission's carbon markets unit confirmed on Tuesday that Brussels will extend the trajectory of the EU's Emissions Trading System, and that including international carbon credits in the climate policy framework will give industry more time to decarbonise.

Parties in a US consumer-led class action lawsuit are probing whether companies making carbon-neutral claims can rely on third-party offset certification or whether additional substantiation of emissions reductions is required, ahead of a hearing on a motion to dismiss on Tuesday.

EU carbon allowances gave the lie to a small daily decline by sinking €2 in the final hour on news headlines, ending the day some €1.50 below the official settlement price after what traders described as a session of technically-driven trading.

A global agtech software company plans to burst into the afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) market, expecting to initiate 10 voluntary carbon projects this year after switching away from a REDD+ avoided deforestation approach, the founder and chief executive told Carbon Pulse this week.

Lack of available storage and penalty risk for failing to deliver by 2030 are the main obstacles to Denmark's €4-billion carbon capture and storage (CCS) subsidy scheme, stakeholders told Carbon Pulse.

A France-headquartered carbon crediting standard has received conditional endorsement from the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA).

Not-so-wintery Olympics - The Italian Milan-Cortina alpine region, where the Winter Olympics begin next week, is already seeing higher than average temperatures and below-average snow – in a trend that could lead to a 9% decline in snow production, and 9.5% fall in snow cover days, by 2050, under a medium scenario for emissions, according to the Italian research centre Fondazione CMCC. This could result in over €9 mln in lost revenue for ski lift operators in the region by 2065.

The European Parliament will aim to agree by the end of April on a position concerning reforms to the supply-balancing mechanism in the EU’s Emissions Trading System for heating and transport (ETS2), while EU member states are eyeing a mid-February joint stance.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has urged EU leaders to further delay the start of the bloc's new emissions trading system for heating and road transport fuels (ETS2) until 2030 and to introduce a price cap in the current EU ETS, warning that high carbon costs risk undermining the bloc’s economy and social stability.

BP is under pressure from investors to defend its oil and gas investment strategy amid claims it has a poor recent track record in generating returns from fossil exploration.

The UK government has released new modelling showing that the price of carbon permits is expected to rise sharply over the next 25 years, breaching £100 per tonne in the 2030s assuming a net zero trajectory, and rising to nearly £300 by mid-century in the most bullish scenario.

The government of Spain has launched an EU-backed project seeking to restore more than 26,000 hectares of wetlands over the next decade, with an initial budget of €160.5 million.

After a first draft was submitted to public consultation last year, the European Commission on Tuesday published its final proposal to certify activities that permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere, allowing first projects to be certified “in the coming months”.

EU probes Chinese wind turbine maker – The European Commission announced on Tuesday the opening of an in-depth investigation into Chinese turbine maker Goldwind under the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). The probe, initially launched in Apr. 2024, will scrutinise grants, preferential tax measures and loans that may have strengthened Goldwind’s market position and distorted competition for wind turbines in the EU internal market. The Commission stressed that opening the in-depth investigation does not prejudge its outcome.

Asian-Swedish hydrogen – Catator, a Swedish developer of catalytic technology for hydrogen production, has made important progress in establishing itself in Japan and South Korea helped by the Swedish Energy Agency’s Global Innovation Accelerator (GIA) programme. The GIA offers a structured routes into these markets where electrofuels play a key role in the energy transition. Catator CEO Tarras Delin said the GIA gave it the structure, contacts, and business opportunities that otherwise would have been tricky to achieve. The Swedish company has secured two important orders in Japan with the help of GIA, and in Korea, has identified a large number of prospects. It sees good potential in building sales in both regions going forward supported by the GIA.

Nature-based carbon projects often struggle to prove that they deliver real and measurable emissions reductions, according to recently published research that highlighted fundamental limits to causal attribution in complex social-ecological systems.

A London-based carbon credit standard has introduced a pre-approval pathway for pyrolysers to streamline the validation of biochar projects and accelerate credit issuance, it announced Tuesday.

A UK Parliament committee, set up to scrutinise government policy decisions, said it was generally supportive of including domestic maritime in the country's Emissions Trading System (ETS), during a debate held Tuesday, though heard strong opposition from lawmakers representing Northern Ireland and the Isle of Wight.

A UK-based conservation firm is raising capital to more than double its REDD+ project portfolio in Tanzania by 2035 and has launched a global learning platform focused on social impact in nature-based solutions (NbS), it announced last week.

Energy partners - Germany and Saudi Arabia's governments have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to increase cooperation in energy. The deal builds on a 2021 declaration of intent to partner closely on hydrogen and was signed by German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche during a trip to Saudi Arabia. The partnership intends to focus on carbon management technologies, energy efficiency, digitalisation in energy, cyber security and AI, and development of secure supply chains. Also during the govt visit, German energy companies EnBW and VNG signed a MoU with Saudi Arabia’s Acwa to establish “a reliable green ammonia export corridor” between the two countries. The fuel would be produced in Saudi Arabia relatively cheaply, and then shipped to Germany for use in industry as a fuel or for electricity generation. The German govt has said most of the hydrogen it consumes would be imported, mostly from southern Europe. (Reccessary)    

A government body in Sweden is preparing to launch a SEK 300 million (€28 mln) funding call in March aimed at supporting bio-based carbon capture and storage (bio-CCS), it announced last week. 

While the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is expected to have only a marginal effect on inflation, the European Central Bank (ECB) warns the levy will impose much heavier costs on sectors like iron and steel, or cement in some EU member states, while impacting selected industries in neighbouring countries more heavily.

A British carbon removals company is preparing to announce a series of new projects to supply its new storage site in Denmark, where it was forced to expand because it isn't eligible for storage capacity at home – at least for now. 

The Global Carbon Council (GCC) and Malaysia Forest Fund (MFF) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation on carbon markets and scale nature-based solutions across Malaysia, the organisations announced Tuesday.

Green iron - UK-based Binding Solutions said in a press release it had signed an agreement with a unit of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co to produce lower-carbon iron ore pellets from material in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The privately held company said it had signed a MoU with Mitsui Iron Ore Development to apply its "cold agglomerated pellet technology", which uses less energy and emits less CO2. Under the deal, Binding Solutions aims to convert lower-grade iron ore into pellets, which typically attract a price premium. Mitsui has investments in Pilbara iron ore operations alongside major producers including BHP Group and Rio Tinto.

The Netherlands is set to recommit to EU climate and energy policy leadership, and issue nitrogen plans that could help rein in agricultural GHG emissions.