RGGI Allowance (RGA) futures dipped below the $24 mark on Monday amid a general downward movement and positioning ahead of next month's sale, traders said.

Protect the price signal - Canadian think tank Pembina Institute has posted its submission to Environment and Climate Change Canada's (ECCC's) discussion paper on updating the country’s federal carbon pricing benchmark, calling on the government for a number of market improvements. Pembina authors recommended the ECCC implement annual market-function tests, clarify enforcement and backstop triggers, protect the carbon price signal, expand and harmonise coverage, and improve data transparency and reporting.    

Lone Star solar - TotalEnergies has signed two power purchase agreements to deliver 1 GW of solar capacity, generating 28 TWh of renewable electricity over 15 years to supply Google's data centers in Texas. Power will come from TotalEnergies-owned sites under development at Wichita (805 MW) and Mustang Creek (195 MW), with construction scheduled to begin Q2 2026. The agreements represent TotalEnergies' largest renewable PPA volume ever signed in the United States. The deals complement separate 1.2 GW PPAs secured by Clearway, a California-based renewables company 50% owned by TotalEnergies, to support Google's data centers across ERCOT, PJM, and SPP markets.

Standardizing H2O - The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has launched its Hydrogen Standards Coordination Initiative to advance safety and technical standards across the hydrogen value chain including production, storage, transportation, carbon capture, utilisation, and infrastructure. Phase 1 includes a comprehensive database of existing hydrogen standards and educational webinars scheduled for Mar. 16 and Mar. 31. ANSI issued a Request for Information seeking details on published standards, ongoing activities, and guidance documents with responses due Mar. 6. Phase 2, launching spring 2026, will feature a technical workshop on pre-standardisation research, standards gaps, and regulatory framework considerations. ASTM International, Compressed Gas Association, and CSA Group are sponsoring the initiative.

Spanish Amazon entry - Spanish business group Grupo Alvariño has entered the voluntary carbon market through an agreement with Peruvian firm Amazon Carbon to commercialise credits from Amazon rainforest conservation projects, Expansion reported. Dosfer, Grupo Alvariño's energy consulting subsidiary, will market credits from Amazon Carbon's projects across thousands of hectares in Peru's Loreto, Ucayali, and San Martin departments. The projects are certified by AENOR under the BioCarbon Standard, with Spanish banking group BBVA having already purchased credits. Dosfer founding partner Sergio Fernandez said the credits meet the highest global standards and emphasised Amazon Carbon's social development component for local communities.

AI suntan - Renewable energy developer Zelestra has signed a power purchase agreement with Meta for the 176 MW Skull Creek Solar Plant in Texas, expanding their relationship to seven PPAs totaling nearly 1.2 GW of solar capacity across the US with all projects scheduled for operations by 2028. The 81 MW Jasper County Solar Project in Indiana recently achieved full commercial operations as the partnership's first project to come online. Two projects entered construction late last year with the remainder due to start construction in 2026.

Paraguay's carbon credit projects could generate annual revenues exceeding $100 million as it advances its domestic carbon market framework, according to media.

A Texas-based waste management and carbon removal (CDR) company has withdrawn a zoning appeal tied to a proposal to inject poultry waste deep underground on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, bringing the project to an apparent end, local media reported.

Carbon chemistry – Baker Hughes, a US-based energy technology company, has formed an exclusive partnership with Italy’s Giammarco Technologies to accelerate commercialisation of hot potassium carbonate post-combustion carbon capture, Chemical Industry Digest reported on Friday. The partnership was announced at Baker Hughes’ 2026 annual meeting in Florence. It will combine Giammarco’s solvent-based process with Baker Hughes’ turbomachinery, aiming to improve efficiency and reduce energy use and costs, while supporting pilot testing, FEED work, and pathways to full-scale deployment across hard-to-abate sectors.

Hydrogen hub – A hydrogen storage and distribution facility will be developed in Ontario as part of clean hydrogen producer Charbone's Canadian expansion, the company said on Wednesday. The facility will use existing infrastructure, including hydrogen storage tube assets. The Ontario hub is expected to serve industrial, advanced manufacturing, and mobility customers through multiple delivery formats, with the site designed to accommodate potential future storage and production capacity expansions as demand grows. Charbone said it views Ontario as a priority market and the hub as a foundational element of its broader North American hydrogen logistics platform.

Science silenced - The US Federal Judicial Center has removed a climate science chapter from its Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence following complaints from 27 Republican attorneys general (AGs), who said the material was biased against the fossil fuel industry. In a letter sent Feb. 6 to West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey, the centre said it had omitted the chapter from the latest edition of the manual. The decision came a week after the AGs urged its removal and asked lawmakers to investigate and potentially defund the centre, which provides education and research for the federal courts. The Republican Attorneys General Association welcomed the move publicly, while critics said it supports Republican efforts to blunt climate lawsuits brought by state and local governments against oil and gas producers. (E&E News)

Repeal repercussions – The US EPA is expected to finalise its repeal its endangerment finding on GHGs as early this week, E&E News reports. This move would dismantle a central legal basis for federal climate regulation under the Clean Air Act and nullify vehicle CO2 standards. The finding underpin Clean Air Act authority to regulate climate pollution, and their removal would leave transport, the country’s highest-emitting sector, without federal carbon limits. A former EPA official warned that a potential Supreme Court challenge could stop future administrations from using a new endangerment finding to address climate change, shifting climate action toward states, courts, or Congress.

Superfund gains ground - US Democrats in Oregon have renewed calls for a climate superfund law that would require fossil fuel companies to help cover the costs of climate-driven disasters, citing the multibillion-dollar impact of wildfires on the state’s finances, E&E News reported. Lawmakers backing the proposal argue that events such as the 2020 Labor Day fires highlight the growing fiscal risks posed by climate change and the need for a dedicated funding mechanism, even as they acknowledge the bill is unlikely to clear the legislature before adjournment in early March. The effort follows the passage of similar climate superfund laws in New York and Vermont, and supporters say they plan to continue pressing the issue in future sessions.

Defence shift – US law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison has withdrawn from representing Exxon Mobil in a series of climate liability lawsuits in Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, and Washington state, E&E News reports. The company did not provide a reason for the move, but counsel from other firms will continue defending Exxon in the various cases, which seek to hold fossil fuel companies financially responsible for climate impacts. Paul, Weiss remains on several other Exxon climate matters.

AI use in carbon markets - Artificial intelligence could support carbon project audits, but liability for audit decisions must remain with validation and verification bodies (VVBs), participants said at a recent roundtable hosted by New York-based Genvision and the International Association of Validation and Verification Bodies. AI could help with basic checks such as reviewing whether documentation is complete, but AI systems that cannot clearly explain how conclusions are reached are unsuitable for compliance audits, which require transparent links between rules and evidence, the speakers said.

Global carbon markets contracted in 2025, with their total value falling to €791 billion, the lowest since 2021, analysts' calculations have found, with 2026 now seen as a pivotal year for setting the long-term direction of the sector.

Several Latin American governments are aiming to bring new CORSIA supply online via jurisdictional carbon programmes, while Kenya’s decision to deny cookstoves developer Koko Networks a Letter of Authorisation (LoA) continues to shock the market.

A France-based carbon standard has released a new jurisdictional risk map for REDD+ projects in Colombia, it announced Monday.

A romantic weekend in Marrakech, a bouquet of imported roses, and a candlelit dinner may look like the perfect romantic gesture, but together they carry a carbon footprint of nearly 800 kg, according to a new analysis that compared the climate impact of typical Valentine’s Day gifts.

Spot prices for Phase 1 CORSIA carbon credits tumbled last week amid a lacklustre voluntary market, where the recent collapse of the Koko Networks cookstove and clean fuel provider continues to stir debate.

Rebuilding a third of Brazil’s depleted soil carbon stocks could cut emissions by 1.5-1.7 billion tonnes of CO2, matching the level required to meet the country’s Paris Agreement goal of a 59-67% reduction by 2035, according to a recent report.

A climate research group is seeking hosts for one or two pilot enhanced rock weathering (ERW) field trials launching in 2026, supported by five years of philanthropic funding, it announced last week.

Carbon removal registry Isometric has released a new crediting method, setting out standards for measuring and certifying carbon removal through agroforestry systems.

Pyrolysis licence - Canada-based cleantech firm Char Technologies has licensed its high-temperature pyrolysis technology to France-based energy developer GazoTech SAS to support the rollout of biochar and syngas projects in France and selected European markets, the company said last week. Under the agreement, GazoTech will apply the technology on a project-by-project basis, with CHAR receiving an upfront licence fee linked to equipment delivery and ongoing royalties tied to biocarbon output, allowing it to generate revenue without deploying project-level capital.

CDR pre-purchase - US-based carbon removal developer Parallel Carbon has signed a pre-purchase agreement to supply 1,200 carbon credits to Zurich Insurance Group, the companies said last week. The credits will be issued under the Puro Standard and generated using an integrated direct air capture with geological storage and hydrogen production process, with the hydrogen output expected to be sold into low-carbon industrial markets.