While Mexico and Colombia finalise key components of their emissions trading systems (ETS) ahead of publishing implementing decrees this year, Chile advances on operational rules for Article 6 and its integration with other environmental market mechanisms, officials from the three countries said during a panel on Wednesday.

Current satellite-based forest monitoring pipelines often function as de facto “black boxes” – complex, region-specific, and difficult to replicate, a webinar heard this week.

The administration of US President Donald Trump (R) is drafting a new diplomatic memo against the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) proposed carbon price plan, media reported on Thursday.

Balancing act - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for partnership and ongoing discussion with China on his first visit to the country as chancellor. Accompanied by a large business delegation, Merz made statements calling to enhance the "strategic partnership" with China, in a bid to reset relations that have been dampened by a significant trade deficit with the world's second-largest economy. Xi welcomed his comments, whilst Premier Li Qiang expressed China's wish to cooperate in areas like automobiles and chemicals as well as AI and biomedicine. European leaders have been looking to strengthen their relationship with China as the rift widens with the Trump administration in the US, though must balance preservation of their own industrial interests with supporting China's requests for economic partnership. (Reuters)

Up to 1 million CORSIA-eligible cookstove credits will be auctioned by the International Airline Trade Association (IATA) in March that will test whether the spot price has tumbled into a range of $15-16.

Vietnam has issued a circular clarifying long-awaited rules that will govern its national carbon registry, as the Southeast Asian country moves closer to launching emissions trading later this year.

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) is drawing new institutional fixed-income investors, buyers, and funds – but several forms of risk and taxes are spooking others, a webinar heard.

Monitoring - Paris-based CarbonFarm has teamed up with Asvata, backed by Indian conglomerate RPG Enterprises, to provide satellite-based digital monitoring for a rice methane reduction programme in the state of West Bengal, the firms announced on LinkedIn Thursday. The AWD program covers more than 30,000 smallholder farms. CarbonFarm will also supply field-level satellite observation and track water usage.

South Korea's top financial regulator is aiming to significantly expand government support for climate finance for the next decade, while institutionalising mandatory environmental data disclosure.

Indonesia’s growing fleet of captive coal power, built largely to feed its nickel boom, could use natural gas as a stepping stone towards decarbonisation, a report said Thursday, calling it the most feasible route to cutting short- to medium-term emissions.

The UNFCCC has approved the first-ever issuance of credits under its Article 6.4 mechanism, also known as the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), in an effort to channel finance into verified emissions reductions.

An Indian carmaker has secured registration for the world’s first modal shift transportation project to generate carbon credits, with its Gujarat in-plant railway siding approved under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) programme, the company announced.

Weak demand - Thailand’s gas-fired power fleet is running far below capacity, with seven privately owned plants operating at under 10% utilisation in 2025, according to a new report. The underused plants, totalling more than 11 GW, have cost the state utility and consumers about THB 159 bln ($5.02 bln) since 2023, the report said. Last year, the country suspended four power plants, including three gas facilities, citing oversupply, and delayed new capacity until 2029. Despite this, Thailand’s draft power plan still targets 6.3 GW of new gas capacity by 2037. The country is also increasingly reliant on costly LNG imports as domestic gas output declines, doubling LNG’s share in the supply mix, the report added.

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) is a crucial, but not the only, avenue to bring the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) landmark climate advisory opinion to life, said the director of the NGO which kickstarted the campaign, pointing to the opinion's applicability to the UNFCCC, finance and trade talks, as well as human rights bodies.

Laos flood plan - Laos will launch a $6.5 mln wetland restoration project to help address severe urban flooding, with plans to rehabilitate degraded wetlands to absorb stormwater and ease pressure on drainage systems in and around Vientiane, its largest city. The initiative – known as the NATURA Project – will focus on restoring natural water retention areas, improving early warning systems, and strengthening infrastructure resilience, in response to increasingly frequent and intense floods that have caused damage to homes, roads, and economic activity. The project has received grant from the New Zealand government through the Global Green Growth Institute and will support the restoration and development of the Nong Loup Ian area in Nonkhilek village, Sikhottabong district, which will serve as a pilot site for applying nature-based solutions to urban flood management plans.

Indigenous carbon project developers have urged the Australian government to speed up reforms to its carbon markets that strengthen Indigenous rights, as the government teases on when new savanna fire management (SFM) methods will be finalised.

MoU renewal – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) have renewed their MoU to continue their work to advance climate finance in the APAC region for another five years, the Seoul-based organisation said in a press release on Wednesday. This includes the promotion of carbon pricing instruments and green bonds to drive climate-resilient growth and inclusive poverty reduction, it added.

Critical support - The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has committed A$5 mln ($3.5 mln) to support a low carbon copper production pilot project, it announced. The agency said funding will be allotted to Banksia Minerals which has developed a breakthrough electrochemical technology which enables the efficient processing of low-grade copper resources that are typically uneconomic with conventional methods, while reducing energy use and emissions. Funding will be provided through ARENA's Advancing Renewables Program, delivered in two stages over three years to help de-risk pilot plant development and support the project progress from from laboratory prototype to field demonstration.

An initiative of investment managers committed to climate action has officially relaunched, backed by more than 50 asset owners representing $3.7 trillion in assets, but with substantially weaker requirements.

Testbed – Australia's Future Energy Exports Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has secured a lease with Development Western Australia to construct a multi-user, open-access testbed dedicated to ramping up the commercialisation of new energy solutions, it announced in a press release. The first stage of the Kwinana Energy Transformation Hub, south of Perth, will finish construction in October and be designed as an R&D hub to de-risk decarbonisation technologies as well as support training and skills development for the workforce needed as the energy transition unfolds, the CRC said. The site's location offers access to hydrogen, CO2, natural gas, and other key inputs, making it unique in Australia for demonstrating emerging technologies alongside industry operations, it said.

The pre-COP31 summit will be hosted by Fiji in October, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) announced on Thursday.