Clean government - Canadian Treasury Minister Shafqat Ali announced that federal emissions from Canada’s government fleets and property operations are down 42.5% as of Mar. 2025, compared to the 2005-6 baseline. The government had initially set a 40% reduction target by 2025 for its operations. Ali also announced the approval of 25 projects funded by the Greening Government Fund to further reduce government operations emissions. The new projects range from recycling and reusing textiles including uniforms, installing heat pumps that use waste energy from other building equipment, and testing low carbon fuel options for ships and military equipment. Canada is aiming for net-zero emissions for its government operations by 2050.

Building step - California air regulator ARB approved the adoption of the California Greenhouse Gas Reporting and Climate Financial Risk Disclosure Initial Regulation, on Thursday, which establishes the groundwork for meeting regulatory requirements under Senate Bill 253 (SB 253) during the first compliance year. The regulation, proposed in December, which will fund and implement the state's corporate climate disclosure laws, Senate Bill 253 (SB 253) and Senate Bill 261 (SB 261). As an initial step, the rule outlines first-year reporting for SB 253, specifies definitions and fee assessment, and establishes how fees will be assessed to cover the programme's administration.

SBCE meeting - Brazil's Ministry of Finance met with the Brazilian branch of the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) this week to discuss the regulation of the country's future emissions trading system (Portuguese: SBCE). The workshop explored the development of infrastructure for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) and a central registry, among other topics.

RGGI compliance entities held enough allowances to meet their outstanding obligations at the end of Q4 2025, a market monitor report published Friday showed.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced Friday a new value for its community climate investment (CCI) credit contributions, which can be used by covered entities for compliance with the state’s Climate Protection Program (CPP).

Canada’s provincial energy powerhouse has forecasted a more than 45% drop in revenue from its industrial carbon market fund for the next fiscal year.

Emitters added net length to their California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) by opening up a large amount of V27 long positions,  according to the latest data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Water NbS partnership - Non-profit Forest Trends have signed onto an MoU with the Association of Water and Sanitation Regulators of the Americas (ADERASA) and the Nature Conservancy (TNC) to strengthen the role of water utility regulators in advancing nature-based solutions (NbS) for water security across Latin America. The MoU, originally signed between ADERASA and TNC in Nov. 2024, recognises Forest Trends technical and strategic experience supporting regulators and utilities to integrate NbS into regulatory frameworks, planning processes, and investments in the drinking water sector. A central focus will be the co-creation and piloting of a regional benchmark to assess the condition and management of source waters that supply drinking water services. This is intended to help identify priority risks, gaps in action and investment, and the enabling conditions needed for NbS to effectively contribute to service reliability and climate resilience. Additional activities and areas of collaboration will be announced in the coming months, the partners said.

While some community-driven models are emerging, most projects in Colombia remain in intermediate participation categories, as procedural consent has dominated governance in the market, according to a new study.

Ammonia blues – Woodside Energy has flagged slower-than-expected demand for blue ammonia, saying this could affect plans to expand carbon capture capacity at its new Texas facility, H2 View News reports. Speaking on its Q4 earnings call, Acting CEO Elizabeth Westcott said the company would weigh a potential expansion of CCS at the Beaumont New Ammonia plant against customer demand, after partner OCI Global began producing grey ammonia at the site ahead of the carbon capture unit being commissioned and handed over.

Reduced deforestation risk - The Brazilian Amazon state of Para cut deforestation alert areas by 40% to 488 sq km between Aug. 2025 and Jan. 2026, down from 809 sq km/y earlier, according to an official press release this week. The decline outpaced the 35% reduction across the Amazonia Legal subregion. Separately, the state’s jurisdictional REDD+ system has completed 16 FPIC consultations to-date, of a planned 47, said the state environmental secretariat.

Soil stakes – The first credits from the soil carbon programme by US-based Veterans Carbon Holdings (VCH) have been issued, it was announced this week. The company says they are unique in relying on stratified soil sampling and third-party validation rather than satellite or practice-based modelling. The units were verified under BCarbon’s Soil Carbon Protocol v2.0 and will be serialised via DOVU’s blockchain infrastructure, while projecting expansion across 1.5-2 mln acres. VCH told Carbon Pulse that 200,000 credits relate to its 2024 enrolment and 206,000 to 2025 contracts under BCarbon’s 1 tonne-per-acre advance model.

Staffing shift – The US EPA issued reduction-in-force notices to 22 regional environmental justice employees on Wednesday, informing them their positions were being eliminated and that they would be separated from the agency effective Mar. 27, E&E News reports. The action followed executive orders signed by President Donald Trump (R) aimed at ending certain diversity programmes and reducing the federal workforce, and was part of a broader restructuring effort. Union officials representing EPA employees criticised the layoffs, saying funding levels had remained steady and the cuts were unnecessary. The agency said the move aligned with prior notices to Congress. The layoffs followed earlier staff reductions and voluntary departures.

Global GHG emissions for 2025 increased 0.5% despite a small decline in the power sector, the largest source of emissions, according to a new report.

Article 6 engagement is building in the Caribbean, but to leverage opportunities in key sectors, an aggregative approach will be essential, according to a report published by a UN centre.

Para J-REDD+ update – The Secretariat of the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) published on Friday the Portuguese versions of documents related to the jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD+) programme of Para, a Brazilian state in the Amazon. Until now, they had only been available in English. The materials comprise the TREES Registration Document for the 2023-27 crediting period and a TREES Monitoring Report for 2023. Stakeholders will have 30 days to comment on the documents. Similarly, Tocantins's documents were displayed in Portuguese earlier this month.

Riazen debt – Shell is trying to agree a rescue package for Brazilian energy company Raizen, which has R$55 bln ($11 bln) in debt after bad harvests scuppered its biofuel production, the Financial Times reported. The Sao Paulo-based firm, which sells under the Shell brand in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, has also been hit with higher interest rates and lower fuel demand, exacerbating its debt issues. Shell, which holds 44% of Raizen, is reportedly in discussions with fellow 44% stakeholder Cosan, a Brazilian Conglomerate, about restructuring and recapitalisation plans. Under one proposal, Shell could stump up R$3.5 bln in fresh capital. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recently called a meeting with Raizen stakeholders, raising concerns about the wider economic implications of the energy company’s debt.

Drax pellets – Drax Group will stop burning Canadian wood at its Yorkshire-based power plant within the next year, the Guardian reported this week. The decision is due to Ottawa’s decision to place a tariff on its biomass exports, the UK power company said. Environmentalists have repeatedly raised concern over the burning of Canadian wood pellets at the Drax power plant in Yorkshire after an examination of the company’s supply chain suggested these were sourced from some of Canada’s more environmentally important old-growth forests. Drax has pushed back at these claims, telling the Guardian that it does not source biomass from designated areas of old growth. Also this week, Drax shares prices hit a near 20-year high, Reuters reported.

Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the US House this week to formalise and fund a federal programme aimed at strengthening nursery capacity and scaling up reforestation efforts nationwide.

Experts have attempted to debunk what they see as misconceptions about carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) in a new report, including that it's too energy-intensive to see any benefit and that subsurface storage isn't durable or safe.

The rate of new clean cooking projects starting registration has fallen by a third after the introduction of tighter rules on calculating carbon credit volumes, but there has also been a jump in new entrants to the market, according to data from analysts.

Ontario gas emissions to rise - Canadian think tank Pembina Institute said in a new report Ontario faces risks in relying too much on gas power, including for energy security, higher price volatility, and higher carbon emissions. Pembina said the province plans to increase gas-fired power to five times its 2020 level to compensate for nuclear plants shut down for multi-year refurbishments by 2030. It said Ontario’s increased use of gas power will cause its electricity emissions to triple between 2023 and 2030, from 6.3 to 19.1 MtCO2e per year.

Biofuel negotiations stalled - US Congress Republicans looking to authorise year-round sales of E15 biofuels have missed their deadline, according to E&E News. Members of the House's Rural Domestic Energy Council have said they are finalising a bill, however, and would look to see a vote next month.

Climate justice rollout – Brazil has established a new programme to promote climate justice in Indigenous Peoples’ lands, the federal government announced. The decision was signed by the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, and published in Brazil’s Official Gazette on Thursday. The Wahipaite Programme will focus on education and capacity building on climate policies; the development and implementation of Indigenous Plans for Addressing Climate Change; and the coordination, mapping, and promotion of climate adaptation initiatives.

California Carbon Allowance (CCAs) futures dipped after Q1 auction results and a week that saw prices barely moving, with traders seeing little catalyst for a near-term swing amid ARB rulemaking uncertainty and political risks. 

A former US DOE staffer said federal headwinds may blow away from carbon removal (CDR) and climate impacts, but options still exist for creative developers willing to align strategically with new priorities.