France is pushing to extend the EU ETS to 2050, according to government sources cited by French media.

A coalition representing the European hydrogen value chain has warned that the EU will miss its climate and industrial decarbonisation goals unless Brussels rapidly simplifies its rules, and backs both renewable and low‑carbon hydrogen.

Pipeline power play - The Trump administration has invoked emergency powers to help restart an offshore oil pipeline in California that has been offline since 2015, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright citing risks to US energy security linked to supply disruptions from the war in Iran and reliance on imported crude moving through the Strait of Hormuz, E&E News reported. The US DOE said more than 60% of the oil refined in California now comes from overseas and argued that restoring the pipeline would support domestic supply and ensure reliable energy for West Coast military installations. Wright’s order follows a Friday executive order from President Donald Trump delegating Defense Production Act authority to the energy secretary, giving him the power to direct domestic industry in the interest of national defence.

Revenue from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) has not been used to its full extent to fund industrial decarbonisation, leaving room for greater support while keeping the market intact, the European Commission's clean transition chief said on Monday.

Place your bets - Online prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are expanding rapidly, enabling users to bet on a wide range of future events, including climate-related outcomes, geopolitical developments, and extreme weather risks. Climate-linked trading remains a relatively small but fast-growing segment, with hundreds of millions of dollars already wagered and volumes expected to increase significantly. The broader industry now handles around $10 bln in monthly bets and is attracting substantial investment, with leading platforms valued in the tens of billions of dollars. Supporters argue that these markets provide a useful mechanism for aggregating information, as participants are financially incentivised to assess evidence and price probabilities accurately. In this view, prediction markets can help cut through political bias and offer a real-time signal of expectations on complex issues such as climate policy, temperature trends, or regulatory change. They can also serve practical functions, such as allowing businesses to hedge risks linked to policy shifts like carbon pricing. Critics, however, contend that the platforms risk trivialising serious global challenges by turning them into speculative betting opportunities. Ethical concerns have emerged around markets that involve sensitive or harmful scenarios, including natural disasters, arrests, or ongoing conflicts. There are also worries about insider trading and manipulation, particularly where individuals could profit from non-public information or even influence outcomes. Regulatory scrutiny is intensifying, especially in the United States, where federal authorities claim jurisdiction while several states argue the platforms resemble unregulated gambling. The sector’s political connections have further raised questions about oversight. Despite these concerns, the industry is projected to grow substantially over the coming years, with new entrants entering the market and revenues potentially reaching $10 bln annually by 2030, even as debate continues over its societal value and risks. (E&E News)

EU carbon prices dropped heavily late on Monday afternoon, wiping out earlier gains as the market reacted to a letter from the European Commission confirming that the market's supply regulation mechanism was to be reviewed as scheduled, but also "to address excessive price volatility and keep prices in check in the short term".

CORSIA carbon futures continued to slump as the supply of credits crept higher and the conflict in Iran pushed up jet fuel prices, leading to expectations of a possible downturn in demand from the aviation sector.

The European Commission will propose increasing the “firepower” of the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) in a bid to ease EU ETS costs in the near term, and will factor in industry concerns as it finalises changes to free allowance allocation rules, President Ursula von der Leyen has told EU leaders in a letter ahead of this week’s summit.

SAF route - Norwegian Airlines has launched a new domestic route in Denmark, between Aalborg and Copenhagen, which will be Europe's first to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on a permanent basis. A 40% blend will be used on all departures this year and next, with the fuel produced from European raw materials and made by Finnish energy company St1 at its biorefinery in Gothenburg, Sweden. The route has been created via a Danish govt tender where the state actively supports more SAF use. Emissions from the route are expected to be reduced by more than 3,000 tonnes of CO2 on a lifecycle basis. Norwegian is also battling in the courts NOK 400 mln (€36 mln) penalty incurred for non-compliance with the EU ETS during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Green Air)

The record release of emergency oil supplies from International Energy Agency (IEA) countries is helping to quell supply shortages, especially in parts of South Asia – although the crisis will persist until the Middle East war subsides, the IEA's chief said on Monday. 

Researchers from ETH Zurich have suggested that strategically located reforestation efforts would achieve the same planetary cooling effect as more randomly situated projects, even if fewer trees were planted.

Irish hints -  The prime minister of Ireland -  Taoiseach Micheál Martin - has hinted at fuel tax cuts in Ireland but ruled out cutting the carbon tax, in response to growing pressure to reduce energy prices for consumers. The impact of delaying or scrapping carbon taxes “is not anywhere near the impact of other levies and taxes”, said Martin in Philadelphia to reporters, timed with St Patrick's Day celebrations in the US. The carbon tax is a “very important” tax that allows the government to expand the fuel allowance to working families, as well as retrofitting homes, he said. He referred to "other mechanisms that we can use" instead, in a hint towards reducing excise duty on fuel. More than half the price of a litre of fuel in Ireland goes to taxes, the bulk of which in the form excise and VAT. Carbon tax amounts to about 9-10% of the cost. (msn.com)

The European Union’s newly approved 2040 climate target represents an important step toward long-term decarbonisation, but experts at a climate NGO have warned that loopholes in the framework could weaken the bloc’s climate ambition.

Germany's greenhouse gas emissions dropped by just 0.1% in 2025, with increases from transport and heating offsetting weak industrial emissions and newly net-absorbent forests, according to official figures released Saturday ahead of a new climate package due next week.

The UK government has invested £45 million in a 1.4 MW supercomputer, dedicated to solving issues that are holding back nuclear fusion energy.

Electrifying transport, buildings, and industry could displace up to 60% of global fossil fuel use and energy-related emissions while lowering costs and improving energy security, new analysis has found.

ETS suspension - Antonio Gozzi, president of steel trade body Federacciai, is calling for the temporary suspension of the EU ETS in Italy due to rising electricity prices. The carbon pricing scheme has gradually evolved from a decarbonisation tool into a carbon tax that depends on financial markets, said Gozzi in Rimini. Also, any criteria for low-emissions steel in Europe should be solely based on the product's actual carbon footprint and avoid mechanisms such as sliding scale for waste that unfairly limit production in electric arc furnaces, said Gozzi. About 85% of Italian steel is produced in EAFs, according to Federacciai. (Metallurgprom.org)

€103 mln for LIFE support – The European Commission on Monday announced over €103 million in funding under its LIFE programme for seven strategic climate and environment projects in as many EU countries. The projects in Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain are designed to support EU climate, water and biodiversity laws while leveraging additional national and private investment. Spain’s LIFE HumedalES wetland restoration initiative, the largest LIFE project to date, will receive €29.7 million to restore 26,200 hectares across 107 Natura 2000 sites.

A UK construction materials firm and a London real estate developer last week announced they had produced the country’s first net zero concrete, using biochar made from spent coffee grounds and wood residues.

Ghana has updated its default value for a crucial metric in determining credit generation from clean cooking projects and other biomass-based mitigation activities, the country’s Carbon Market Office (CMO) has announced.

Energy ministers from the EU27 underlined the need for short-term measures to address high and volatile prices in the bloc's Emissions System (ETS) but stopped short of calling for a suspension of the scheme, they told journalists before a meeting of the EU's Energy Council on Monday.

Palm fraud - Indonesian companies under investigation for alleged palm oil fraud supplied biofuel feedstocks to European firms including Eni and Neste, according to an investigation by AFP and SourceMaterial. Authorities allege the firms mislabelled palm oil as palm oil mill effluent (POME), a waste byproduct used in biofuels, in a scheme that allegedly involved bribing officials and cost the Indonesian government millions in lost tax revenue. Both Eni and Neste said they had no direct contracts with the implicated companies and moved to exclude them from their supply chains after the probe emerged.

The European Commission is updating its state aid rules to better support sustainable modes of transport for passenger and freight trains - in an effort to shift attention away from roads, it announced on Monday.

Ghana has authorised a sustainable cooling initiative designed to accelerate the deployment of climate-friendly air conditioning systems, marking the latest mitigation activity approved under the country’s Article 6.2 agreement with Switzerland.

The UK government has laid out several measures to bolster energy security, including bringing forward the next renewables auction and making plug-in solar energy available to households.

Bargaining chip - UK officials are reportedly drawing up costs for EU students to pay cheaper university fees in Britain in a bid to secure closer post-Brexit trading ties with the EU. The divide over tuition fees has derailed plans for a reset of relations and left negotiations over a youth mobility scheme at an impasse. EU negotiators remain confident that a deal to link the UK and EU's Emissions Trading Systems can be reached, but say a youth mobility deal is key to an overall package. Any discount for EU students at British universities may prove unpopular domestically, with a move to equalise fees estimated to cost the country's universities an estimated £140 mln a year in lost income, which the Treasury may have to cover. (the Telegraph)

A coalition of global companies and a civil society group have both called on Europe to accelerate deployment of clean electrification and to preserve integrity of the EU ETS.

The Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (VCM) in Saudi Arabia will imminently launch a pilot programme for carbon trading at Islamic banks, Carbon Pulse heard from its chief executive – without abandoning its core exchange, auctioning, or regional project development mission.

I’ll be there for you - The Global Carbon Council has launched a proprietary carbon market infrastructure designed to help countries implement Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, enabling them to participate more effectively in international carbon trading. The platform provides an integrated system that includes modules for project registration, national carbon registries and transaction tracking, allowing governments to authorise and transfer Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes while ensuring transparency and compliance with global reporting requirements. The infrastructure will give countries, particularly in the Global South, an interoperable and ready-to-deploy solution for operationalising carbon markets and mobilising climate finance through high-integrity emissions-reduction projects, the GCC said.