The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has encouraged other countries to adopt carbon pricing measures since Brussels first raised the idea in 2019, according to a first analysis of the policy's direct effect on EU trade partners. 

Biocarbon bet – Minnesota biocarbon firm Aymium, and Japanese trading company Hanwa have signed a $500 mln memorandum of understanding to develop a large-scale biocarbon plant in the US, Biochar Today reports. The deal would deploy Aymium’s thermal conversion technology to produce biocarbon pellets positioned as drop-in replacements for coal in heavy industry. The partnership targets emissions-intensive sectors such as steelmaking and power generation, offering a route to decarbonisation without costly equipment changes. Production would use sustainably sourced biomass and is expected to cut emissions by hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 annually while expanding US niocarbon manufacturing capacity.

Green blend – Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil, the Brazilian arm of Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corporation, and Houston-based biotech firm Cemvita announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on integrated renewable natural gas (RNG) and bio-oil projects in Brazil last week. The partnership will assess combining Cemvita’s bio-oil technology with RNG production at an initial facility. The companies will also explore opportunities to scale the model across additional facilities, with the tie-up aimed at supporting supply of bio-oil for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as well as RNG. A joint steering committee will oversee the collaboration, with a commercial and technical roadmap targeting execution sometime this year.

Carbon removal (CDR) should be reserved for the most difficult-to-eliminate emissions and allocated based on responsibility and capability, researchers said, arguing that misusing limited supply could undermine climate targets.

Climate partners - Senior officials from the EU and Japan agreed to deepen their bilateral cooperation during a High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change held in Brussels this week. Both sides agreed to work together towards achieving climate neutrality and tackling shared economic and geopolitical challenges, and acknowledged the importance of the clean energy transition during the current crisis in the Gulf. They also reaffirmed their commitment to uphold multilateralism and their unwavering commitment to the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5C. The officials also discussed implementing their upcoming NDCs, and agreed to join efforts to ensure a successful COP31 in Antalya this year. They also agreed to promote bilateral exchanges this year on industrial decarbonisation, climate adaptation, carbon pricing and carbon credits, carbon capture use and storage, sustainable finance, plus climate action at sub-national level.

Postponed SAF levy - Singapore is delaying a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) levy that airline customers were meant to start paying next month to Oct. 1 due to rising fuel costs driven by the war in the Middle East. The new levy will depend on the class of travel or flight length, and could reach as much as S$41.60 ($32.54) for passengers. Customers will pay an additional S$1 for trips to Southeast Asia, and S$10.40 for flights to the Americas, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said last November. The levy's aim is to raise funds to achieve Singapore’s ambition of having all flights depart the nation with 1% SAF in their tanks from 2026, rising to between 3% and 5% by 2030. (Bloomberg)

India’s cabinet on Wednesday approved an updated set of climate targets under the Paris Agreement, outlining a proposed pathway to 2035 that deepens emissions intensity cuts and expands clean energy capacity, even as the plan awaits formal submission to the UNFCCC.

Some 140,000 credits eligible for use under the UN's Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) from a Cambodian water purifier project are due to be auctioned next month, the organisers of the event confirmed Wednesday.

The aviation sector’s international offsetting programme, CORSIA, is unlikely to accept all credits issued under one of the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 mechanisms, market participants told Carbon Pulse on Wednesday.

Europe’s decisions on its Emissions Trading System (ETS) and its future use of international carbon credits will have knock-on effects on the development of carbon markets in Asia, analysts said.

London-based global lender HSBC will only provide financing to carbon projects issuing credits certified by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), a senior executive said on Wednesday.

An Australian Senate committee has called for stronger regulation of digital platforms, enhanced disclosure rules, and tighter oversight of corporate climate claims, warning that misinformation is undermining climate policy and public trust.

Compliance markets potentially risk sidelining higher-tech and more expensive mitigation activities, developers warned, arguing that lower-cost supply could divert investment from complex, capital-intensive projects.

The first fully digitised carbon credits have been issued under Gold Standard using just digital monitoring, reporting and verification (dMRV), and traceable on the Hedera Guardian public ledger.

The Net Zero Commission has urged the New South Wales government to deploy new policy tools and accelerate emissions cuts across multiple sectors, warning that existing measures will not be sufficient to meet legislated climate targets under the state’s upcoming Net Zero Plan to 2035.

Hot bots – AI-powered robots will be undertaking predictive maintenance at large-scale solar farms in Australia, following a successful trial by the country's national science agency CSIRO, it announced on Wednesday. The use of repurposed autonomous robots – initially designed for use in the mining sector – will reduce the risk to humans from the inspection of solar farms, which can span thousands of kilometres on hot, uneven ground, CSIRO said. The robots will automatically detect faults across PV panels, physical damage, hotspots, loose nuts and bolts, and any wiring that needs to be repaired. CSIRO added that this will help create skilled regional jobs by shifting focus from repetitive manual walking tasks to more precise technical work in solar farm maintenance, robotics support, and data analysis.

Geological carbon storage (GCS) features in most major fossil fuel-producing countries’ climate plans, but references often fail to reflect domestic policy and investment activity, a think tank's new briefing has found.