Driver’s seat – The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has been tapped to deliver the government’s A$1.1 bln ($796.4 mln) Cleaner Fuels Program, it said in a press release on Wednesday. The programme, announced in Sep. 2025 and included in Tuesday’s 2026-27 budget, will provide production-related incentives over 10 years for low carbon liquid fuels, in a bid to scale domestic production. It is a key step to support the net zero transition and build resilience, ARENA CEO Darren Miller said.

The largest companies listed on the German stock exchange reported 4.84 million carbon credits under the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) last year, but not a single one disclosed details about the projects they came from, and those identified were judged of poor quality, according to analysis of disclosures by companies in the DAX40 Index.

An independent advisory has launched a carbon removal catalyst that has already helped to secure a £1 million financing deal to support a biochar developer in southwest England.

Terra tech - Terra Global said it’s working with carbon tech firm BlueLayer to scale its portfolio of nature-based projects. Terra said the BlueLayer platform would strengthen its ability to streamline credits issuance amid its expanding pipeline of afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) and jurisdictional REDD+ programmes, with multiple projects targeted to issue credits this year.

A carbon removal (CDR) portfolio manager has published guidance on how corporations can navigate changing government regulations and civil society frameworks to make credible net zero claims.

The Trump-led US Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a federal court on Monday to block Minnesota from pursuing its climate lawsuit against energy producers, one week after suing the state over what it called an unlawful attempt to regulate global GHG emissions through state law.

A small group of major airports accounted for a disproportionate share of global aviation emissions in 2023, with the three highest-emitting hubs producing three times as much CO2 as the city of Paris, according to an updated airport emissions tracker and accompanying report released Wednesday.

A new business plan by a body tasked with spurring Alberta’s clean energy sector with funding partially sourced from the province’s stuttering Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) market appears out of sync with that government's fund revenue projections.

Voluntary standard body Verra launched a public consultation on Tuesday on a draft revision to its improved forest management (IFM) methodology that would expand its use beyond the US by allowing projects to use qualifying national forest inventory datasets.

Brazil published four resolutions in the Official Gazette on Tuesday that contribute to the operational development of its national ETS (Portuguese: SBCE).

The European Commission is preparing for a “pragmatic implementation” of the EU Methane Regulation, with a chance that the executive will propose further guidance to companies in an upcoming unofficial paper, sources told Carbon Pulse.

EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) allowances are currently trading significantly below the value implied by fundamental demand and supply factors, analysts told an industry conference on Tuesday, as the market awaits the scheme's summer review.

Gas-fired power plants fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) won't be delivering low-carbon electricity at scale to US data centres before 2030 due to structural limitations including a lack of transport and storage infrastructure, according to analyst research.

Bad weather - A third of companies globally are now identifying extreme weather as a material financial risk, according to a new survey by non-profit CDP.  Of the 11,261 companies that disclosed full environmental data in 2025, some 35% said extreme weather would lose them money . Firms also disclosed that extreme weather caused nearly $3 billion in real losses in 2025 alone, primarily through increased direct costs ($309 mln) and operational shutdowns ($266 mln). Heavy rain was the largest single driver of these losses, accounting for $1.5 bln across disclosing companies. Looking ahead, the figures escalate. Companies anticipate $898 bln in future financial impacts, principally due to flooding ($528 bln), cyclones ($161 bln) and heavy rain ($86 bln). Moreover, nearly half (48%) of extreme weather risks are envisaged to materialise in the next two years placing these risks firmly within current business planning and investment horizons. Financial losses are expected to be driven by reduced production capacity ($326 bln) and asset impairment or early retirement ($218 bln).

Green light - The US EPA on Monday proposed revisions to its New Source Review (NSR) air permitting rules that would allow companies to begin construction on data centres and power plants before obtaining an NSR permit, while maintaining permit requirements for construction of equipment or components that emit or have the potential to emit regulated NSR pollutants. The proposed rule, signed by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, would revise the definition of 'begin actual construction' and add a definition of 'pollutant-emitting activities' across federal NSR regulations, covering both Nonattainment New Source Review and Prevention of Significant Deterioration programmes. The EPA said the changes are intended to distinguish construction of stationary sources from construction of non-emitting components or structures, such as utility infrastructure, concrete pads, certain building foundations, office buildings, and some storage structures. The agency said the proposal would provide greater flexibility and reduce permitting-related delays, while not changing NSR requirements for controlling emissions from new or modified stationary sources. Comments will be due 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Clean win - Michigan’s Court of Appeals mostly upheld the state Public Service Commission’s implementation of a 2023 law allowing renewable energy developers to bypass local zoning restrictions for wind, solar, and battery projects, limiting local governments’ ability to block construction, E&E News reported. The ruling, issued Thursday after oral arguments three weeks earlier, has implications for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) broader climate law, which Democrats passed in 2023 as part of a clean energy package. Michigan townships had argued the commission exceeded its authority in deciding how the law should be implemented, while Republicans, who regained control of the state House in 2024, have sought to repeal the clean energy mandates.

EU member states will auction 12% more EUAs in the second half of 2026 than originally scheduled, after the exchange that handles the sales updated its calendar for the six months from June.

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal has called for a “pause” in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), warning that rising carbon costs over the coming years will undermine the sector’s ability to invest in decarbonisation as manufacturers lack viable options to cut emissions.

EU carbon prices weakened on Tuesday afternoon along with equities, after the market had spent the morning consolidating most of its gains from Monday, while numerous participants focused on an industry event in France and a stakeholder meeting in Brussels, and energy markets unwound early gains even as the stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz continued to block shipping lanes.

Taiwan and Wyoming signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) covering carbon capture (CCUS) and advanced energy technologies during a visit by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon (R) to Taipei, as both sides look to expand cooperation on energy security, industrial resilience, and supply chains.

Credit issued under Colorado’s GHG trading regulation for industry jumped 70% in 2025 as the number of facilities receiving units under the programme increased, recently published state data showed.

CDR for your information - Following a relative uptick in March, April remained almost flat in terms of market activity, with around 1.14 Mt of durable CDR contracted, led by deals that saw participation from market actors such as North Star Carbon Solutions, Microsoft, Engrow, Altitude, Graphyte and JPMorgan Chase, according to the platform CDR.fyi. The biggest deal was North Star Carbon Solutions which signed an offtake agreement with Microsoft for 626,000 tonnes of CDR. The tonnes will be delivered over 15 years from the North Star BECCS Project. Exomad Green and Supercritical signed a three-year agreement for up to 500,000 tonnes of biochar CDR, exhausting Exomad's remaining inventory of credits for 2026 along with allocations for 2027 and 2028. JPMorganChase signed a 10-year offtake agreement with Graphyte for 60,000 tonnes of CDR. Boeing procured 20,000 carbon removal credits from six suppliers across Brazil, Bolivia, Namibia, and India, spanning biochar and enhanced weathering through Supercritical.

The carbon removal (CDR) market has a demand issue, despite the EU's new certification framework providing a "very positive signal", market stakeholders told an industry conference Tuesday.

Hedge funds chase biofuels - Hedge funds are piling into the agricultural commodities used to make biofuels, amid high energy prices and fuel supply disruptions fuelled by the Middle East crisis, the Financial Times reported. US data shows that funds have nearly tripled their net bets on soyabean oil, used to make biodiesel, since the US and Israel first attacked Iran. They have also taken their highest level of positive bets this year in corn, an ingredient for ethanol.    

The UK government has awarded research and development funding to 15 direct air capture (DAC) carbon removal projects in the country, for a total of just under £55 million, it announced on Tuesday. 

Progress in decarbonising EU buildings remains too slow and uneven to put the bloc on track for net zero by 2050, according to the latest Buildings Climate Tracker (BCT), though European Commission officials still see the bloc's carbon pricing system as secure.

Bulgaria's new government could seek to slow parts of the EU's climate and energy agenda, following a sweeping election win that raised concerns over Sofia's future stance on Russia – but the country's reliance on EU funds may limit the scope for systematic obstruction, experts told Carbon Pulse.

Latin America’s finance-sector scene creates unique and critical barriers to mobilising capital for nature-based and technology-driven carbon removal (CDR) projects, requiring creative, context-appropriate solutions beyond mere offtakes, according to a carbon industry group.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing open revolt following disastrous local elections for his governing Labour Party, and, depending on the timing, a possible exit from government could have implications for linking the British carbon market with the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), market participants have warned.

Companies worldwide are scrambling to prepare for the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), but many still do not know whether they will be able to use verified plant-level emissions data or be forced to rely on punitive default values – a distinction experts say could determine whether exporters remain competitive in Europe at all.

Australia’s latest federal budget sent mixed signals on the energy transition on Tuesday, coupling billions of dollars in fossil fuel support with backing for green technology.

A carbon platform has launched a specific ITMO registry ahead of the closure of the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), while also claiming voluntary players will have the “lowest cost” for trading credits that have been granted approval for Article 6 trade under the Paris Agreement.

A US-based climate research group has launched a global initiative to accelerate enhanced rock weathering (ERW).

Running out fast - Saudi Aramco has warned that global stocks of gasoline and jet fuel could reach "critically low levels" ahead of the summer months if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Since the Iran war started, the world has lost a cumulative 1 bln barrels of oil supplies, with another 100 mln barrels lost every week the strait stays closed, said CEO Amin Nasser. Onshore inventories have been materially depleted, he said, adding to growing concern that the oil shock driven by the conflict could be entering a new and more disruptive phase. Oil prices rose as high as $126/barrel in late April before falling back towards $100/barrel as the Trump administration signalled it's seeking a long-term conflict resolution. Commercial oil stocks could "approach operational stress levels" by early June, which may force an agreement between the US and Iran, JP Morgan analysts have said. If the strait stays closed by mid-June, oil markets could stay unstable into next year, said Nasser. Aramco is considering expanding its oil export capacity at Yanbu on the Red Sea in a sign the company is looking to curb its reliance on exports via Hormuz, he added. (FT)

A major carbon removal buyer coalition has approved a Paris-based carbon registry as a credit issuer, allowing suppliers in its portfolio to use the platform for credit issuance if the relevant protocols are also approved.

Brazil gets IMO seal – Brazil’s second-crop corn ethanol has become the first marine-compatible biofuel to receive an officially defined and approved carbon footprint from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), according to Bloomberg. The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee endorsed a “default value” of 20.8 grams of CO2e per megajoule for the fuel, said Flavio Mathuy, a Brazilian navy captain who represents the country at the global shipping regulator. Mathuy also noted that Brazil is pursuing IMO technical approval for sugarcane ethanol as well as biodiesel derived from soybeans and beef tallow.

Extreme weather hits finances - Extreme weather is already delivering material financial blows across the global economy, and the risks are set to escalate sharply, the non-profit corporate disclosure organisation CDP reported. Out of 11,000-plus companies that disclosed full environmental data through CDP last year, only 35% identified extreme weather as a material financial risk. Yet, they also disclosed nearly $3 bln in real losses in 2025, mostly from increased direct costs and operational shutdowns. Heavy rain alone accounted for $1.5 bln in losses. Now, companies anticipate $898 bln of future financial impacts, mostly from flooding ($528 bln), cyclones ($161 bln), and heavy rain ($86 bln). Nearly half of these extreme weather risks are expected in the next two years. Among just over 1,000 cities, states, and regions that disclosed last year, instead, 62% said they had already been impacted significantly by extreme weather, and over 60% expect the hazards to intensify and/or become more frequent.

Red flag - A legal mechanism allowing foreign investors to challenge government decisions in international arbitration has been flagged as a key obstacle to speeding up the fossil fuel phaseout. The issue of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) came through clearly in scientific discussions at the Santa Marta conference, though the event's final takeaways failed to robustly flag ISDS as a barrier to climate action. The mechanism has often been used by fossil fuel companies to resist climate action, such as Rockhopper Exploration's 2022 claim against Italy when the country introduced a ban on new oil and gas projects near its coast, and RWE's claim filed in 2021 seeking compensation from the Dutch govt passing a law to phase out coal-fired power by 2030. There has been a rise in ISDS fossil fuel cases over the last 30 years, and even when governments win, the result can be policymakers dampening down climate measures to avoid risk of being sued. Many policymakers are still unaware of the risks ISDS creates, and the softer framing of the issue after the Santa Marta conference reflects the difficulty in raising awareness of the issue. Investors should be more outspoken on ISDS by integrating the measure into exclusion criteria and engagement policies, said Triodos Bank.

Southeast Asia’s forestry and agricultural concessions, long associated with deforestation and biodiversity loss, may also hold untapped potential for conservation and carbon finance, according to new research.

EU risks killing battery factories - Softening the EU's CO2 reduction targets for carmakers could cause domestic battery production capacity to shrink by more than two-thirds in 2030, according to the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E). That's equivalent to 34 Northvolt-sized battery factories, and could support up to 47,000 jobs. Lowering the 2035 targets, as the auto industry group ACEA is calling for, would reduce expected battery EV production by 46% by 2035, compared to current projections, it found. Additionally, it would cost the EU an extra €50 bln on oil imports, compared to needs under the current CO2 targets. It would also lead to weakening of local batter offtake, just as the EU is pushing to shore up the battery industry as part of its industrial policy.

Registry change - Thailand-based biochar project Enable Earth, Chiang Rai has moved to Puro.earth after being de-listed from the Isometric registry on Apr. 20, following validation-stage non-conformities with Isometric’s Biochar Production and Storage Protocol, according to an Isometric notice. A preliminary assessment under Puro.earth found the project aligned with Puro’s Biochar methodology.

Compliance costs – International Airlines Group’s (IAG) cost of complying with emissions trading schemes and CORSIA rose to €148 mln in the first quarter of 2026, up from €70 mln in the same period last year, the airline group said in its Q1 results published May 7. The increase was linked to the end of free allowances in the EU and UK, as well as updated assumptions on CORSIA-related costs, while fuel consumption, emissions, and related costs continued to benefit from investment in newer aircraft, IAG said.

Stronger extremes - The emergence of a strong El Nino weather pattern this year could push 2026 to either the warmest or second-warmest year on record, and amplify climate extremes, scientists have warned. El Nino - the natural climate phenomenon characterised by unusually warm sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific - could amplify wildfire risk, heatwaves, and flooding worldwide. El Nino itself is not a reason for concern, but rather that its occurrence is now happening on an increasingly warmer baseline, according to Imperial College London. A strong El Ninon risks supercharging wildfires by increasing the chance of severe hot and dry spells in Australia, the US, and Canada, as well as the Amazon rainforest. (Climate Home News)

The bigger picture - More than 70 GW of renewables were added across Europe last year, led by Germany, Spain, and France, but this rising renewable output has not consistently translated into lower emissions, with several markets seeing rising fossil fuel generation despite strong solar and wind growth. This is according to a new Montel study that found Germany remained Europe's largest emitter in absolute terms, despite adding more than 20 GW of renewables in 2025. In Spain, gas-fired generation rose almost 23% last year, overtaking both solar and nuclear to become the country's second-largest power source - pushing Spain's carbon intensity up 14.6% year-on-year. Conversely, Finland cut power sector emissions by over 40% last year, driven by rising wind generation and increased nuclear.

Old hands - Climeworks has appointed two new advisors from large financial and technology organisations to its advisory board. These are Celine Herweijer, former group chief sustainability officer of HSBC and Mark Kroese, former general manager of sustainability solutions at Microsoft, both of whom will support the direct air capture (DAC) company with commercial strategy, customer engagement, and market priorities. Herweijer is also vice chair of the We Mean Business Coalition and holds a PhD in climate modelling and policy from Columbia University, while Kroese is strongly experienced in positioning carbon removal portfolios for large corporate buyers. They will support Climeworks in scaling its diversified carbon removal portfolios, said the press release Tuesday.

A senior European Commission official said allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) will continue to be auctioned well into the 2040s, with flexibilities in the bloc’s carbon market allowing industries to emit for longer.

Paris will back a faster phaseout of fossil fuels at an informal meeting of EU energy ministers starting today in Cyprus, arguing that the conflict in the Middle East must not slow Europe’s energy transition or be used as an excuse to exempt gas-fired power plants from paying for their carbon emissions, as Italy plans to do.

A UK-based firm has carried out the first trade in EU ETS2 allowances with an end-user, as the market ramps up towards its launch in 2028.

Delhi carbon storage - Researchers from New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Delhi report that urban forests in the national capital, one of the world’s most polluted cities by AQI, store 346.9 tCO2e per hectare, valued at over INR 0.4 mln (USD 4187) in carbon credits. Soil accounts for 43% of storage, locking in 149.7 tCO2e worth INR 174,000 (USD 2,100). Neem and babool trees emerged as top absorbers, while biodiversity, litter, and microbial activity further boost retention, placing Delhi’s forests as key buffers against worsening climate conditions.

Incubation - A Singapore-backed blue carbon accelerator has selected 10 startups from seven countries for its inaugural cohort, aiming to scale technologies supporting mangrove and coastal ecosystem restoration in Southeast Asia, it announced. The Blue Catalyst Challenge, led by World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore and Hatch Blue with support from the Singapore Economic Development Board, focuses on tools such as geospatial mapping, biodiversity monitoring, and digital MRV systems. Participants include Singapore-based Arkadiah Technology and Kumi Analytics, alongside firms from the UK, France, Indonesia, Switzerland, Australia, and the US. The programme aims to improve the integrity and scalability of blue carbon projects, particularly those involving mangroves, seagrasses, and coastal wetlands.

REC Power Development & Consultancy (RECPDCL), a unit of India’s state‑run power financier REC, has invited expressions of interest (EoI) to empanel agencies for verification and validation under the country’s new carbon credit trading scheme.

Local CCUS - India inaugurated its first integrated CCUS field laboratory at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, in a bid to develop indigenous carbon removal technologies, the government said. The facility combines carbon capture, industrial utilisation, and geological sequestration in basalt formations, including pilot drilling to assess CO2 storage potential in the Deccan Traps - one of the world’s largest volcanic formations covering much of west-central India and formed around 66 mln years ago. The technology is being commercialised by UrjanovaC, a startup incubated at IIT Bombay, and uses non-potable water to capture emissions from air and industry before converting them into carbonate and bicarbonate salts.

Guyana’s national jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD+) programme, which currently uses the ART TREES v2.0 ‘high forest, low deforestation’ (HFLD) methodology, is “already aligned” with the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label, the government has claimed – even though the ICVCM has rejected this protocol for a CCP seal.

Potential - Indonesia’s forestry and land-use sector is expected to deliver around 60% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2030 under its FOLU Net Sink strategy, national news agency Antara reported, citing a Forestry Ministry official. Indonesia’s emissions could reach 2.8 bln tonnes of CO2e by 2030 without mitigation, but measures under the scheme aim to cut that to 1.2 bln tonnes, the official said. Authorities estimate the programme will require IDR 204 trillion ($12.7 bln) in funding through 2030, far above the ministry’s annual budget of around IDR 6 trillion.

Pay and go for PNG – The Seoul-based Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the UN Development Programme have signed an MoU to mobilise climate finance in Papua New Guinea. The collaboration, under the Australia-funded Climate Finance Initiative for Resilience and Sustainable Transition project, will also see the two organisations support capacity-building in the Pacific nation and advance green growth initiatives, GGGI said in a press release Monday.

Planned amendments to New Zealand’s core climate change law to limit tort claims arising from climate impacts has been criticised, with one legal observer telling Carbon Pulse it marks an “egregious departure” from government norms.