California Carbon Allowance (CCA) futures edged up towards the mid-$29 range ahead of next week's Q2 auction as the market looks for clarity from the sale and a planned vote on proposed changes to the state's Cap-and-Invest Program.

Nature-related investments remain a small portion of assets-under-management (AUM) for Canadian investors, but they're making progress, according to a recent survey.

Stakeholders from a wide swath of sectors urged California regulator ARB to revise various proposed updates to the state’s Cap-and-Invest Program to address concerns around affordability, ambition, and other areas in submissions on the 15-day notice released by the agency.

$1 bln investment - US-based investment firm SG2 has closed a $1 billion growth-stage investment fund. The fund, which drew international institutional investors across pension plans to family offices, would look to advance commercial solutions that deliver greater efficiency, resilience, and long-term value. It backs companies primarily in North America and Europe that can improve efficiency across the core systems that power the world’s economy, from energy infrastructure and maritime transport to agricultural inputs and industrial electrification.

Double-edged - Canada may host favourable policy for clean tech development, but large investors don’t necessarily take said incentives into account when underwriting projects, according to a panel at the ClimateGlobal conference in Vancouver this week. According to Ajay Bawa, COO and co-founder of low-emissions hydrogen company Thiozen, investors have required the company to demonstrate project economics without Canadian carbon incentives such as the federal suite of investment tax credits and those offered provincially in Alberta. Panellists widely agreed that Canada is competitive for greenfield projects on the basis of its regulations, but major investors are also wary, particularly given volatility in carbon policy through the tenure of the Carney government.

Verra has launched a new label for forest carbon credits generated by projects located on lands with a forest management certification.

The US EPA has proposed to delay tailpipe emissions compliance for passenger vehicles by two years, according to a Thursday announcement.

Wildfire watch - London-based carbon insurance and climate risk modelling firm Artio projected more than 130 square km of wildfire exposure across Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and the Great Smoky Mountains through the end of August 2026, with Sequoia facing the highest proportional risk among the parks assessed. The analysis, based on MODIS satellite fire data, climate variables, and a cellular automata fire-spread model across multiple Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios, found projected exposure above five-year historical averages at Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and the Great Smoky Mountains, while Yosemite was forecast below its recent baseline. Kings Canyon’s projected exposure rises from 0.34% historically to 1.04%, the Great Smoky Mountains from 0.04% to 0.46%, and Sequoia from 1.43% to 1.74%, according to the modelling, which cited low Sierra Nevada snowpack, early snowmelt, and potential El Nino conditions as factors that could increase fire risk.

Keep shining - The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts solar generation in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) will exceed coal on an annual basis for the first time in 2026, with utility-scale solar expected to generate 78 billion KWh compared with 60 bln KWh from coal. Solar’s share of ERCOT generation rose from 4% in 2021 to 12% in 2025, while coal’s share fell from 19% to 13%, as new solar capacity helped meet rising electricity demand. EIA said about 40% of US solar capacity additions in 2026, or 14 bln KWh, are expected in Texas, while no new coal plants are planned in ERCOT. Solar first exceeded coal on a monthly basis in March 2025 and is forecast to remain ahead for most months in 2026 and 2027, as demand grows from cryptocurrency mining, data centres, industrial activity, and oil and gas-related operations.

A developer of carbon transport and storage infrastructure in the US has secured a key validation milestone for its biomass carbon removal project and expanded a forward sales agreement for future CDR credits, as interest in engineered removals continues to build among corporate buyers.

Canada would amend its Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) to allow greater flexibility for the energy sector via emissions offsets in a national pledge to double grid capacity by 2050, the federal government announced Thursday.

A wastewater treatment technology company has raised $25 million to expand deployments of a process that it says can lower utility costs while delivering verified carbon removal (CDR), it announced Thursday.

Verra now has three new vetted third-party data providers to supply benchmark data for projects using its afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) methodology, it announced Thursday.

A Brazilian project developer has generated its first tranche of afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) carbon credits in the Atlantic Forest to be delivered to Microsoft, the company announced on Thursday.

The US House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday to allow nationwide year-round sales of E15 gasoline, advancing a long-sought priority for ethanol producers and corn-state lawmakers despite opposition from environmental groups and parts of the biofuels sector.

World oil demand is falling sharply due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is depleting global stocks at a record pace, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday.

A long-planned Midwest CO2 pipeline project is being reworked after legal and permitting setbacks, with its developer cutting hundreds of miles from its Iowa route and shifting the planned storage component to Wyoming.

Heat stress at 2026 FIFA World Cup - Climate change is expected to increase heat stress risks during the upcoming FIFA World Cup, with around 26 games likely to be played in conditions requiring cooling breaks under player-union guidance, according to a report published Thursday. That' compared with around 21 under 1994 climate conditions. The analysis, by World Weather Attribution, found that five games could face conditions that global players’ union FIFPRO considers unsafe for play, with Miami, Kansas City, Philadelphia, New York/New Jersey, Dallas, and Houston among the most exposed host cities. Hot events reaching or exceeding WBGT thresholds of 26C, 28C, and 32C are now substantially more likely during the World Cup period than they were in 1994, the report said.

A province in South America expects it will soon be issued millions of CORSIA Eligible Emissions Units (EEUs) and is arranging to sell most or all of these to a regional airline at just over $23 per unit, local media has reported.

Clients of a large US bank are keen but struggling to enter the carbon market because they find it too "mystifying" and in need of standardisation through blockchain-based banking, a finance expert said at a conference, adding that this would finally attract the necessary large-scale capital. 

UN climate chief Simon Stiell on Thursday lauded China as a global climate leader and called on Beijing to help its region in phasing out coal amid mounting energy security challenges.

California regulator ARB issued fewer than 44,000 compliance-grade offsets over the past three weeks, the second-lowest issuance so far this year, according to data released on Wednesday.