The US EPA submitted a rule for review to roll back its regulations on fossil fuel-powered energy sources, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to support coal- and gas-burning electricity amid growing demand from data centres.

RGGI Allowance (RGA) futures prices moved back into the mid-$40 range after the market recovered from a programme statement asserting a commitment to affordability and as the Q2 auction approaches in a couple of weeks.

US CBAM backer defeated - Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the most vocal Republican proponent of a US carbon tariff, was defeated in his party's primary process in his effort to win re-election, Axios reported. Cassidy had been accused of "disloyalty" by President Donald Trump, who backed one of Cassidy's challengers, Representative Julia Letlow, who has advanced to the two-candidate runoff. In a client note, analysts at Washington DC-based research firm ClearView Energy said Cassidy's defeat could mean a proposal for a federal carbon tariff under a Republican-controlled Congress is much less likely to succeed, or it could mean the Trump administration may be willing to give such a policy another look now that the issue is not necessarily associated with Cassidy.

Coal closure delayed - The US DOE on Monday issued an emergency order to keep the JH Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive, Michigan, operational until Aug. 16, the latest in a series of such orders that have kept the facility running past its original intended retirement date in May 2025. The administration of President Donald Trump (R) said the move is meant to employ economic dispatch of power and minimise costs for the public, but the move was condemned as ultimately more costly and polluting by non-profit the Environmental Defense Fund, which is supporting ongoing litigation against the extension of the coal plant's lifespan.

Biofuels feedstocks – Brazil’s Ministries of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and Mines and Energy (MME) have issued a joint ordinance establishing a minimum share of waste oils and fats in the production of biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and renewable diesel. The measure forms part of the implementation of the Fuels of the Future Law, aimed at increasing the use of lower-carbon fuels in the country’s energy mix. Under the new rules, biofuel producers will be encouraged to source at least 1% of their renewable feedstocks from waste oils and fats in 2026 and 2027, before the requirement becomes mandatory from Jan. 2028.

Stack attack – California-based electrolyser stack manufacturer EVOLOH said on Monday it has agreed to deploy a 2.5-MW packaged hydrogen production system at a 3M manufacturing facility in the US under a commercial-scale pilot project expected to begin operations in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. The company said the project represents its largest deployment to date and will be used in an emissions reduction application at the plant while collecting operational data from a live industrial environment. The agreement expands an existing relationship between EVOLOH and 3M after the latter participated in the former’s $20 mln Series A fundraising round in 2024, while 3M also supplies sealing materials used in the company’s electrolyser stacks.

Core values – Oregon has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for drilling and subsurface testing services tied to a proposed appraisal well assessing the suitability of basalt formations for potential CO2 storage in the northeast part of the state. The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) said the project would target the Columbia River Basalt Group in Morrow County’s Lower Umatilla Basin, with proposals due by June 24. DOGAMI is seeking bids covering drilling and physical sampling, wireline geophysical evaluation, hydraulic and reservoir testing, or combined consortium-led proposals for the effort.

SBCE scope - Brazil's Extraordinary Secretariat of the Carbon Market (SEMC) will unveil Tuesday a proposal for defining the sectoral coverage of the country's future emissions trading system (Portuguese: SBCE). According to Brazil's Ministry of Finance (MF), the proposal includes a progressive inclusion of sectors in the SBCE, specifying which activities are in each stage, as well as the phasing criteria. The SEMC anticipates that the regulation will undergo public consultation in July, and that the final version will be published in the second half of 2026.

A US forestland manager on Monday announced a management restructuring aimed at expanding its ability to quantify and report environmental benefits beyond carbon, as it said investors are placing greater emphasis on nature-related risks and environmental disclosures.

Scotland-based Plan Vivo launched on Monday a public consultation on a new grassland management tool suite under its climate standard, marking the certifier’s latest push to expand carbon accounting methodologies for complex land-based ecosystems.

Phase 1 CORSIA prices fell sharply again last week, with spot prices for the UN international aviation offsetting scheme bid slipping below $11, while futures contracts slipped to lows not seen for two years after a meeting of EU leaders raised doubts about demand.

A former stalwart of the UNFCCC has become the head of a non-profit data provider that connects carbon credit registries worldwide.

A new systematic review of governance practices has identified 12 key principles that could improve the sustainability, equity, and long-term success of community-based marine restoration projects.

A carbon standard has unveiled a new protocol designed to improve how soil-based removal projects are measured and verified.

Amazon has pushed back against relying solely on carbon removals, a trend common among major corporate buyers, to instead focus on high-quality emissions reduction credits that it said were essential to scale voluntary markets.

International appetite for Brazil’s nature economy is growing, but much of the capital still struggles to reach projects on the ground.

The first meaningful supply of carbon credits traded under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 mechanism will only emerge closer to 2030, as countries build the accounting and regulatory infrastructure needed to authorise trades, according to two UNEP officials.

Environmental campaigners are optimistic that the UN General Assembly will vote on Wednesday to adopt a resolution to endorse last year’s historic International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on climate change, which found that states have a legal obligation to cut GHG emissions.

The UN’s climate secretariat has launched test versions of registries to facilitate the transfer and trade of emissions reduction units under the Article 6 mechanisms, with a view to launching the final systems at the end of the year.

Brazilian lift – The World Bank has approved a $500 mln loan for a project to drive low-carbon investment in northeast Brazil, it said in a press release on Friday. The bank’s cash is part of a $968 mln total package to be channeled via local development bank Banco do Nordeste, with additional support from the Climate Investment Funds’ Clean Technology Fund ($30 mln concessional loan), a $10-mln grant from the World Bank’s Livable Planet Fund, and another grant from the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program of $5 mln. It will also leverage more than $423 mln in commercial capital, the bank said. Specifically, the financing will support first-of-its-kind and commercial demonstration projects in sectors such as sustainable aviation fuel, low-carbon fertilisers, cement, and steel, as well as the infrastructure needed to enable these. Brazil’s northeast has some of the country’s best renewable energy resources but is one of the country’s least industrialised areas and has some of the highest rates of poverty, the bank said