Major oil and gas companies are taking the European Commission to court over a rule requiring them to help build carbon storage infrastructure, with the legal battle possibly causing serious consequences for Europe's climate goals, according to analysis by an NGO.

A carbon asset manager with ambitions to become a major supplier of CORSIA-eligible credits has struck its second marketing deal, the company announced on Tuesday.

Pathway to Pathways – Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said he is highly confident Alberta oil sands companies can absorb the cost of the C$16.5 bln ($12 bln) Pathways carbon capture project, after Ottawa and Alberta agreed on the trajectory of the province’s industrial carbon price, Bloomberg reported. The project, backed by five major oil sands firms including Cenovus, Imperial Oil, and Suncor, would capture CO2 from multiple facilities and store it underground in eastern Alberta, with a first phase targeting 6 Mt of annual emissions reductions by 2035 and a longer-term goal of 16 Mt. Hodgson said the agreement was needed before companies could be brought into talks, while Oil Sands Alliance president Kendall Dilling said the carbon price remains a competitive disadvantage but that a new oil export pipeline to Asia could shift the economics. Alberta plans to unveil its pipeline proposal by July 1, with the federal government pledging to consider fast-tracking the project if the province advances route planning, British Columbia engagement, and First Nations consultation.

Latin American countries advanced carbon market plans last week, with Argentina proposing a carbon credit regime and Brazil outlining the rollout of its future emissions trading system, as the region eyes Article 6 demand to unlock investment.

A bipartisan US proposal to expand reforestation infrastructure support could ease long-standing supply bottlenecks constraining nature and carbon projects, observers told Carbon Pulse.

Silver linings? – The CDR market could actually benefit from Microsoft’s reported retreat from purchasing, the CEO of Swiss direct air capture firm Climeworks told Bloomberg late last week. Christoph Gebald said if Microsoft does pull back from the carbon removal market, it could signal the next phase of CDR - an era marked by many cross-sector companies making serious offtake commitments. Microsoft denied in April it would pause its CDR purchase programme after reports circulated that the tech giant would step away from large scale procurement. Microsoft’s offtake agreements have accounted for a huge portion of the CDR market to date. The company has signed inked a BECCS deal.

Europe risks paying a far higher price in the long run if the cost of carbon emission allowances falls amid an imminent review of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), according to a European power company, which argues that weakening climate incentives could undermine both economic stability and energy security across the continent.

Planned CO2 capture and storage (CCS) projects in the cement sector will capture less than 2% of the industry’s global emissions by 2035, despite the successful launch last year of the world’s first commercial‑scale CCS facility at a Norwegian cement plant, according to a new report.

The risk that a developer goes bankrupt or fails to deliver is the biggest obstacle to funding carbon removal (CDR) projects, financiers told a European Commission event on the EU’s Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) scheme last week.

European carbon prices slipped lower on Monday morning after Friday's gains as oil prices fell below $100 per barrel and benchmark European gas futures dropped 7% on renewed expectations of an agreement between the US and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

A new discussion paper has urged governments to rapidly establish a global governance framework for carbon removal (CDR), warning that the world is dangerously unprepared to manage the scale needed to meet climate targets.

Retail investors in India reduced their exposure to carbon-intensive stocks after nearby air quality monitors made local pollution data more visible, a study released last week has found.

The Article 6.4 Supervisory Body (SBM) has formally adopted a new tool for calculating the fraction of non-renewable biomass (fNRB), a key parameter underpinning baseline-setting in cookstove and biomass carbon activities, though has requested more granular country-level values be included following further work.

A rule-based emergency reserve price in the EU ETS could reduce coal use during natural gas price shocks while raising revenue that could be used to compensate households for higher power prices, a study published Monday has found.

Australia can generate up to 127 million tonnes of annual carbon removals from land-sector activities by 2050, according to a report published Monday which argued sequestration and biodiversity restoration can occur simultaneously with expanding agricultural production.

Taiwan has begun evaluating a new voluntary offset methodology that optimises building chiller efficiency by adjusting operations to match weather forecasts.

Marine carbon removal (mCDR) projects looking to use sargassum could benefit from more predictable and persistent blooms in the Atlantic, as floating seaweed mats have increasingly begun to sustain their own growth, according to a recent study.

Steel to fuel - JSW Steel, India’s largest steel maker by revenue, on Monday said it has partnered with Carbon Iceland International to develop large‑scale green methanol in India The proposed 300‑kilotonne‑per‑annum project will use CO2 from JSW’s Raigad operations in Maharashtra, converting them into methanol with green hydrogen from renewable sources. The collaboration aims to build a scalable CCU pathway for the steel sector, while supporting India’s wider energy transition, and decarbonisation goals. Initial work will assess an existing high‑purity CO₂ stream at JSW’s facility, and explore options to capture additional emissions from broader steelmaking operations.

Indonesia has endorsed a $20 million regional initiative funded by South Korea to scale methane reduction efforts, with a focus on the landfill sector.

Plastic fuel plan - Cambodia’s Environment Ministry and the EU are studying a $22.3 mln plan to convert plastic and other waste into electricity in Siem Reap, officials said. The proposal, discussed at a May 19 meeting led by Environment Ministry Secretary of State Sabo Ojano and EU representatives, would build a facility processing 22-35 tonnes of waste daily, generating 35-75 MWh of power and cutting emissions by 25,000 tonnes a year, according to a ministry statement. Officials also raised the idea of using carbon credit revenue to support investment.

Indonesia is preparing new regulations for carbon trading in the energy sector, aiming to mobilise up to $7.7 billion in additional green investment annually, the energy ministry announced.

Offsets from Chinese carbon projects used by European companies lacked the equipment they claimed would cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to an investigation.

The UK and EU are aiming to secure an agreement to link their two cap-and-trade carbon markets at a 'reset' summit now tentatively scheduled for July 13, the Guardian has reported.

Indonesia’s forestry ministry and the UN Environment Programme have signed an agreement to boost cooperation on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).

Alkalinity enhancement, whether applied on land through enhanced rock weathering or directly in marine environments, faces questions over durability because dissolved mineral compounds are often lost during transport, and not fully captured in current monitoring, according to a study.

India has opened public consultation on three new draft methodologies under the offset mechanism of its Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), looking at generating units from activities related to transport, maritime electrification, and vehicle recycling.

The climate activist and iwi leader suing some of New Zealand’s biggest emitters for climate damage has accused the government of covering up lobbying by some of the defendants, following the release of briefings given to the prime minister’s office outlining legislative changes to ban such litigation.

Deepining ties - ASEAN and the EU agreed to deepen cooperation on carbon pricing and international carbon markets at a regional workshop in Brunei last week, as Southeast Asian countries step up work on emissions trading systems and Article 6 mechanisms. Officials and technical experts exchanged approaches on domestic carbon pricing tools, including emissions trading systems and carbon taxes, while also discussing legislative frameworks, MRV systems, registries, and project pipelines needed for participation in Paris Agreement carbon markets. The meeting also advanced technical cooperation, with ASEAN participants drawing lessons from the EU ETS on market design and governance.

Waste to energy- Indonesia’s Lampung Provincial Government has made a pact with Malaysian company Citaglobal Berhad to develop waste-to-energy and renewable energy projects in Lampung province. The partnership aims to convert urban and industrial waste into power. Under the collaboration, a waste‑to‑energy facility will deploy German technology to process municipal waste and supply power to the local grid. At the same time, the partners also plan to convert agricultural residues, including palm oil mill effluent, into biogas for industrial use.

Got your back - Japan's environment ministry has selected a new project proposal under the Joint Crediting Mechanism for subsidies. The project, proposed by Shin-Etsu Chemical, aims to cut emissions by around 16,014 tonnes per year by installing a 40 MW solar power plant and a relevant storage system in Thailand's Kanchanaburi province. So far, Japan has established JCM partnerships with 32 countries, and over 290 projects have been selected under the subsidy programme.

Power up – Australia’s government has approved 19 renewable energy projects, totalling 7.8 GW, under the latest round of its Capacity Investment Scheme, it announced on Saturday - more than the 5 GW initially planned for. Eight of the projects selected under the scheme’s seventh tender include battery storage, adding some 2 GW of capacity. The government added that, subject to final contracts, the selected projects have committed A$504.6 mln ($361.7 mln) in community benefits, A$678.7 mln in First Nations benefits, and A$257 mln for locally-made steel. Tender 8 opened last year, and the results will be announced next month, while the ninth tender opens Monday and runs until July 20. This new round is seeking 5 GW of generation capacity. Earlier this year, the government said it was on track to meet its goal to have 82% of energy from renewables by 2030, key to meeting its NDC commitments.