Pulp progress – Valmet and Linde have announced a collaboration to offer electrically driven carbon capture technology for the pulp and paper industry, they announced last week. The companies said the offering integrates Linde’s HISORP carbon capture technology with Valmet’s process expertise to enable CO2 separation without the need for steam or other thermal energy. The solution is intended for pulp and paper mills with limited excess heat availability and increasing electrification requirements, they added.

Europe’s power sector and major technology companies have launched a new cooperation framework aimed at ensuring that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and data centres supports, rather than undermines, the continent’s clean energy transition, as policymakers prepare to unveil a wider strategy on digitalisation and AI in the energy sector.

Ocean finance has grown over the past decade, but funding remains concentrated outside some of the sectors most directly tied to decarbonisation and climate resilience, according to a new analysis.

The climate ambition of host countries and the stability of their regulatory frameworks are increasingly emerging as factors that could influence the price of internationally-traded carbon credits, as buyers and proponents seek to manage sovereign risks beyond the control of project execution, legal experts said this week during the Latin America Climate Summit (LACS) in Mexico.

Minor modifications - Verra has published VMR0018 methodology (Methane Avoidance Through Separation of Solids from Wastewater or Manure Treatment Systems v1.0) under its VCS programme, it announced Wednesday. The voluntary carbon standard said this constitutes a minor revision to its CDM methodology AMS-III.Y. (Methane avoidance through separation of solids from wastewater or manure treatment systems, v4.0), which applies to project activities that avoid or reduce methane production from anaerobic wastewater treatment systems and anaerobic manure management systems through the removal of volatile solids from the wastewater or manure slurry stream. Updates are being made to: allow the use of separated solids from animal manure as bedding material in barns; provide quantification procedures for projects using biofiltration systems to separate the solids; and require the use of newer VCS tools to establish baseline scenarios. AMS-III.Y. will be inactivated as a standalone methodology on July 1, 2027, Verra noted.

The EU should consider creating a 'Carbon Bank' to fund the scale-up of carbon removals (CDR) along with setting a separate deployment target for the nascent technology by 2040, new analysis suggests.

EU carbon prices briefly topped a key psychological level after the weekly Commitment of Traders data showed a strong build in bullish bets by speculative participants, before renewed selling took the market back down to familiar territory near an important technical mark, leaving the price finely balanced as another supply adjustment approaches.

EU member states want installations covered by the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) to keep receiving free carbon allowances even if they are temporarily removed from the scope of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), according to a leaked draft compromise on extending the scheme.

Off the grid – NatureGrid, a data management platform developed by Open Forest Protocol, was launched this week, with the aim of helping NbS projects organise field data, manage workflows, and consolidate data for reports. The platform was designed as a single source of truth for managing project documentation across regenerative agriculture, conservation, and ecosystem restoration projects alike. Open Forest Protocol added that the new platform is to make it easier to collect, validate, and monitor field data, as well as to share impact.

New guidance published this week seeks to improve the consistency and transparency of spatial data used to monitor deforestation-linked commodity supply chains.

Gold Standard has opened a public consultation on a proposed green hydrogen carbon methodology that would quantify emission reductions from replacing fossil fuel-based hydrogen production with water electrolysis.

Up and away - UpEnergy has announced its project (VCS2676) in Tanzania has now become eligible for CORSIA Phase 1 under Verra's VM0050 methodology. The cookstove operator said on Linkedin that 142,504 credits have now been tagged as eligible for the international aviation offset scheme on the Verra registry, and they have already found a buyer. But further volumes are expected from the project this year and throughout the remainder of the CORSIA Phase 1, which runs from 2024-26.

The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled a technology sovereignty package aimed at reducing the bloc’s dependence on foreign suppliers of semiconductors, cloud services, and artificial intelligence – while NGOs call to ensure that a rapid expansion of digital infrastructure does not undermine Europe’s climate goals.

A Global South-focused carbon crediting standard is partnering with forestry researchers to strengthen the environmental integrity of nature-based credits in carbon markets, the two sides announced on Wednesday.

High sustainable fuel costs, policy uncertainty, and limited long-term offtake agreements are holding back private finance for the decarbonisation of EU aviation and shipping, despite growing policy support for cleaner fuels, according to a report published Wednesday.

The bottleneck in host countries approving projects for CORSIA, the international aviation offsetting scheme, is holding back nearly 600 million eligible credits to date, a ratings agency has found.

A developer of modular direct air capture (DAC) technology has partnered with a regional utility in the Netherlands as it aims to provide fossil-free CO2 to a cluster of greenhouses, and guarantee localised delivery for optimal crop growth.

European carbon capture stakeholders are urging Brussels and London to set out a clear timetable with key milestones for linking the EU and UK carbon markets, warning that continued uncertainty risks delaying billions of euros in planned CO2 transport and storage projects and undermining Europe’s industrial competitiveness.

Hydrogen breakthrough – A University of Aberdeen spin-out has unveiled technology to produce green hydrogen directly from seawater, targeting off-grid coastal users and cutting freshwater demand and infrastructure costs. Hychor, founded in 2024 by electrochemist and Aberdeen graduate Jani Shibuya, has closed an equity round, formally spun out, and opened a new R&D facility in Aberdeen. Backed by the university’s Technology Transfer Office and a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship, the company plans industrial pilot projects from 2027. Shibuya said Hychor aims to be “globally impactful” in hydrogen and renewables, addressing energy security and water scarcity while creating high-quality jobs in Scotland’s energy transition.

Capital for AI controls - Gigaton, an AI company replacing control software in energy-intensive industries, has raised $26 mln in a Series A funding round to support team expansion and growth into the steel, glass, and chemicals sectors. So far deployed in global cement producers including Adani Cement, Heidelberg Materials, and Holcim, the company aims to strengthen industrial control and reduce emissions on a gigatonne scale. The round was led by Plural, and included participation from 2150, Semapa Next, and existing investors Planet A Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, UCL Technology Fund managed by AlbionVC with UCL Business, and Clean Growth Fund, bringing Gigaton’s total funding to over $35 mln. Gigaton's self-learning technology operates within plant infrastructure, adjusting key parametres to lower energy and fuel costs and reduce emissions, said the press release on Wednesday. Gigaton was formerly known as Carbon Re.

New contract - Malaysia's MISC Berhad, in partnership with Japan's Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), has secured a second long-term time charter party (TCP) from Northern Lights, it announced Wednesday. The agreement was signed for an additional newbuild liquefied CO2 carrier supporting the expansion of Europe’s first open-access CCS  transport and storage infrastructure. Co-owned through the existing MISC and K LINE joint venture, the purpose-built 12,000 cubic metre vessel will support Northern Lights’ growing CCS network.

Cement CCS pact - The Global Cement and Concrete Association and think tank Global CCS Institute signed an MoU to advance carbon capture and storage across the global cement and concrete sector on Wednesday. The two-year partnership will work to accelerate industrial decarbonisation through shared outreach, thought leadership, capacity building, and stakeholder engagement.

Buyers in the voluntary carbon market are paying more for biochar carbon credits when they are marketed with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) co‑benefits, according to a study.

Peru has become the first country in Latin America to register a cooperative approach project on the UNFCCC Article 6 platform, with the clean cooking programme expected to provide Switzerland with more than 726,000 Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) by 2030.