US President Donald Trump launched hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to protect coal plants and mines on Thursday, using powers under wartime authority to dole out much of the funding.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) futures rose to five-month highs following the long-awaited approval of programme updates by California regulator ARB late last week, although traders expressed mixed expectations whether prices would hold at current levels.

RGGI rebellion - The New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) has launched a "Rethink RGGI" campaign to promote a policy alternative to the US Northeast and Mid-Atlantic power sector cap-and-trade scheme. The NJBIA is promoting to replace the state's RGGI regulation with a flat $7 per short ton fee on all generators in the state. The proposal is meant to lower energy costs for New Jersey consumers while protecting competitiveness and maintaining in-state investment in clean energy and environmental programmes, the NJBIA said.

Alberta market participants are pricing credits for "materially looser market conditions" as the price floor laid out in the Canada-Alberta carbon deal looks set to fail, charting a path to increased emissions by the mid-2030s without tighter stringency, a new analysis said.

An initiative led by major oil and gas providers called for harmonisation of reporting standards for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and engineered carbon removals (CDR), saying addressing gaps would enable the industry to accelerate towards climate goals.

Data centre win, climate goal loss - North Carolina has passed the Ratepayer Protection Act, an energy bill which would require data centres to cover costs for new energy infrastructure, extend the life of coal-fired power plants, and calls for more fossil fuel infrastructure. E&E News reported the bill also jeopardises the state’s long-term climate goal as it solicits a study of the state’s 2050 net zero target.

Brussels has told industries they could receive a top-up of free carbon allowances for 2026 once new benchmarks are presented alongside the reform of the bloc's carbon market in July, EU sources told Carbon Pulse.

A Canadian-headquartered forestry company this week reported progress towards its climate targets, including lower emissions and new revenues from carbon market activities, in its latest sustainability report.

Reiche talks post-2030 - German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has called for further changes to the EU ETS, arguing that climate policy must better protect industrial competitiveness amid growing economic pressures, local media has reported. The German government's response to a parliamentary inquiry from the Green Party revealed that, after 2039, Berlin is pushing for a limited number of EUAs to remain in circulation, a policy already expected from prior reporting amid the upcoming ETS review due to begin in July. Adjustments to the more flexible EU climate targets are not slated to begin until 2036, when international are also set to be allowed in to support the 2040 goal. The German proposal has drawn sharp criticism from opposition politicians, particularly the Green Party whose leader Felix Banaszak warned that weakening the ETS would undermine companies that have already invested heavily in cleaner production methods. He argued that reducing climate ambition would send the wrong signal to businesses considering low-carbon investments. Green lawmaker Julian Joswig also criticised the government, saying it was creating uncertainty for companies, workers, and investors. Critics contend that loosening carbon market rules could jeopardise climate targets while failing to deliver long-term economic certainty.

The overall cap on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) will likely need to be raised to make room for units generated from permanent carbon removals, while giving extra breathing space to regulated industries, an official has indicated.

The sharp rise in European summer heatwaves since 1980 has been driven primarily by greenhouse gas emissions and further intensified by reductions in aerosol pollution resulting from air quality regulations, according to a new study.

EU carbon allowances fell by as much as €2 by early on Thursday afternoon as traders continued to liquidate long positions that were initiated last week, before prices then stabilised over the balance of the session, while news reports concerning 400 million permits set to be allocated to fund a new Industrial Decarbonisation Bank also appeared to add to the bearish mood.

Natural forest expansion across the moist tropics has sequestered more above-ground carbon than secondary forests, but the sink remains far smaller than emissions from tropical forest loss, according to a new study.

EU-approved CORSIA Phase 1 supply, based on provisional eligibility criteria, could reach as many as 160 million credits across the three-year period, according to a rating agency, but the company urged that Brussels takes a more moderate stance as this total is unlikely to be anywhere near as high in reality.

Spanish state aid - The European Commission has approved a €25 mln scheme to support fishing companies in Spain facing increased fuel prices due to the Middle East crisis. The aid will take the form of direct grants, with companies allowed to receive €0.20 for each litre of diesel purchased between Mar. 22 and June 30 this year, up to a maximum of €200,000 per vessel and €400,000 per shipowner. The aid can cover up to 70% of the additional fuel costs resulting from the current conflicts and will run until Dec. 31. Brussels approved the scheme under the Middle East Crisis Temporary State Aid Framework (read more).

A UK energy-from-waste wood company has submitted a planning application to add carbon capture technology to an existing bioenergy plant, it announced last week.

Colombia has published a draft carbon markets decree addressing technical and safeguarding concerns with tools that don’t yet exist, also imposing new responsibilities on domestic and international entities, but leaving key implementation questions open.

A Dutch court has cleared the way for Greenpeace International to pursue legal action against US pipeline operator Energy Transfer, rejecting the company's attempt to have the anti-intimidation case dismissed and allowing proceedings to move to the merits stage.

The European Commission has referred Spain and Poland to the EU Court of Justice for failing to transpose revised emissions trading rules into national law, more than two years after the deadline passed.

Finnish climate minister Sari Multala on Thursday defended the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) as the central policy to steer investment towards clean energy, warning that any weakening of the bloc's carbon market risks undermining the continent’s clean-tech ambitions.

Setting an example - Germany's existing carbon pricing system on fossil fuels used in transport and buildings can help inform the social measures introduced as part of EU ETS2, said German think tank Zukunft KlimaSozial in a policy brief. ETS2 will apply from 2028 to the transport and buildings sectors, and will have more of a direct effect on the population than ETS1, with social measures therefore required to offset the impact on low-income households, say experts. According to Zukunft KlimaSozial, examples of social measures in Germany can prove useful in this regard. The country has begun to introduce subsidies differentiated by income, such as support for buying new EVs or energy-efficient home modernisation, as well as new rules requiring landlords to share the CO2 costs of fossil heating systems with tenants. However, the think tank critiqued Germany for failing to offer direct compensation payments to vulnerable groups.

A voluntary carbon registry has listed its first Paris Agreement-aligned project, a clean cooking initiative in Senegal that is set to expand to cover several different programmes in the coming years, it was announced on Thursday.

Reforms for renewables - Significant reforms of Germany's financing and permitting laws are needed for the country to meet its goal of 80% renewables in electricity consumption by 2030, according to local utility VKU based on a member survey. Renewables accounted for 56% of Germany's gross power consumption last year, but the transition has created big challenges for electricity distribution networks, which have to manage the rising proportion of intermittent clean energy. Other challenges faced by network operators include the bureaucratic burden involved in planning grid routes, shortages of materials and transformers, lengthy approval and environmental impact assessments, and a lack of construction capacity. Almost 80% of respondents said a recent rule reform that governs the risk and return profile of network operators has negatively affected their business. Expanding and upgrading grids is key to bringing more renewables online and avoiding curtailment.

Norway’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 1.2% in 2025, as lower road transport emissions outweighed increases from industry and agriculture, according to preliminary data released Thursday.

The European Commission is facing mounting criticism over its forthcoming rulebook for certifying carbon farming activities, with campaigners warning that the framework risks undermining environmental integrity just as the EU seeks to expand carbon removals alongside its emissions trading and carbon border policies.

CBAM impact - Kazakhstan’s aluminum, iron, and steel sectors are expected to be most affected by the EU's carbon border fee, according to a CBAM impact assessment report presented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in partnership with the QazTrade Trade Policy Development Center. During a report presentation in Astana, speakers called for Kazakhstan to strengthen its domestic ETS in response to CBAM, and to ensure that companies effectively monitor their emissions to avoid being subject to EU default values. According to the report, the EU accounts for over half of Kazakhstan’s aluminum exports, and based on a carbon price of €80, the estimated CBAM cost for aluminum exports would be about €5.6 mln, or roughly 2% of export value. While the impact on iron and steel exports could be far greater - using default emissions values, CBAM costs could exceed €108 mln, equivalent to 123% of the value of some steel exports. But if Kazakh exporters properly monitor, verify, and report their actual emissions, the total CBAM liability could be cut from around €114 mln to approximately €57 mln annually. (Astana Times)

The EU is preparing to finance a new €30 billion clean energy investment programme by selling carbon permits from a reserve for new entrants in the bloc's Emissions Trading System (ETS) and from an existing buffer of free allowances, while spreading out any auctioning to ensure the additional supply does not disrupt the bloc’s carbon market, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

This summer’s World Cup will emit more than twice as much CO2 as the carbon footprint of the last football bonanza in Qatar in 2022, finds research published on Thursday.

Jordan is aiming to be among the first Arab countries to join international carbon markets, by convening its third steering committee meeting for a Norway‑funded initiative to cut emissions from the waste sector.

Stepping into SAF - The first procurement of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has gone live on carbon removal portfolio manager Climefi's platform, in partnership with The International Aviation Group and British Airways, said ClimeFi co-founder, Sebastien Dewarrat. It reflects growing client demand and helps ClimeFi to coordinate removal purchases alongside SAF, as well as "to consolidate procurement, portfolio, and inventory management", he said on LinkedIn.

Electric gains ground - New car registrations in the UK were about 6% higher in May than last year, driven by strong demand for plug-in vehicles as drivers steer towards electric alternatives due to rising fuel costs. Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 27% of all new registrations, surging 31% year-on-year, according to New Automotive. Conversely, petrol and ‌diesel ⁠car registrations fell by 14% and 6%, respectively, while hybrid car growth was largely flat. Tesla's new car sales in the UK increased by 18% y-o-y to 2,812 ​units in ​May, while ⁠overall new car sales reached 152,331 units. Electric cars can be cheaper to run, and the UK govt also offers a grant to help customers switch to EVs. (Reuters)

A Canadian bank has signed a deal to purchase 18,000 verified direct air capture (DAC) carbon removal (CDR) credits from a Montreal-headquartered project developer, it was announced on Thursday.

The effectiveness of the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) remains constrained by institutional complexity and insufficient partner engagement, but Tokyo's move to scale up nature-based projects may address the issue of limited credit issuance, a new paper argued.

Open for feedback - The Rainbow Standard has opened a 30-day consultation on its bio-oil in asphalt module under the biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) methodology. Module highlights include that projects are required to demonstrate carbon durability of 100 years or more, and that developers can issue removal credits for both pyrolysis co-products (biochar and bio-oil) within a single certification framework. The consultation is open until June 25. Find out more here.

The European Commission will present its CO2 transport and infrastructure package in November, a senior EU official has indicated, saying the regulation will remain light in the beginning while providing a long-term vision to support investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) networks.

A fresh lobbying campaign in the US to mandate fossil fuel companies to use carbon removal (CDR) technology may garner support from the oil sector, an academic and sectoral expert told Carbon Pulse this week.

The European Commission has selected the EEX exchange to auction EU carbon allowances for the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and for the upcoming new scheme for heating and transport (ETS2) for the next five years.

An Indian micro‑irrigation systems provider has commissioned an industrial‑scale biochar facility in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, which it described as its largest to date.

Australian carbon prices steadily climbed to higher levels last month, thanks to consistent compliance activity that suggests a maturing market, according to intelligence companies.

India’s forthcoming Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) will need tighter benchmarks, eventual power sector inclusion, and stronger coordination with companion policies to deliver credible carbon price signals, a report said on Thursday.

Papua New Guinea has set a pathway to reach net zero emissions by 2030 and become net-negative by 2035 under a near-final update to its national climate pledge, while simultaneously securing new EU funding to strengthen climate finance, forest monitoring, and biodiversity governance.

The UK government needs to create a dedicated carbon reporting office in order to streamline an increasingly fragmented landscape of regulations and approaches to emissions accounting, according to a report published on Thursday.

The New Zealand government's legislative efforts to restrict climate-related tort claims is a breach of trade agreements with the UK and EU, experts told Carbon Pulse. 

Companies should split net zero targets between emissions cuts they can deliver themselves and reductions that depend on wider system change, as part of a more honest approach to corporate climate commitments, according to a report published Thursday.

Optimising composting practices using machine learning could transform the global organic waste sector from a net greenhouse gas emitter into a carbon sink while conserving nutrients for agriculture, according to a new study.

Taking the initiative – Intergovernmental organisation the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the government of Indonesia have launched a new phase of the Green Indonesia Future Initiative (GIFT), running from 2026-30, the Korea-based group said in a press release. This builds on work done so far under this partnership, which has delivered an estimated 183.5 MtCO2e of emissions reductions, mobilised $776.5 mln of green investment across the economy, and created 271,095 jobs, GGGI said, in sectors such as forestry, blue carbon, and energy. Under the next chapter, GIFT is aiming to mobilise $2 bln of green investment by 2030 – more than doubling what it has so far delivered – as the country seeks to make progress on its Paris Agreement NDC and the Indonesian Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

An India‑based climate infrastructure company has signed a multi‑year agreement with a carbon removal (CDR) financier to deliver 180,000 tonnes of biochar removals, in what the partners say is one of the largest long‑term offtake deals of its kind from the South Asian country.

Handy tool – South Korea's trade ministry (MOTIE) and trade promotion agency (KOTRA) have published training materials to help companies implement international emissions reduction projects under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement. While corporate interest is rising, many companies have struggled with implementation due to the complexity of international regulations and project procedures, MOTIE said. The training covers the entire process of project development and implementation, including MRV and the current status of international cooperation.

Revival – The chairman of Keidanren, Japan's largest business lobby, this week called on the government to prioritise the expansion of nuclear power, citing vulnerabilities in the nation's energy supply exposed by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Using carbon-free energy sources is increasingly important for the country, and it is particularly vital to accelerate the restart of idled nuclear power reactors, Yoshinobu Tsutsui said. Japan is planning to revive its nuclear sector, 15 years after the Fukushima disaster, amid growing energy security concerns.    

Cabinet documents published Thursday showed a rift between New Zealand’s climate minister and his ministry over how often the country’s ETS price controls and settings should be updated.

Several governments across Latin America and the Caribbean are studying how to replicate Argentina's Misiones programme after it became the first jurisdictional REDD+ initiative approved under Verra's Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) Framework, the standard's regional representative told Carbon Pulse. 

The number of applications for new forests to enter the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has continued to plateau, with the latest data showing just nine applications were received in May.

Chile has issued a Letter of Authorisation (LoA) for a biogas landfill mitigation project, with the government also looking to operationalise two other bilateral agreements and preparing to assess a new batch of projects next month, a senior government official said this week at the Latin American Climate Summit (LACS).

Sovereign power - A report by think tank The McKell Institute, published Wednesday, has urged Australia to establish a national Commonwealth entity to build and own firmed renewable energy generation and offer long-term power purchase agreements to the country's strategic industrial facilities. The report argued that private incentives are preventing sufficient investment in renewables from occurring, leaving the country's shallow industrial base exposed to extreme volatility and higher energy costs, as well as failing to deliver the country's climate goals. The establishment of Sovereign Power would help avoid the government providing ad-hoc bailouts for large strategic industrial facilities, it argued, saying money could be spent more strategically.

Mining activities across sub-Saharan Africa have triggered far more deforestation beyond mine boundaries than within them, with every hectare of forest directly cleared for mining associated with nearly 34 additional hectares of offsite forest loss, according to a new study.

The Mexican government is aiming to publish the regulation required to make its emissions trading system (ETS) fully operational by the end of 2026, accompanied by a national programme to boost local supply of carbon credits, according to a federal official.

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has awarded C$130 million ($93.6 mln) in federal funding to 56 forestry innovation projects, ranging from new low-carbon wood technologies, to supporting Indigenous participation and forest-sector businesses.