A wide range of developing country negotiating blocs – from middle-income and fossil fuel-rich, to the poorest and smallest – voiced concerns and opposition to unilateral trade measures, like border carbon fees, in one of the UN's first dialogues on climate-related trade issues. 

Rolling SMR - UK-based Rolls Royce has clinched a contract to build three small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) in Sweden. The  engineering group was selected by the Swedish development company Videberg Kraft, a project company majority owned by Vattenfall. Rolls Royce has already won a contract with the UK-government backed Great British Energy to build an SMR plant in Wales. The global SMR market is expected to reach nearly £500 bln by 2050, according to a government release.

The landmark Santa Marta process on transitioning away from fossil fuels can help overcome the “deadlock” in UNFCCC talks, a Colombian official said during mid-year talks in Bonn on Monday.

CORSIA futures were little changed last week, with benchmark contracts on ICE slipping below $10/tonne mark after stabilising in recent weeks following a prolonged decline.

Zimbabwean officials met Friday in Bonn with members of CORSIA’s Technical Advisory Body (TAB) to understand the TAB’s limits on involving national registries in the scheme, a country representative told Carbon Pulse, citing high stakes for standards and host countries alike.

European carbon prices surged early on Monday as markets reacted to the announcement that a peace memorandum between Iran and the United States will be signed later this week, and edged up further in the afternoon to cross the psychological €80 level after EU representatives voted to approve proposed benchmarks adjustments for free allocation.

Europe risks undermining its energy security by pressing ahead with a wave of new gas-fired power plants in Germany, Poland, and Romania that could add 28 billion cubic metres (bcm) to annual gas demand and lock the EU into decades of fossil fuel dependence, a new analysis has warned.

Fresh finance - The World Bank has approved €400 mln in extra financing to scale up Turkiye's market for distributed renewable energy, including wind energy and commercial-scale battery storage. The funding is made up of two €200 mln IBRD loans to the Development and Investment Bank of Turkiye (TKYB) and the Industrial Development Bank of Türkiye (TSKB), guaranteed by the Republic of Turkiye. Funds will be disbursed after pre-agreed targets are achieved and independently verified. Turkiye is aiming to reach 120 GW of combined wind and solar power by 2035, alongside a big expansion of battery storage. But long-term financing for wind and storage remains constrained, with domestic funding challenges. The expanded programme aims to address this, with development banks bridging the maturity gap, catalysing private sector entry. It expects to enable 1,579 MW of renewables, and to support 392 MWh of battery storage. (Mirage News)

The introduction of specific price anchors for companies choosing to set an internal carbon price under the newly released Science Based Targets initiative's (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard, will help to 'avoid race-to-the-bottom dynamics' and provide viable financial support to many carbon projects, according to experts.

EU member states approved on Monday the updated benchmarks used to determine the number of free ETS allowances handed to industries for the next five years, while Brussels also committed to put forward a new proposal with more specific 'fallback' values in July.

The European Central Bank (ECB) saw a further decline in emissions linked to its sovereign and corporate bond portfolios last year, although most of the cuts stem from balance sheet run-off rather than decarbonisation of issuers, according to its latest climate-related financial disclosure.

Governments around the world have urged the EU to simplify what they describe as overly prescriptive and complex requirements for complying with its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

Latest exit - Shell is preparing to launch a sale of its offshore wind farms, which could fetch over $1 bln, according to people familiar, as reported by Bloomberg. The oil major has appointed advisors for Rothschild & Co. and PJT Partners to lead the sale, with the process to kick off as soon as the end of the year and a likely sale to take place in 2027. Since taking charge in 2023, CEO Wael Sawan has sought to cut costs and offload low-returning assets in a bid to deliver better shareholder returns. The offshore wind sale plans marks a further departure from Shell's previous strategy to diversify into renewables.

The UK may be poised to water down its target for scaling electric vehicles (EVs), with the government now discussing with industry on the plans, according to British media reports, in a move that could undermine its longer term carbon commitments.

Hopes that G7 countries will help to spur a shift from fossil fuels are dimmer this year, with the term 'climate change' omitted from the agenda – but campaigners are still hoping to see advancements through the prism of 'energy security'.

Track submissions of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and interest in biodiversity credits ahead of COP17 through the Biodiversity Portal.

Construction transition – At least 4 mln construction workers are needed to meet European green transition goals, according to a new study by consulting firm Ecorys focusing on ten European countries: Germany, France, the UK, Spain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Czechia, Denmark, and Ireland. While demand for low-carbon construction skills is set to rise, 35-45% of the renovation workforce will require climate and circularity training, the report found. Labour shortages are also expected to intensify as decarbonisation-driven hiring coincides with millions of retirements. The study highlights persistent risks around subcontracting, safety, and access to training, particularly for migrant, female, and older workers, while noting that steel and cement could face job losses as timber and energy-efficient glass industries expand.

Croatian fuel aid – The European Commission has approved an €8 mln Croatian scheme for fishing companies facing increased fuel prices due to the war in Iran. The aid will take the form of direct grants that can cover up to 70% of the additional fuel costs or be capped at €50,000 per company, depending on the type of fishing vessel. Running until the end of the year, the initiative is part of the Middle East crisis temporary state aid framework (METSAF) aimed at shielding citizens from the energy crisis (read more).

Germany is set to miss its 2030, 2040, and 2045 climate targets under current policies, according to a government-commissioned projection report released last week.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has launched a fresh attack on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) ahead of this week’s EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, accusing officials of using technical interpretations to overturn political agreements reached by member states.

A carbon markets investment firm has hired a new client solutions director from an enhanced rock weathering (ERW) developer, it was announced Monday.

Long-duration electricity storage – The business case for innovative long-duration electricity storage (LDES) is rapidly strengthening across several European markets, according to a new analysis by consultancy AFRY for industry association Eurelectric. The study, released Monday, finds each gigawatt of LDES could deliver €150-250 mln in annual variable operating cost savings at system level, by cutting renewable curtailment, easing grid congestion and providing long-term flexibility. Technologies such as iron-air, compressed-air and liquid-air storage could become commercially viable after 2040 in wind-rich markets like Germany and Great Britain, with 8-12 hour systems faring best in solar-heavy Spain and Portugal. However, high upfront costs and limited revenue streams still weigh on investment, the study found.

Egypt power grid upgrade – Brussels and Cairo unveiled a €690 mln project on Monday aimed at modernising Egypt's national electricity grid, and integrating 22 GW of renewables by 2030. Backed by a €600 mln European Investment Bank loan and up to €90 mln in European Commission grants, the project is expected to mobilise €1.6 bln in total investment. Upgrades to substations and transmission lines in the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez will cut losses and improve reliability, with construction starting in 2027 and first flows in 2028, officials said.

Europe must slash permitting times and embrace onshore CO2 storage if it wants to deploy carbon capture and storage (CCS) at scale in cement and other hard to abate sectors at an affordable cost, according to EU officials, industry, and policy experts.

First steps - E.ON has awarded Capsol Technologies the right to conduct a feasibility study of its carbon capture solutions at E.ON's biomass and waste-to-energy operations in Norrköping, Sweden. The study will evaluate deploying Capsol's carbon capture technology at a facility with a potential capture capacity of up to 500,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. It was secured through a competitive tender process and will be carried out together with a strategic engineering partner, drawing on experience from similar projects. (Bioenergy-news)

The Norwegian state energy agency, Enova, is looking to launch an auction scheme for carbon capture and storage, open to a wide variety of technology types and with a budget ceiling of €1.7 billion for carbon removal, the agency announced on Monday.

Calling out - Non-profit Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) on Monday said it has filed a formal complaint under OECD guidelines to call out major Japanese financial institutions for failing to address severe human rights risks linked to the Mozambique LNG project. SMBC Group, MUFG, Mizuho Bank, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) are named for their roles in financing and insuring the project. Led by TotalEnergies, the LNG initiative has been linked to serious human rights abuses in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.

A coalition of environmental NGOs has triggered an internal review of the European Commission’s newly adopted methodologies for biogenic carbon removals, arguing they breach the EU’s Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation and could end up increasing emissions rather than cutting them.

Businesses across 18 markets increasingly view clean electrification as a way to reduce exposure to fossil fuel volatility, lower long-term costs, and strengthen competitiveness, according to a polling report released Monday.

Art of the deal - Prices of benchmark crude oil fell as much as 4% on Monday to touch $80/bbl after US Predisent Donald Trump announced a deal to end the conflict with Iran will be signed this Friday. It comes after weeks of negotiations and ceasefire violations between the two countries. Trump added that the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a fifth of global energy supplies and crucial processed commodities like jet fuel oil passed before the conflict began, will also reopen indefinitely and without tolls on Friday. Under the preleminary deal, more thorny issues like Iran's nuclear programme and sanctions relief will be discussed over the next 60 days.

Global biochar production has nearly tripled in the past two years and is projected to reach more than 9 million tonnes annually by the end of the decade, as the carbon removal technology moves from an emerging industry into large-scale commercial deployment, according to a new market report.

Negotiators and observers are questioning how the UN’s process of assessing Article 6.2 initial reports could become more iterative and better at isolating major concerns, as common reporting pitfalls have led UN teams to declare inconsistencies in every review to date.