Heat pump deployment rebounded across Europe in 2025, led by Germany, paving the way for a smoother launch of the EU’s upcoming Emissions Trading System for road transport and heating fuels (ETS2), according to new market data published on Monday.

A growing body of climate litigation targeting major emitters may increasingly rely on broad scientific and political consensus rather than direct attribution of climate damages, according to a new academic study that identifies an emerging category of "anticipatory climate litigation".

EUAs and UKAs both consolidated gains on Friday accrued earlier in the week to end the session above €80 and £60 respectively, with energy prices also charting solid gains as a heatwave across Western Europe loomed into view as analysts anticipated a significant ramping up of cooling demand, coupled with lower nuclear output in France.

Cash for deserts - Saudi Arabian startup Terraxy, a soil improvement and carbon capture company in desert environments, has secured $3 mln in second round funding, led by Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of oil company Saudi Aramco. The funding will support Terraxy’s transition from pilot-scale production to industrial production and deployment across Saudi Arabia, including the establishment of a 30,000-sqm commercial facility in Al Zulf. Carbosoil, Terraxy’s proprietary soil enhancer, can deliver up to 70% improvement in plant growth and yield with the same water and nutrient inputs, improving resource-use efficiency in sandy soils, the company claimed.

Costa Rica will soon receive funds from the LEAF Coalition public-private buyers’ club, becoming the first country in the world to receive results-based forest carbon finance through this programme.

First of a kind - Estonian-based forestry carbon developer Ecobase has announced that its European Improved Forest Management (IFM) project has been registered by Verra as Project 5315. Spanning Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia across around 570,000 ha of forest, the project focuses on increasing the carbon stored in existing forests through improved forest management, largely by extending forest rotation ages. It is the first European project to apply Verra's VM0003 methodology, which allows landowners to boost long-term carbon storage while continuing to manage forests as productive assets. The first credit issuance is expected by year end, with initial expected issuance of around 900,000 verified carbon units (VCUs), said the press release Friday.

EU leaders on Friday endorsed the European Commission's plan to review the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) next month, with proposals on free allowances and industrial emissions benchmarks due in July, as talks continue on how to use ETS revenues in the next EU budget.

Importers face steep challenges to take advantage of proposed EU rules allowing the application of carbon credits against Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) fees, due to the “onerous” conditions imposed by Brussels on their use, experts told Carbon Pulse.

The European Commission has launched a €1.1 billion funding round to upgrade rail, waterway and other low-carbon transport infrastructure across the EU, Ukraine and Moldova under the EU’s 2026 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Transport calls.

An ocean carbon removal startup that has yet to reveal its pioneering technology has struck a partnership with a state-backed Saudi development company to further bolster the country’s carbon credit exchange.

Chemical weathering triggered by permafrost thaw could offset a substantial share of CO2 emissions from rivers draining frozen landscapes, and in some regions may eventually outweigh them altogether, according to new research.

The EU should tailor its Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Regulation (CRCF) methodology for improved forest management (IFM) to regional climate risks and forest conditions, while tightening baseline rules to reduce over-crediting risks, a policy brief published Thursday said.

Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) has unveiled a new strategic vision through 2033 centred on expanding Indigenous and community control over tropical forests, arguing that rights-based conservation and local stewardship offer the most effective response to accelerating deforestation and biodiversity loss.

The EU should resist calls to weaken aviation climate policies in response to the recent kerosene price shock and instead extend its ETS to cover all flights departing the bloc from 2027, according to a policy paper published this week.

Biofuel boost - Danish biofuel startup Kvasir Technologies has raised €10 mln to support commercialisation of climate-neutral marine fuel, backed by a consortium of investors including EIFO, Mærsk Growth, Footprint Fund, and European Energy. The company, which spun out from research at the Technical University of Denmark, will use the funding to scale technology at its test facility in Fredericia, with capacity of up to two tonnes of biofuel per day. At the same time, development will begin on the first commercial plant in Aabenraa, in southern Jutland, to demonstrate the technology at industrial scale. Kvasir produces biofuel from non-edible lignin-based residues from agriculture and forestry, which then serves as a direct drop-in replacement for fossil-based marine fuel and requires no changes to ship engines or existing infrastructure. (Net Zero Investor)

The European Union risks repeating the mistakes of the Kyoto Protocol as it moves to reintegrate international carbon credits into its climate policy, a Brussels-based think tank has warned, amid growing calls to include next-generation credits in the EU carbon market.

Companies are "excited about finally having clarity" on using market instruments to show progress towards their climate targets under the newly released Science Based Targets initiative's (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard, say consultancies referring to the standard's "incredible ripple effect".

OPEC sees “no peak oil demand” coming soon as governments around the world rethink climate and energy policies given recent concerns, according to its latest long-term outlook which claims crude will retain the largest share of the global energy mix through to 2050.

Climate negotiators ended two weeks of talks in Bonn with mixed results, as geopolitical conflicts over climate finance and fossil fuels limited technical and diplomatic movement in most areas, largely leaving the international climate community eyeing November's COP31 summit for greater progress.