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- Wed 00:39Carbon storage push-back - Small towns residents are worried about the rapid development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects cropping up across America as oil, gas, and ethanol companies seek to capture billions in generous tax credits and federal subsidies. While carbon sequestration and storage is a necessary component to combatting global climate change, critics say many projects primarily extend the life of the fossil fuel industry while exposing local communities to risks such as groundwater contamination, induced earthquakes, pipeline leaks and land-use impacts. Residents in affected areas argue they have little power to stop projects despite concerns about health and environmental safety, highlighting a broader national debate over whether public subsidies for carbon capture are accelerating climate solutions or largely benefiting established energy companies.
- Wed 00:37
- Wed 00:35Congestion charge cleared - A US appeals court upheld the dismissal of lawsuits by Rockland and Orange counties challenging New York City’s congestion-pricing programme, finding that the toll did not unconstitutionally restrict travel or violate due process, equal protection or excessive fines protections. The Second Circuit said the programme imposed only a minor restriction on travel, constituted a reasonable user fee linked to reducing congestion and funding public transit, and was rationally related to legitimate state interests. The court assumed without deciding that the toll was not a state tax and also affirmed the lower court’s refusal to allow amended complaints.
- Tue 23:47The Trump administration has asked a federal court to dismiss California’s challenge to the US EPA’s decision to submit four state emissions waivers to Congress, arguing that the Congressional Review Act bars courts from reviewing the move.
- Tue 22:47Out to sea - Users of the En-ROADS Climate Solutions Simulator, created by Climate Interactive and MIT Sloan, now have access to an ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) feature, organisations responsible for development announced Tuesday. The new feature allows users to explore how OAE could contribute to global carbon removal needed to meet climate change goals, while examining constraints, costs, and uncertainties, said Ocean Visions, a non-profit ocean conservation group.
- Tue 22:46Carbon credits lagging - States and regions are least likely to rely on carbon pricing mechanisms to fund climate action, preferring instead to rely on domestic sources of public finance, according to a report published Monday by the international environmental disclosure non-profit CDP. Only seven states and regional jurisdictions worldwide reported a climate finance or carbon credit programme as a funding source. More states and regions also turned to international sources of finance and public-private partnerships than they did carbon credits. More than 1,000 cities, states, and regions disclosed through CDP in 2025, of which 91% reported climate hazards such as drought and water stress and 69% reported a jurisdictional GHG reduction target.
- Tue 22:28CPP meeting agenda - Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) published on Tuesday an agenda for the July 29 meeting of the second advisory committee in the rulemaking for trade-exposed industrial facilities under the state's Climate Protection Program (CPP). Topics for discussion include emissions intensity benchmarks, potential adjustments to reduction schedules, and privacy of production data.
- Tue 22:08A new issue brief recommends a path to scale direct storage of biomass (DSB) to a larger American market.
- Around 850,000 tonnes worth of verified carbon removal (CDR) credits have been issued in the US through to the first half of 2026, a sector data platform said Tuesday.
- Tue 22:06Low-carbon companies attracted $26.1 billion in venture capital in H1 2026, largely led by data centre developers that have made clean power a core part of their strategy, according to a market intelligence company.
- Tue 22:04Rapid electrification - Renewable electricity generation grew by 9.8% in 2024, compared to a 1.4% increase by non-renewables over the same period, according to the Renewable Energy Statistics 2026 report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The report said renewables would need to increase their share of global electricity 2.5 times to reach the 35% global electrification target announced last month by incoming the COP31 Presidency of Turkiye.
- Tue 22:02Buildings could achieve net zero emissions and accelerate urban decarbonisation by 2050 through the use of decentralised direct air capture (DAC) systems, according to a recent study.
- Tue 20:49Mobile network operators worldwide are on track to reduce their emissions by 33% by 2030, short of a 45% reduction target, according to a trade association report.
- Tue 20:29Fossil fuel lobbyists - Canadian fossil fuel companies and local governments seeking climate mitigation help are being supported by the same lobbying firms, according to an analysis by the research and advocacy organisation F Minus. National and provincial lobbyist registration records from the first half of 2026 show 59 local governments retaining fossil fuel lobbying firms, 18 of which retained them for help with climate mitigation, the group said. However, since the release of F Minus’ initial Canadian fossil fuel lobbyist list in 2025, a handful of prominent Canadian health organisations have dropped their involvement with fossil fuel firms, it added. F Minus has collated a database of national and provincial fossil fuel lobbyists across Canada, and a similar state and national-level database for the US.
- Tue 19:43Carbon removal (CDR) should be treated as essential public infrastructure rather than primarily as a tradable commodity, with compliance markets, public mandates, and public investment used to support community ownership, according to a new study.
- Tue 18:59Renewables and cost competition - Despite increasing cost pressures across the board, renewable generation technologies continue to maintain a cost-competitive advantage over conventional generation, and will account for the majority of near-term capacity additions in the US, according to the 2026 Levelized Cost of Energy+ (LCOE) report, published Monday by financial advisory firm Lazard. However, unprecedented demand reaffirms a need to diversify sources of generation and accelerate permitting and approval processes, while storage costs and competitiveness between sources are also rising, the report added. Lazard included in the report a measure of sensitivity to a carbon price of $20-$60/tCO2, finding increases in the LCOE of a gas peaking power plant ranging to $156-315/MWh from $144-276/MWh, to $91-252/MWh from $72-177/MWh for a coal plant, and to $59-152/MWh from $51-129/MWh for a gas combined cycle plant.
- Tue 18:36Corporate carbon credit buyers are applying more detailed quality and risk criteria to their purchases, but many remain reluctant to move beyond spot transactions into long-term offtakes that carry delivery, counterparty, and balance-sheet exposure, experts said during a Tuesday panel.
- Tue 18:29Verra revision - Voluntary carbon standard Verra has released a revised version (v1.1) of its VM0051 methodology (Improved Management in Rice Production Systems), it announced on Tuesday. Verra said the updated contained "minor revisions" intended to clarify methodology requirements, align the methodology with current VCS Program rules and requirements following the launch of the latest version of the programme in Dec. 2025, and refine guidance for project area stratification and quantification procedures. The previous version of VM0051, v1.0, will be inactivated under the VCS Program on Aug. 1, after which any projects requesting registration or crediting period renewal must use v1.1. VM0051 was approved for the first two compliance phases of UN aviation offsetting scheme CORSIA in April and has been submitted for evaluation under the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market's (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label.
- Demand across the voluntary carbon market (VCM) remained steady in the first half of 2026 after a large retirement from a US oil and gas company helped to keep pace with 2025's record level, according to data from an analytics firm.
- Tue 17:52New Jersey aims to bring at least 1100 MW of nuclear generation to the state, according to legislation signed by Governor Mikie Sherrill (D) on Monday.
- Tue 17:49The European Commission is set to drop proposals to impose strict additional eligibility criteria for carbon credits used by EU airlines for Phase 1 of the UN's CORSIA international aviation offsetting scheme, according to a recent presentation from the EU's executive.
- Tue 17:34Expanding the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to cover a greater share of aviation emissions would not have led to a significant displacement of emissions outside the bloc, and could have boosted revenues by an estimated €14.3 billion a year, a study by an independent transport research organisation found.
- Tue 17:20European carbon surged after Tuesday morning's auction as speculative length-building in anticipation of Friday's EU ETS reform package presentation continued to drown out other market signals, including a further ratcheting up of the conflict in the Persian Gulf and rising power prices.
- Tue 16:54Boost for BP - Higher prices for oil and refined products, pushed up by the war in Iran, have helped BP cut its net debt by 13%, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. The oil and gas major's net debt was expected to have slipped to $22-23 bln at the end of June, from $25.3 bln at the end of Q1. BP's oil and gas production is expected to have fallen in Q2, to around 2.2 mln boe/d, from 2.3 mln in Q1 – due to disruptions from the war, as well as seasonal maintenance. Still, the company expects to see higher revenue in Q2 due to price lags, higher refining margins, higher oil prices, and a steady trading performance.
- Tue 16:33The European Commission’s planned €100 billion Industrial Decarbonisation Bank (IDB) should be designed less as a grant pot and more as a coordinated delivery system for low-carbon projects, with targeted backing for shared infrastructure, a think tank has argued.
- Tue 16:30Conservation finance – Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim said its private Atlantic Forest reserve, Legado das Aguas, reached financial break-even in 2025 after revenue from carbon credit sales completed the business model underpinning its conservation efforts, Capital Reset reported. The project spans nearly 22,000 ha in Sao Paulo state and is the largest private reserve in the Atlantic Forest. It has generated around 120,000 carbon credits, with sales accounting for 12% of the revenue of Reservas Votorantim, the group's environmental asset management company.
- Tue 15:52The Q3 RGGI auction will offer nearly 50% more allowances than the previous quarterly sale, buoyed by the availability of Virginia's volumes and set-aside units by certain participating states.
- Tue 15:51Direct air capture (DAC) is unlikely to deliver carbon removals at the billion-tonne scale because of its high energy requirements, according to a recent study.
- Two methane offset developers are scaling up a collaboration to accelerate the plugging of orphan oil and gas wells across the US, with the expanded partnership set to begin on a project in Oklahoma and include collaboration on credit generation.
- SBTi Services, the commercial subsidiary of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), has launched an assessment service to help companies determine what changes they would need to make to seek validation under its updated Corporate Net-Zero Standard.
- Tue 14:46Investments into battery-electric ferries and wind-assisted propulsion systems (WAPS) can outperform conventional fossil-fuelled vessels due to rising carbon compliance costs, according to a study from the European Commission.
- Tue 14:45A crop input supplier has struck a partnership to market biological products alongside a soil carbon programme that will allow farmers to generate carbon credits in Latin America and Europe, the companies announced Tuesday.
- Tue 14:32EU lawmakers should maintain the current EU ETS cap reduction pathway through 2035, reform the Market Stability Reserve (MSR), and link remaining free allocation to industrial decarbonisation investment, according to a policy brief released Tuesday.
- Tue 14:09How to cut UK energy prices - Incoming PM Andy Burnham needs to take immediate steps to cut high energy prices for businesses, including by shifting Renewables Obligation and feed-in tariff costs from business bills to general taxation, lobby groups CBI and Energy UK said in a report on Tuesday. Cutting energy prices by a fifth could unlock £130 bln in economic activity between 2027 and 2050, they found. They also urged Burnham to create a publicly financed Energy Transition Funding Scheme, and work with financial firms on a similar privately funded scheme. And they called for the removal of Climate Change Levy charges from non-domestic electricity bills. Further recommended changes include raising non-domestic minimum energy efficiency standards, and supporting business electrification and energy demand management.
- Tue 13:13The prime ministers of Sweden and Finland are urging the European Commission to keep the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) at the core of the EU’s new 2040 climate regime, in a major review it's due to present on Friday, warning against shifting extra burden onto member states’ national targets, forest sinks, or international offsets.
- Tue 12:15The European Union must overhaul how it steers its carbon market, with a more dynamic Market Stability Reserve (MSR) at the heart of a new governance architecture that could eventually lead to a European Carbon Central Bank, according to a Brussels-based think tank.
- Tue 12:11A standard-setter for nature projects is seeking feedback on a fundamental shift in its methodology for soil carbon projects, recognising that they need to be tailored to local conditions, it announced on Tuesday.
- Tue 11:30Aviation conglomerate Norwegian Group saw its financial results dip in Q2, after taking a hit from a court ruling forcing the company to pay outstanding EU ETS charges and a penalty, as well as higher fuel prices.
- Tue 10:56UK SAF allocation – The UK Department for Transport has released its proposed contract allocation strategy for the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Revenue Certainty Mechanism (RCM), aimed at spurring investment in first-of-a-kind domestic SAF production facilities. The first Allocation Round (AR1) is set to open in Q1 2027, with contracts awarded from Q4 2028. The government targets up to 230,000 tonnes per year of SAF production capacity across multiple contracts. No technology-specific ringfencing is planned for AR1, placing eSAF and power-to-liquid projects in direct competition with other pathways. A larger, more diverse second round is signalled approximately one year after AR1 awards. A final approach to reference pricing has not yet been determined, experts commented on social media.
- Tue 10:46Denial – Most UK media reports covering last month’s record UK heatwave failed to mention climate change, according to analysis by the UK-based Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). The group examined nearly 2,500 articles on the June heatwave across nine national newspapers and found about 72% made no reference to global heating. Fewer than one in 20 mentioned “net zero” or climate policies. ECIU’s Gareth Redmond-King warned it was “vital that the dots are joined” between extreme heat, climate change and net zero. (The Guardian)
- Power hungry – Google has agreed to buy all initial output from the 1.6 GW Steel River Energy Centre solar project in Arkansas under a virtual power purchase agreement, underscoring continued corporate demand for renewables despite US policy headwinds. The project, due online in 2029, will include 2 GWh of battery storage and later expand to 2.5 GW solar capacity. Financial terms were undisclosed. Data centre power demand is rising, with Google’s electricity use up 37% in 2025, even as grid emissions and reliance on fossil fuels remain significant. (Financial Times)
- A London-based direct air capture (DAC) company has acquired its Dutch rival, which will see the creation of one of Europe's largest integrated producers in the sector.
- Tue 10:33EU methane regulation – European Union member states will debate this week the impact of methane-emissions rules on energy security, as divisions deepen over the bloc’s import requirements, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. Representatives meet Wednesday in Brussels amid calls from 17 EU countries to delay the regulation, and consider easing barriers to oil and gas imports. The Irish presidency said it arranged a follow-up discussion on feedback. The US, Algeria and Qatar have warned that supplies to Europe could be jeopardised if the rules are unchanged. (Bloomberg)
- Tue 10:25Singapore’s central bank reported mixed results this year on reducing the carbon intensity of its Official Foreign Reserves (OFR) equities investments in its annual sustainability report, though overall progress reflected a "structural shift" away from carbon-intensive sectors.
- Carbon credit issuances across major registries in the voluntary market fell 31% year-on-year between January and June as retirements dropped 2%, while prices generally remained stable or gained strength.
- Tue 09:06A New Zealand initiative aiming to encourage native reforestation is pivoting to broader carbon and nature markets for funding, following a lack of commitment from the government for an earlier iteration which would have leveraged the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
- Tue 08:50Subsidy secured - Japan's environment ministry has selected two international emissions reduction projects for subsidies under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), it announced Tuesday. In Cambodia, a 50 MW biomass power plant will be constructed in Kampong Speu Province, with the electricity generated being supplied to the state-owned utility. This project is expected to reduce GHG emissions by around 76,000 tCO2 per year. Meanwhile, in Tunisia, a 75 MW onshore wind power project will be developed in the El Faouar region and is expected to achieve an annual GHG reduction of nearly 89,000 tCO2.
- Tue 08:28Authorisation analytics - The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) has issued a tender to procure the development of a methodological approach and off-the-shelf tool that can help host countries estimate the volume of mitigation outcomes to authorise without compromising the achievement of NDCs. The organisation is seeking support to research current approaches to transferring ITMO headroom, develop a methodology and dynamic Excel-based estimation and tracking tool for host countries, and provide guidance and capacity-building materials to support implementation. The workstream falls under GGGI’s Carbon Transaction Facility’s knowledge and learning arm, the Strategic Hub for Article 6 Readiness Exchange (SHARE) project. Applications are due by Aug. 7.
- Tue 07:28If allowed to proceed and successful, a climate case in New Zealand could cause the country's GDP to contract by 0.9%, or NZ$21.9 billion ($12.7 bln), out to 2032, according to a report commissioned by three of the defendants.
- Tue 06:30Singapore has updated its guidance for carbon tax liable entities who wish to use International Carbon Credits (ICCs) to meet their obligations, expanding the list of documents acceptable as proof of the host country’s approval of ICC issuance.
- Tue 06:24Gone bust – ASX-listed Pilot Energy has appointed administrators after attempts to find partners and funding for a carbon capture and storage project failed to materialise, it told the market Tuesday. The Western Australian company had been pursuing a CCS project at a small, shut-in oil field, with plans to take third party emissions, as a way to stave off hefty decommissioning liabilities. It has appointed Cor Cordis as voluntary administrators to review operations and its obligations. Its shares have been in a trading halt since Mar. 31.
- Tue 05:05Exploring carbon pricing, including cap-and-trade systems, was flagged as a priority activity in a new climate finance strategy for the Pacific Islands – with a goal to initiate carbon pricing pilots in the next four years.
- Tue 03:16Having a Browse – The Australian government has opened the public consultation period for Woodside Energy's Browse carbon capture and storage project. Part of the large Browse-to-NWS gas development, the CCS project is expected to capture and store some 3-4 MtCO2 per year and inject it into the Calliance Storage Formation. According to the proposal, the gas project is expected to produce around 80 Mt of reservoir CO2 over its lifetime, with the CCS project expected to capture 85% of that reservoir CO2 at a minimum, after the first year of operations, enabling a net reduction of GHG emissions by 53 Mt, or 47%. The project was referred to for public comment under federal environmental laws after a reconsideration request was accepted by the minister. The comment period is open until July 24.
- Tue 02:42Pre-COP goals – Fiji’s climate minister, Lynda Tabuya, has set out the Pacific region’s four priorities for the Pre-COP31 summit – which the country is hosting Oct. 5-8 – including keeping the 1.5C goal alive, improving access to climate finance, enhancing focus on the climate-oceans nexus, and amplifying Pacific leadership and voices. She also stressed the importance of the private sector in driving investment and innovation for resilience measures, and in supporting Fiji’s climate change mitigation and adaptation plans, and called for a whole-of-society approach to prepare for the October meeting. As part of the COP31 hosting agreement between Australia and Turkiye, it was agreed that the Pacific would host the Pre-COP, with Fiji selected in February as the host and a dedicated leaders gathering in Tuvalu. As well, the November talks in Antalya will feature a session to raise pledges for the Pacific Reslience Facility, the first Pacific-owned and -led climate finance vehicle.
- Tue 01:30An environmental package proposed in Kazakhstan is poised to implement the country’s carbon offset mechanisms and Article 6 provisions, provided that the country’s reformed parliamentary body advances it.
