Washington waste fee - Washington is considering a fee on municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills to cover the costs of the state's landfill methane emissions regulation finalised over two years ago, Waste Dive reported. The Department of Ecology didn't disclose a structure or expected price for the fee, but the agency plans to hold meetings with stakeholders through spring 2027 and propose a rule in the following summer.

New York's power grid needs up to 105 GW of new generation capacity by 2044 to reach zero-emissions electricity, a report by the state's grid operator showed.

Chile's Ministry of Energy will publish three alternative designs for its planned energy-sector emissions trading system (ETS) pilot for public consultation later this year, ahead of its 2027 rollout, an official said Thursday.

Financial players added to their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) net length and narrowed their RGGI Allowance (RGA) net short, according to the latest US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data.

Wildfires currently burning in two forest offset projects, eligible for compliance under California’s Cap-and-Invest programme, are expected to incur more losses in the coming days, a carbon market research group warned Friday.

Welcome to NY - Powertransitions, a US-based power producer, has acquired five natural gas-fired power generators in New York to add 323 MW of operating capacity to its portfolio. It marks the company’s entry into New York, with the generators supplying the New York Independent System Operator. Powertransitions said it plans to preserve the existing generating assets while pursuing long-term redevelopment opportunities at the sites. The company is owned by Partners Group, a global private markets firm.

US EVs appreciate - A new report by Recurrent found used EV prices in the US are up 5.1% since January, with the biggest gains at the affordable end of the market (below $40,000). Researchers said the shift is a sign of a maturing market for a vehicle category often defined by steep depreciation since 2022, and noted the rarity of used-car appreciation in value.

Zero then cooler - A new study published in Nature Climate Change found that maintaining net zero GHG emissions would likely cool the planet by at least 0.6C over several centuries. The cooling would occur because warming from shorter-lived gases such as methane would fade, while CO2 removal would continue to offset residual emissions. However, the authors cautioned that sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and regional extremes could still worsen after achieving net zero.

Don't freeze the mix - A study, published in Nature Communications by researchers at Tsinghua University, found that climate change alone raises the cost of renewable generation only slightly, as long as countries keep adjusting their solar-to-wind mix to match it. The real cost risk comes from freezing that mix at today's levels. Researchers held each country's 2015-22 average solar-wind ratio fixed, then ran simulations under 2061-2100 climate and demand conditions, obtaining sharp power costs. Under the lower-emissions pathway, keeping today's ratio would raise costs by 80% in Brazil, 33% in Germany, 29% in India, and 23% in Algeria. The failure to adapt deployment to future weather patterns, not the shifting climate itself, drives the increase.

The trees aren't alright - California's wildfires are destroying forests faster than crews can replant them, CalMatters reported. Over the past 25 years, high-severity wildfires have burned 2.3 mln acres (930,800 hectares) of California forestland so completely that trees are unlikely to return without help, according to a working draft of the state's new reforestation strategy obtained by CalMatters. A Feb. 2025 analysis led by NGO American Forests found half the state's forest area could disappear by 2071. To meet its existing post-fire replanting targets, the state would need to scale up reforestation by 35% a year, which can cost up to $6,400 an acre, the draft strategy said. Land managers have replanted about 254,000 acres since 2020, or roughly 16% of the area stripped by high-severity fire between 2020-24, and just 8% on federal land outside wilderness areas.

The Methodological Expert Panel (MEP) for the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) has agreed a long-awaited draft mechanism methodology for clean cooking.

Bolivian framework - Bolivia’s Chamber of Deputies has opened debate on a bill to establish the country’s first regulatory framework for greenhouse gas emissions credits and quotas, La Razon reported. The draft law (PL-060/25) was discussed at a nationwide workshop to gather technical input before reaching the Plurinational Legislative Assembly.

Fossil fuel expansion - The US Department of Energy (DOE) has committed $65.5 million in federal funding for domestic oil and gas production, it announced on Thursday. The DOE is inviting proposals on reinvigorating stranded oil and natural gas resources; infrastructure for energy delivery; and the adoption of technology, advanced analytics, and AI in the oil and natural gas sector. The announcement follows previously committed funding of $150 mln for the sector in July 2025, and a Jan. 2025 executive order, in which President Trump sought to increase energy exploration, and remove regulatory barriers at the federal and state levels. In that executive order, the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases was also disbanded.

World Cup's jury's still out - The recent FIFA World Cup may have been responsible for fewer GHG emissions than originally estimated at almost 3.2 MtCO2e, compared to the 3.8 MtCO2e generated by Qatar 2022, and the 3.7 MtCO2e put forward in the bid's environmental assessment, according to The Conversation. The lower footprint was helped by the fact that all 16 stadiums already existed and because 14 of the 96 team journeys between group matches covered no major distance. Also, this year's event drew almost double Qatar’s crowds but their individual emissions were lower. However, the real verdict won't be known until August when US, Canada, and Mexico border agencies will release spectator data. Were this to show a mostly North American crowd, then the 3.8 MtCO2e estimate will stand, but if it shows mass long-haul travel, the total climbs toward the 9 MtCO2e predicted by Scientists for Global Responsibility, which would make it the most polluting event in sporting history.

Progress is being made to advance global climate action in the leadup to COP31 in Turkiye as governments and the private sector engage on the key themes of electrification, nature stewardship, agricultural transformation, urban resilience, and social development, report the UN's Climate High-Level Champions.

Meta has left a global scheme in which companies commit to sourcing all their power from renewable energy, having increased its gas procurement to power data centres, according to reports in the media.

Shareholder pressure on Australian investment bank Macquarie Group over its fossil fuel financing weakened at its annual meeting this week after several large domestic pension funds withdrew support for a push seeking greater scrutiny.

Canada CCUS tax credit consultation - Canada has launched a public consultation on a proposal to make the storage of CO2 through enhanced oil recovery (EOR) eligible for its carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) investment tax credit. Feedback is requested by Sep. 4, 2026. The proposal was first announced in the 2026 Spring Economic Update published in April following a commitment made under the Nov. 2025 MoU between Ottawa and Alberta.

California gasoline sales dipped 3% year-on-year (YoY) in April after the previous month's increase, while diesel dropped by a slightly larger percentage as retail prices hit historic levels, new state data showed.

Aspiring Article 6 project developers should independently calculate how many credits national regulators are likely to authorise for international transfer in their sector before developing large projects or pre-committing to credit sales, an Africa-based consultant and developer said this week.