A committee of the California Senate approved an Assembly proposal to adjust the state's cap-and-trade programme while others urged programme reauthorisation, as time runs out in the legislative session.

The business case for participating in carbon markets is weak without a clear financial justification, and/or clear rules on how and when to use credits, according to industry research.

Biomass emissions from the Drax power plant in the UK increased 16% last year despite claims of being Europe's largest renewable power station, according to a new report.

Climate finance plea – Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Biman Prasad called on the international community to accelerate the deployment of climate finance. Speaking earlier this week on a panel during the Pacific Regional and National Security Conference in Suva, Prasad welcomed the agreement on a new collective quantified goal for climate finance in Baku last year, but said that governments have been slow to seed the previously-agreed loss and damage fund and urged them to properly resource it, at speed. Prasad also called for the creation of a regional development bank and said the Pacific Resilience Facility is a key investment vehicle for the region. He reiterated Fiji’s support for Australia’s bid to host COP31 next year, saying it would let the world see firsthand the impact climate change is having on the Pacific.

The world’s largest standard in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) is laying out new insurance criteria for carbon credits amid calls for the insurance sector to help aviation carbon markets scale, it said on Wednesday.

Fuel fight – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has criticised the EU’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate, citing concerns over limited regional supply and increased fuel costs, Reuters reported. IATA Director-General Willie Walsh said transporting SAF to Europe raises its carbon footprint and argued that mandating a fuel with constrained availability offers no environmental benefit. Walsh also raised concerns about the sustainability of palm oil-based SAF and called for more detailed assessments of feedstock sources.

Delayed documents – Vancouver-headquartered nature-based carbon asset developer and manager Carbon Done Right announced Wednesday it will not meet the filing dates required for documents including its annual FY2025 financial statements and management discussion and analysis. The company said it anticipated a delay due to its recent change of auditor and related matters. Carbon Done Right said it remains committed to finalising the documents as soon as practicable, and ensuring continued compliance with its disclosure obligations. It expects to file by Sep. 30, 2025. Accordingly, the company said it has applied to the British Columbia Securities Commission for a Management Cease Trade Order (MCTO) that will prohibit the management from trading in company securities until documents are filed. No decision has been made, and there is no guarantee that a MCTO will be granted, but such an order does not generally affect the ability of persons who are not directors, officers, or other insiders of the company to trade in its securities, according to the announcement.

Carbon tech wish list - About 30 climate policies have been drummed up by veterans of the pre-Trump US DOE. The wish list, published by the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, outlines a 10-point policy framework to guide effective carbon management, emphasising clear economic incentives, environmental safeguards, community engagement, and fossil fuel decoupling.

NASA no - NASA won’t step in to host top climate research data previously published by the US Global Change Research Program (GCRP), after the programme's website went dark earlier this month. Inside Climate News reported NASA had reversed its commitment to stand in for the GCRP website responsible for releasing congressionally mandated climate change reports and archiving scientific data for researchers, lawmakers, and communities to interpret climate trends and guide response effort.

Brazil’s emissions trading system (ETS) should adopt core integrity principles from standards recognised by the UN's CORSIA aviation offsetting scheme and the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) to ensure credibility and enable international cooperation, industry group IETA has said in a new report.

The Indiana Natural Resources Commission (NRC) granted final approval on Tuesday to a set of permanent rules regulating CO2 sequestration and transmission infrastructure in the state.

RGGI revenues - Market administrator RGGI Inc. released Wednesday a report tracking the investment of proceeds from the 10-state power sector ETS in the Northeast US in 2023. During the year, $852 mln in RGGI proceeds were invested in programmes including energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy, beneficial electrification, GHG abatement, and direct bill assistance. The largest share of the investments was directed to energy efficiency, with 64% of the 2023 total.

The EU’s new draft long-term budget includes a dedicated 35% climate target, around €700 billion out of a nearly €2 trillion blueprint for seven years, while suggesting to merge the environment-devoted LIFE programme with other funding streams.

Clean energy cutbacks - Clean energy deployment surged in early 2025 under the momentum of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but those gains now face steep decline following major rollbacks by US President Donald Trump, E&E News reported. Federal data show solar generation rose 32% in the first half of 2025 from the same period last year, and EV sales hit a record 607,000. However, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed this month will end EV incentives this fall and limit future clean energy tax credits. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts steep drops in new solar and wind capacity by 2028, as Trump-era policies take effect and Treasury tightens subsidy eligibility.

EU carbon prices dropped modestly on Wednesday after the market earlier broke out of its recent narrow range as EUA traders took advantage of news about EU-UK linking negotiations to briefly inject some volatility into the market and push EU carbon to a nine-day high, while UK Allowances surged to a four-week peak.

CORSIA-eligible credits could reach $63 in the first phase of the international aviation scheme because of a shortage of supply, a webinar heard Wednesday.

An oil major's Texas-based carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) subsidiary has partnered with a California cybersecurity company on carbon removal (CDR) via a purchase agreement for 10,000 tonnes worth of direct air capture (DAC) credits.

The EU should not re-open the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) to soften the cost for consumers of the EU’s upcoming Emissions Trading System for road transport and buildings (ETS2), a group of NGOs announced on Wednesday. 

Bay state bond - Massachusetts lawmakers are considering the Mass Ready Act, a $2.9 bln bond proposal introduced by Gov. Maura Healey (D) to fund climate resilience projects over five years, E&E News reported. Citing cuts in federal disaster aid and recent deadly flash floods, state officials, including Lieutenant Gov. Kim Driscoll (D), argued the state must act independently to protect communities. The bill is expected to support infrastructure upgrades, conservation efforts, and a new revolving loan fund for municipalities.

Billion dollar bonanza - US President Donald Trump announced more than $90 bln in AI-related investments at a Pittsburgh summit hosted by Sen. David McCormick (R), presenting fossil fuels and nuclear power as central to meeting the rising energy demands of AI infrastructure. Major commitments included $25 bln from Google to expand data infrastructure in the PJM region and over $25 bln from Blackstone to develop gas-fired plants and data centres in Pennsylvania. Additional announcements featured a $3 bln hydroelectric deal between Google and Brookfield, a $6  bln data centre from CoreWeave, and expanded grid and pipeline projects.

Moeving on up - Moeve (formerly Cepsa) and Zaffra, a joint venture between Sasol and Topsoe, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to assess the feasibility of developing an e-SAF plant in southern Spain, where Moeve is developing green hydrogen projects, the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. The goal of the collaboration is to meet the ReFuelEU Aviation targets, which call for at least 6% of all aviation fuel supplied at EU airports to be SAF by 2030, including 1.2% of synthetic fuels like e-SAF.

Trump policies hit talent - Immigration policies enacted by the President Donald Trump administration threaten the climate tech sector and other countries stand to benefit, said tech billionair Vinod Khosla, speaking at the Bloomberg Green Seattle conference. Moves by the new administration such as new facilities to detain immigrants have instilled fear and uncertainty among workers from abroad, including highly skilled ones, which will have a lasting impact on the climate tech and energy transition, said the founder of Khosla Ventures. Places to benefit from an outflow of tech workers include Europe, the Middle East, and India, whilst Canada, France, and Germany are among those offering incentives to US-born researchers to relocate due to climate grant cuts.

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is gaining traction as a carbon removal (CDR) approach, but commercial activity is outpacing scientific consensus on how to measure net climate benefit, according to a new report.

Carbon credit buyers have in the past 18 months started to price in the quality that comes with every additional ratings grade – and they’re retiring those higher integrity credits in the voluntary market, rather than using them against some compliance mechanisms, according to an official at a ratings agency.

MRV collab - Carbon credit registry Rainbow is partnering with Offstream, a developer of digital monitoring, reporting, and verification (dMRV) technologies. Offstream's platform is designed to bring greater automation and reliability to MRV processes, and the integration with Rainbow's certification platform will streamline the entire MRV chain. This will help developers reduce friction, align with regulation, and unlock new revenue streams, said the announcement on LinkedIn.

Decarbonising the steel sector is technically feasible but requires a step change in policy ambition and coordination, and scaling up carbon pricing across the industry, according to a global climate initiative launched under Germany's G7 presidency in 2023.

As Chinese investment into Europe's electric vehicle and battery sectors accelerates, EU policymakers need to ensure it bolsters the low-carbon transition, while carefully managing risks such as market distortions, advised an economic think tank.

CCS hub - Romania has potential to store nearly 330 years worth of annual carbon emissions from Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria combined - turning it into a regional CCS hub, the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) has found. The country boasts an estimated 22.6 bln tonnes of carbon storage capacity in saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas fields, and is currently developing a national carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) strategy. Romania may also use inland waterways to transport carbon by barge to onsite storage to to the Black Sea for offshore injection. Over half its major industrial emitters are also located within 10 km of suitable storage sites. (Montel News)

AI energy use – Global energy consumption from artificial intelligence (AI) systems could fall by up to 90% if developers adopt smarter design and energy-efficient technologies, according to a new United Nations report published on Tuesday.  Current designs, particularly for large language models and generative AI services, consume large amounts of power with each prompt consuming roughly 0.34 watt-hours of electricity, which translates into around 310 GWh annually. But smaller, task-specific models can perform just as accurately, and consume up to 90% less electricity, found the research, carried out by UCL computer scientists for UNESCO.

New NEP member - Sirona Technologies, a direct air capture (DAC) developer, has joined as the newest member of the Negative Emissions Platform (NEP), the organisation announced on LinkedIn. Sirona is developing DAC systems that permanently and verifiably remove CO2 using temperature-vacuum swing adsorption with solid sorbents. Its pilot plant is now operating in Kenya's Great Rift Valley, marking the first step in a broader strategy to deliver carbon credits commercially starting this year.

A Chicago-headquartered environmental products developer announced Wednesday a new CEO, while the former head will continue to serve on the company’s Board of Directors.

German power – In H1 2025, renewables covered 54% of Germany’s electricity consumption, down from 57% in H1 2024, according to German energy and water trade association BDEW in collaboration with research institute ZSW. Exceptionally weak winds led to a more than 17% drop in wind power output, while hydropower plunged nearly 30% due to low rainfall and spring meltwater, marking its lowest production in 20 years. Solar PV output, however, surged 23%, with each month in 2025 outdoing its counterpart in 2024. Germany also saw its greatest expansion of wind power since 2017 in H1 2025, with 409 new turbines (2.2 GW) installed and more than 1,250 (7.8 GW) licensed, according to new data from wind industry group BWE. Nevertheless, the country remains behind its renewables targets, and some experts worry that energy minister Katherina Reiche’s energy transition “reality check” could slow the roll-out of renewables. (BDEW, BWE)

German emissions drop – Greenhouse gas emissions from Germany’s energy and industrial sectors have dropped by 47% since the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) launched 20 years ago, according to data released Wednesday by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). The agency credited the nearly halving of emissions to the ETS’s CO2 pricing, a steep rise in renewables, and reduced fossil fuel generation. The energy sector led German reductions, slashing emissions by 54% since 2005, UBA head Dirk Messner said. EU-wide, sectors covered by the ETS have seen emissions fall by 51% over the same period. The ETS now covers about 85% of German emissions through both EU and national mechanisms.

e-SAF in Spain – Spanish energy company Moeve (formerly Cepsa) and Zaffra, a joint venture of Sasol and Topsoe, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly assess the development of Spain’s first facilities for producing electro-sustainable aviation fuels (e-SAF), the two companies said. The partners aim to build plants in southern Spain, where Moeve is developing one of Europe’s most ambitious green hydrogen projects, the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. It targets compliance with EU mandates under the ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, which requires at least 6% SAF use at EU airports – 1.2% of which must be synthetic fuels – by 2030.

The economic value of the wetlands lost in the last 50 years exceeds $5.1 trillion in total benefits from ecosystem services, with nature markets among the solutions, a report said on Wednesday.

The UK government on Tuesday confirmed it will allow offshore wind projects without full planning consent to enter the country’s seventh subsidy auction round, and extend public contract guarantees to 20 years for key renewable technologies, in a move welcomed by industry members.

What's in a label? - A new paper published in Science Direct from researchers at ETH Zurich explores the challenge of categorising certain emissions as "hard to abate," particularly in relation to direct air capture and separation processes. The study, released online last week, evaluates how this labelling can be overly broad and potentially misleading, advocating for more nuanced, evidence-based classification of emissions types and abatement strategies.

Emissions trading schemes (ETSs) around the world are increasingly looking to integrate carbon removal and capture technologies, but these alone will not be enough to scale these nascent solutions, according to a new report.

Helping MSMEs - India has launched the $116-mln scheme - Assistance in Deploying Energy Efficient Technologies in Industries & Establishments (ADEETIE) - aimed at accelerating energy efficiency among India’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprisess. The initiative will be managed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), the regulator of India's upcoming carbon markets. Under the scheme, micro and small enterprises will receive a 5% interest subsidy, and medium enterprises a 3% subsidy on loans for upgrading to energy-efficient technologies. It will also provide support in investment-grade audits, detailed project reports, and post-implementation monitoring, to help MSMEs reduce energy consumption by 30-50%, improve production efficiency, and contribute to a greener economy, the government has said. The programme will initially target 14 energy-intensive sectors across 60 industrial clusters, with plans to expand in phases through financial year 2027-28.

The UK government is coming under pressure to shift all renewable power pricing to a subsidy scheme, amid sky-high wholesale electricity prices.

The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) could cost Indian exporters up to €550 million a year by 2034, creating big challenges for smaller businesses trying to meet strict emissions rules, a study published this week has found.

The European Commission put forward a draft decision on Wednesday to link up the EU and UK emissions trading schemes (ETSs), recommending that the EU27 countries approve the opening of negotiations with Britain to make the link effective.

Legislate better - WWF Indonesia during a parliamentary hearing this week urged the government to adopt a more rights-based, sustainable approach as they review revisions to the Forestry Law, Indonesia Business Post reported. The non-profit raised the alarm over worsening forest degradation in the country, warning lawmakers that many green-looking forests are ecologically empty due to poaching and ecosystem damage. This degradation is linked to rising hydro-meteorological disasters, including floods and landslides, its chair said.

Denmark’s landmark tax on emissions from livestock will be phased in as of 2030 and apply fully in 2035, alongside a tax on peatland emissions, the country's green transition minister, Jeppe Bruus, told Carbon Pulse in an interview.

Renewables support – In 2023, 20.8% of electricity in Europe was supported by national renewables support schemes on average, reported the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) on Tuesday. CEER groups together national energy regulators. Its review of renewables support in Europe in 2022-23 covered the design, financing and implementation of support schemes in 25 countries. The share of electricity supported by national schemes ranged from 3.5% in Austria to 41% in Germany. Feed-in premiums or tariffs, green certificates, and investment grants remain the most common forms of support, though market-based mechanisms like tenders and Contracts for Difference are increasingly used to determine support levels. Eighteen out of the 25 countries examined funded renewables through non-tax levies (typically collected via electricity bills). Renewables producers are increasingly shouldering market balancing duties. For the first time, CEER also collected data on public concerns around visual impact, land use, and local disturbance of renewables. (CEER)

Deep underground – Most people (60-70%) in the Netherlands support future use of the deep subsurface, in particular for energy affordability and independence, according to a survey from the Dutch Ministry for Climate and Green Growth. The survey, made public on Wednesday, asked inhabitants about use of the deep subsurface for geothermal energy, natural gas extraction, and energy storage amongst others. It did not specifically ask about CO2 storage. More than 5,000 inhabitants responded. Safety emerged as the number one condition for any deep subsurface use. Inhabitants also called for extra care in relation to protected nature areas. Respondents who had suffered at the hand of deep subsurface exploration were warier of future plans, especially regarding natural gas or oil exploration. The Netherlands has a Sustainable Use of the Deep Subsurface Programme (DGDO) that includes social dialogue. (Survey results)

Hydrogen halt – Stellantis is discontinuing its hydrogen fuel cell technology development programme, the automaker announced on Wednesday. The hydrogen market is showing no mid-term economic viability prospects, the company said. It cited limited availability of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, high capital requirements and the need for stronger consumer purchasing incentives. Stellantis does not expect the adoption of hydrogen-powered light commercial vehicles before the end of the decade. Hence, it will no longer launch its new range of hydrogen-powered Pro One vans this year. Serial production was scheduled to start in Hordain, France, and Gliwice, Poland, this summer. The company said it will focus on electric and hybrid vehicles to comply with "demanding" CO2 regulations in Europe. (Stellantis)

A coalition of non-profits and citizen plaintiffs is taking the South Korean government to court over its approval of six LNG power plants in a semiconductor cluster complex.

A group of Australian industry bodies have released guidance for landholders wanting to develop carbon projects as a way to inform prospective parties and avoid messy legal fights that have riddled the market.

Roll up your sleeves - Japan's GX League, a network of over 700 companies dedicated to advancing the country's green transformation, has established several working groups for the creation of new market rules supporting carbon neutrality, according to a statement. Those groups will discuss matters related to the procurement of GX products, data disclosure, skills for green collar jobs, as well as the calculation and reduction of Scope 3 emissions.  

An environmental markets platform has launched to enable, scale, and operate the infrastructure behind the fast-growing number of schemes globally, with the organising companies unveiling new details of the partnership on Wednesday.

Battered farms - 87% of farmers say recent extreme weather has reduced their productivity and three-quarters have seen their incomes reduced, according to research of 300 farmers across the UK commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). In the past five years, 86% of farmers have been hit by extreme rainfall, 78% by drought, and more than half by the impacts of heatwaves, found the research that found a clear link between increasingly extreme weather and climate change. Worryingly, over four-fifths are concerned about the impact of climate change on the next generation’s ability to farm. On the subject of addressing climate change, a quarter said they were open to tree planting and a fifth happy to consider woodland creation. Nearly 60% called for more long-term certainty in UK green farming schemes.

Thermal power generation in China is trending downward so far this year, while the country's renewable sectors continued to post strong growth, according to the latest government data. 

The CO2 captured from the exhaust of a cement-carrying ship will serve as limestone input at a cement plant in Norway, enabling the production of net zero concrete and the decarbonisation of a cement company’s indirect emissions, according to the developer's CEO. 

Indonesia’s IDXCarbon this week announced plans to include nature-based carbon credits on its trading platform, which has so far predominantly focused on technology-based emissions reduction projects.

Green dream - Producing green steel in Australia would cost twice as much as in China or the Middle East, making it too expensive of a strategy to pursue, mining giant BHP's Australia chief said in a social media post. Instead, BHP will focus on R&D for low-emissions steel-making tech to make Chinese blast furnaces more efficient, Geraldine Slattery said, adding that the miner is more focussed on securing Australia’s position in upstream production.

The UK government's strong support for the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects – framed as crucial to both decarbonisation and clean economic growth – will cost billions of pounds for taxpayers and electricity consumers, according to research released on Wednesday.

An Australian carbon farming group has announced it will cease to offer carbon market services, effective immediately.

Consumer cash - Residential and small business body Energy Consumers Australia has awarded A$1.4 mln ($913,500) in grant funding to eight projects addressing community level roadblocks in the energy transition, it announced. The funding was awarded to several universities to research challenges preventing greater uptake of renewables, as well as advocacy groups and NGOs designing electrification pilots and ensuring vulnerable consumers can access the benefits of renewable energy. The grants are designed to make the energy system fairer and more accessible, the body said.

Capital hydrogen – Australian hydrogen startup Hazer has completed its share purchase plan, raising A$2.6 mln ($1.7 mln) before costs, it announced on Wednesday. Combined with the A$8.1 mln raised from institutional and professional investors last month, the Perth-based firm has raised A$10.7 mln in capital. CEO Glenn Corrie said this cash injection would allow Hazer to focus on unlocking the value of its proprietary methane pyrolysis technology. He added that the ASX-listed company is at an inflection point and is in a good position to accelerate the commercial deployment and licensing of its tech. Hazer announced in May a partnership with engineering firm Kellogg Brown and Root for the commercial deployment and licencing of its technology in the ammonia and methanol markets, and earlier this week announced an agreement with EnergyPathways to develop a 20,000 tpa hydrogen facility in northwest England.

Making a difference – A recent study by National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) which found that native forests could be absorbing more CO2 than initially thought could affect how leaders in New Zealand’s Canterbury region address climate change, reported Farmers Weekly. The June study found the greatest difference between previous estimates of CO2 absorption and the new findings were in the South Island, particularly in areas with mature native forests and some grazed pasture lands. The Canterbury Mayoral Forum's chairperson, Nigel Bowen, said the group are aware of the need to work with nature to address climate change as well as biodiversity risks, and that while CO2 removals via nature will help meet emissions targets, a greater priority is to address emissions at source.

Ag investment update – New Zealand public-private ag tech firm Agrizero has invested about a third of the capital put up for its first four years. Farmers Weekly reported head of ventures David Macdonald saying that the venture has invested NZ$61 mln ($36.3 mln) of its initial NZ$191 mln, with the majority in tools and technologies across nine companies, as well as five catalyst investments. Ruminant Biotech, in which it has invested NZ$5.8 mln, is poised to release its methane-reducing bolus in early 2026.

Delightful investment – Mirova has invested $10 mln in sustainable solar solutions firm d.light’s Brighter Life receivables financing facility, the French sustainable asset manager said in a press release. The senior debt facility is to finance d.light’s receivables in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, giving it immediate cash flow to expand its operations and enabling better access to pay-as-you-go solar energy across Sub-Saharan Africa. Mirova said that d.light’s operations have, to date, avoided 40 MtCO2e and provided 14,000 jobs. Other investors include Dutch development bank FMO, the Nordic Development Fund’s Facility for Energy Inclusion Off-Grid Energy Access Fund, and the EIB.

Japan and South Korea have poured billions of dollars into Australian LNG projects since 2008, but the gas expansion is serving corporate interests rather than meeting energy security needs, according to a new report.

Phnom-enal progress – Cambodia’s environment ministry and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) have selected three local banks to receive technical support in pursuit of GCF accreditation. Following a selection process, the chosen banks are Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia (FTB), ACLEDA Bank, and Advanced Bank of Asia Limited, with FTB as the primary candidate, GGGI said in a press release. The Seoul-based institute has been leading on a GCF-funded capacity-building initiative in the Southeast Asian nation for a year, culminating in this decision, in a bid to widen access to sustainable finance in Cambodia.

Green iron deal – Three Australian firms are partnering to develop the Mid West Green Iron Project in Western Australia. In a stock exchange announcement on Monday, copper ores firm Athena Resources said it had signed an MoU with hydrogen developer Warradarge Energy and mining firm Fenix Resources to plan and establish the project, aiming to produce commercial quantities of green iron. The partners intend for Athena to supply high-grade magnetite concentrate feedstock, Warradarge to supply green hydrogen, and Fenix to provide logistics and port services via a subsidiary. Magnetite can be fed into an electric arc furnace to make direct reduced iron, which in turn makes steel with a far lower carbon footprint than via a coal-fired blast furnace.

A US House of Representatives Appropriations' subcommittee has advanced a bill proposing a $766.4 million cut from federal programmes relating to energy and water development in fiscal year (FY) 2026.

US forest carbon project developers could have new rules to follow in order to generate offset credits eligible under Washington’s cap-and-invest programme, according to state documents published Tuesday.

British Columbia could utilise biomass residues to remove carbon and decarbonise heavy-emitting sectors, but much of the feedstock faces stiff competition with export markets at present, according to a new report published Tuesday.