California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices barely edged higher over the last week as the market awaits the results of Wednesday's Q4 auction, while Washington Carbon Allowances (WCAs) continued to creep towards all-time highs approaching $70.

The Trump administration on Wednesday urged a federal judge to invalidate New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, alleging the state is attempting to hold fossil fuel companies liable for global GHG emissions under New York law in violation of federal authority.

An Amsterdam-based carbon removal (CDR) developer is gearing up to launch a new direct air capture (DAC) testing facility to accelerate sector technologies.

Better connectivity – Carbon Markets Club (CMC), a Thai industry network backed by energy conglomerate Bangchak, and the Macao International Carbon Emission Exchange (MEX) on Thursday signed a pact to link Thailand’s T-VER project pipeline with MEX’s trading infrastructure. The deal aims to expand cross-border carbon credit and REC flows, and support joint research and Article 6 capacity-building, Bangchak said in a press release. MEX said the partnership would open international access to Thai credits.

Methane madness – The US Senate rejected a Democratic effort to overturn a Trump administration rule delaying state compliance with Biden-era methane limits, with a Congressional Review Act resolution from Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) failing 46-51 after only one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), backed it, E&E News reported. Supporters argued the US EPA’s delay undermines methane-cutting efforts and contradicts federal investments that help companies address leaks, while Republicans, led by Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), said the rule provides necessary relief from Biden-era regulations. The vote came as GOP lawmakers and the White House continue using the Congressional Review Act to reverse multiple environmental rules issued under the previous administration.

Unpunctual repeal – The final US EPA rule that will repeal the endangerment finding won’t be released until early 2026, at least three months after the agency was originally expected to release the rule, according to several sources who spoke with E&E News. Industry advocates and former EPA officials said that the final rule will likely land in January, at which point the decision is likely to end up in court. In September, the agency collected hundreds of thousands of public comments on the draft rule as it rushed to finalise it before the weeks-long government shutdown. However, the reason for the delay is unclear, as EPA rulemaking staff were not furloughed during the shutdown – although work stoppages at the White House or elsewhere in the administration may have contributed.

A Colorado-based carbon removal (CDR) startup aiming to remedy pit lakes left behind by mining operations could generate billions of dollars in credit revenue with just one large-scale project, according to its founder.  

British Columbia has finalised a refrigerants offset protocol that tightens eligibility rules, clarifies hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) destruction requirements, and confirms conservative baseline assumptions, a move the province took after stakeholders raised technical and safety concerns during a consultation.

The COP30 climate summit in Belem was forced to evacuate on Thursday when a blaze erupted near the Africa Pavilion, triggering a full evacuation and bringing negotiations to a halt.

European carbon prices enjoyed a healthy gain for most of Thursday amid strength across commodity and equity markets, which was attributed by many observers to a relief rally triggered by a bullish earnings report from US tech giant Nvidia, before a steep fall in gas prices took the edge off the day's gains.

The Council of EU Member States’ position to delay the bloc’s increasingly precarious anti-deforestation law is likely to be echoed by the European Parliament when it convenes next week, an NGO said.

Transport and buildings overshot the emissions cap in Germany’s national emissions trading system (nEHS) by about 17 million tonnes of CO2 in 2024, a significant increase on previous years, reported the national emissions trading authority this week.

A new guide for developing high-integrity carbon projects in the Brazilian Amazon has been launched to support developers in navigating Brazil’s evolving carbon governance landscape and producing higher-quality nature-based projects that can attract stronger market demand.

The first compliance phase of the CORSIA international aviation offsetting scheme could swing between a chronic shortage of credits to a hefty surplus, depending on the readiness of trade under the Paris Agreement's Article 6 over the next two years, according to analysts.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres threw his weight behind a new goal to triple finance for adaptation to climate change by 2030 on Thursday, as negotiators waited for the Brazilian presidency's latest, and possibly final, proposals for a COP30 deal.

Singapore and Malawi on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop carbon credit projects under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, marking the latest in a string of bilateral deals that is positioning the Asian city-state as a major buyer.

The government of Andalusia has formally launched Spain’s first blue carbon restoration project under its regional standard, with the aim to generate credits from the reflooding of tidal marshland in the Bay of Cadiz.

Airlines are struggling with market uncertainty and procedural challenges in planning for their compliance under UN international aviation sector offsetting scheme CORSIA, an industry representative said during panels at COP30.

Aviation emissions visibility - A new partnership has launched aiming to improve CO2 emissions data visibility and consistency for passengers when booking flights. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have signed a MoU to explore alignment between the EU Flight Emissions Label and IATA’s existing environmental data management ecosystem - IATA’s EcoHub and the IATA CO2 Connect calculator. The Flight Emissions Label offers a framework for airlines to share flight emissions data with passengers transparently, whilst IATA CO2 Connect collects airline operational data and calculates the CO2 performance of the flights. Aligning the two is expected to make it easier for airlines to join the Flight Emissions Label, confident that the best data will be used, according to an emailed statement Thursday.

The government of Luxembourg has announced the launch of a marketplace, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), aimed at connecting nature-based projects with investors.

Hydrogen hype? - Almost two-thirds (61%) of the utility-scale solar and wind capacity currently planned in Africa is not lined up for domestic use but rather to export to Europe in the form of green hydrogen, according to new analysis from Global Energy Monitor (GEM). It counts roughly 350 GW of such projects to have been announced, or that are in pre-construction and construction - which is around 10 times that currently operating across the continent. The companies proposing to build the solar, wind, and hydrogen infrastructure have never built at this scale before, and without confirmed offtakers and financing, many schemes are speculative at best. Many projects are set at an unrealistic scale in countries such as Mauritania that currently have relatively tiny amounts of renewables in operation. Building renewables in Africa for the purpose of exporting green hydrogen to Europe on mass scale will hinder efforts to improve energy access on the continent, the analysts argue.

European governments risk undermining their climate goals by using capacity mechanisms that continue to channel billions of euros into fossil fuel power plants, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) warned in a report published on Thursday.

Security of supply – The EU-27 spent nearly €11 bln on about 40 electricity security of supply measures in 2024, reported the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) on Thursday. It also noted that only 29% of capacity support was directed to low-emissions technologies; natural gas will lead in long-term contracts until 2035. Although EU gas demand is expected to fall by 15% by then, gas-fired power plants are projected to cover 30% of peak demand. Capacity mechanisms cost €6.5 bln in 2024, more than double the cost in 2020. Power outage levels averaged under two hours per year. ACER suggested that stronger cross-border coordination could lower additional capacity needs and system costs. Only 10% of national risk preparedness plans include joint measures to mitigate the impact of electricity crises and assist neighbouring countries. Capacity mechanisms need to become more efficient, and cleaner. (ACER)

Attempts to reopen standards adopted by the Supervisory Body for the new Article 6 carbon crediting mechanism, or revisit COP29 decisions on international trading to bolster transparency and reporting rules, look to have been quashed as clean and uncontroversial decision texts landed Thursday that would also see nearly $30 million channelled from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) towards operationalising Paris Agreement markets.

Access to high integrity carbon market finance could reduce emissions from HFLD regions; prompt decisions can accelerate progress.

Voluntary carbon markets should be restructured using project finance tools to unlock institutional capital and deliver large-scale emissions reductions, according to a recent position paper by a French asset manager.

Day 10 at COP30 in Belem. Article 6 (should) also be cleaned up and pushed on Thursday, with overnight decision texts looking and uncontroversial, sources said. After this, the real battled in Belem will pivot to the meaty package Brazil wants to deliver, with the presidency now convening "shuttle diplomacy" to try bridge the unbridgeable gaps on climate finance and fossil fuel language.

The European Commission on Thursday unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), introducing a new, three-tier categorisation system for green financial products aimed at improving transparency and comparability in the EU market.

SBTi hires - The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has appointed Alex Kazaglis as chief strategy and transformation officer and Swati Khare-Zodgekar as chief operating officer, said CEO David Kennedy on LinkedIn. Both will join the organisation supporting corporates to set climate targets in early January.  Kazaglis is currently a partner at McKinsey, bringing over 20 years of global experience in climate strategy, organisational transformation, and senior advisory work. Whilst Swati will join the SBTi from the Metropolitan Police, bringing with her over 20 years of leadership experience in finance and corporate operations.

Global progress on energy efficiency is expected to rise slightly to 1.8% in 2025 but remains far short of the pace needed to meet the global pledge to double the rate of improvements by 2030, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said in its latest report.

CO2-based materials - Biotech startup Colipi plans to use CO2 captured from industrial exhaust gases to produce bio-based materials, including low-carbon alternatives to plant-based oils, Gasworld reported. The Germany company will filter CO2 from combustion gas used in steam generation at the Hamburg production site of Continental’s ContiTech group. This captured CO2 will then feed microorganisms in a bioreactor to convert a mix of CO2, hydrogen, and oxygen into low-carbon alternatives to plant-derived oils such as palm oil. ContiTech group claims to be accelerating CO2-reduction measures across its operations, aiming to use CO2 productively.

Faster connections - The European Commission has reportedly called to scrap the first-come, first-served principle for grid connection in a bid to cut queues, said a Contexte journalist on LinkedIn. This is according to a draft Commission notice on electricity grid connections, intended as part of a forthcoming European Grids Package. Grid connection delays are one of the key obstacles to faster renewable energy rollout, experts have said.

New hires - Direct air capture (DAC) developer Spiritus has appointed Mayur Sathe, previously at LanzaTech as senior director of process engineering, and Matt Arcy previously at Chevron as project development advisor, both effective immediately, it said in an emailed statement Thursday. The hires come as the company advances towards commercial-scale deployment of its Carbon Orchard DAC and sequestration site in Wyoming, which seeks to store 2 mln tonnes of CO2 annually. Sathe previously led efficiency improvements for carbon capture and recycling technology at LanzaTech, whilst Arcy previously managed billions of dollars of natural gas and LNG projects for Chevron. Their combined expertise is expected to boost the company's growing technical team across materials science, chemical engineering, and project development.

New Zealand’s quickening rollout of renewable energy will displace 70% of electricity sector demand for gas by 2030, a report said this week.

Most corporate and industry association references to a “just transition” are either vague or used to promote continued fossil fuel use, according to an analysis published Thursday by a London-based think tank.

Only greater transparency, standardisation and financial-market discipline can unlock the potential of carbon as a true investable asset class, argues Bastien Declercq from Marex.

A US-based carbon removal (CDR) startup has secured a $250,000 prepurchase agreement for 450 tonnes of durable carbon removal from the Frontier buyers club, following a completed technical due diligence review, the firm said Thursday.

ASEAN power boost – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $470 mln for renewable energy projects and grid strengthening in Indonesia, it announced on Wednesday. ADB added that this will support the ASEAN Power Grid vision, by developing a robust grid that can integrate renewables at scale, and act as a foundational national power infrastructure. The results-based loan will support the roll out of wind and solar power projects over 2026-31 and avoid 2.5 MtCO2e emissions annually. In addition to the loan, the package also includes $30 mln from ADB-administered funds and a $3-mln grant from the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) Energy Access and Transition Trust Fund, said the bank.

Compass set to 1.5C – Kiribati has urged leaders at COP30 to ensure the 1.5C goal stays alive and is unshakeable. In her statement during the High Level segment on Wednesday, Josephine Moote, deputy permanent representative of Kiribati to the UN, said that the climate crisis is accelerating, with insufficient finance, political hesitation, and weak enforcement to blame. The low-lying Pacific nation is already suffering some of the worst impacts of climate change, and Moote said that the 1.5C should be the scientific compass guiding COP decisions. (SPREP)

Germany has told the European Commission of its intent to cancel a unspecified volume of EUAs linked to 14 power plants that were closed in 2024, the government has said.

Germany will invest €1 billion in the forest fund proposed by the Brazilian government, it announced on Wednesday.

The EU has put forward its own proposal for a wider energy transition roadmap it says could garner broader support at the UN climate talks in Belem, after it failed to throw its weight behind the original roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, already supported by more than 80 countries.

Singapore and Bhutan have launched a project application call for their bilateral implementation agreement on carbon credits cooperation.

Environment ministers from India and Japan on Wednesday said the two Asian giants will deepen cooperation on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), industrial decarbonisation, and technology transfer, as they work to align their goals under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Ice to work with you – Iceland and New Zealand have signed an agreement to deepen their collaboration on geothermal energy, the Beehive announced on Thursday. This will include joint research projects, workshops, and knowledge sharing, with a focus on superhot and supercritical geothermal systems. New Zealand is seeking to double its use of geothermal energy by 2040. The MoU was signed at COP30, in Belem.

COP30 negotiations on metrics for measuring global efforts to adapt to climate change are now tied up with a call from developing countries to financial aid over the next five years, and potentially work to develop institutional support.

The ongoing UN climate conference is the first of its kind to mention carbon removal in the action agenda, according to the trade association that helped organise the first CDR pavilion at COP.

Bangladesh on Wednesday announced its national carbon market framework in a "pre-launch" session, setting out rules for how the country will generate, authorise, and trade emission reductions under Article 6 mechanisms and the voluntary carbon market.