The federal Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has awarded five projects a share of A$13 million ($9.2 mln) to commit to cutting-edge technology to ramp up decarbonisation, lower energy costs, and support low- carbon supply chains.

A model that aggregates buyer demand through a centralised request for proposal (RFP) process for sourcing carbon removals (CDR) can reduce transaction costs and improve access to vetted supply, panellists said during a Thursday webinar.

Efforts to scale up ecosystem restoration are accelerating across regions, but ongoing approval of extractive activities, weak coordination, and limited enforcement capacity are raising doubts over whether countries can meet 2030 targets, specialists said during a webinar this week.

Nature's premium hike - US home insurance premiums have risen nearly three times faster than inflation since 2021, driven by severe weather and natural disasters, according to insurance company Insurify. The average annual premium reached $2,948 in 2025 - up 46% since 2021 against 16% inflation - and is projected to climb a further 4% to $3,057 by the end of 2026. Severe convective storms caused more than $52 bln in insured losses in 2025, the third-highest on record, while the Jan. 2025 Los Angeles wildfires became the costliest non-hurricane disaster in US history at $62 bln.

A coalition of 40 US states, cities, and territories have asked a federal appeals court to overturn the Trump administration’s repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding, calling the move an unlawful attempt to roll back federal limits on CO2 emissions.

Gulf Coast carbon capture and storage (CCS) hubs could leave US taxpayers paying for hundreds of billions in federal subsidies while deploying technology untested at the scale proposed, a new analysis said.

Companies must use a final accounting standard for land-based emissions and removals from 2027 under updated guidance that revises timelines and tightens no-deforestation rules.

New analysis by a Canadian think tank has found Alberta is underestimating its emissions data and the province’s claim that it met its methane reduction target ahead of schedule is “not credible”.

The Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) has filed three public civil actions against carbon credit projects in the state of Amazonas for allegedly violating the rights of Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities, it announced on Thursday.

Oregon officials are weighing electrification, hydrogen, and changes to consumption patterns to close the gap on state climate targets, according to draft modelling released Monday.

A German-headquartered carbon offset platform has selected six early-stage nature-based project developers for the fourth cohort of its accelerator, marking the programme’s first edition dedicated to land-based CDR activities.

European carbon prices fell for the sixth time in seven days, shrugging off a big surge across energy markets to reach a new 11-month low, as traders watched from news from an EU summit at which leaders were discussing ways to reduce the bloc's energy costs, including measures to reduce carbon prices, while spot UKA prices continued their decline to within £5 of the new floor price.

The European Central Bank has revised its EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) price outlook lower for the 2026-28 period, despite a sharp upward change to its inflation forecast.

Money for fEUsion - The European Commission has earmarked €222 mln to push fusion energy from labs to the power grids, as part of its Euratom Research and Training Programme for 2026-27, it announced on Thursday. The new work programme is aimed at boosting energy independence, competitiveness, and technological leadership. The money for fusion will go towards a new European public-private partnership aimed at developing commercially viable technologies and a domestic supply chain, plus support for startups and research.

Product carbon footprints - Only a small proportion of companies in emissions and sustainability reporting are able to deliver product-level carbon data, according to analysis by Sightline Climate. This is according to a survey of 233 companies where only 36 (15%) were found to have the capability. Product-level carbon accounting is especially prevalent in sectors with complex supply chains, where regulation mandates such disclosure, and where end consumers or downstream buyers demand it. Food, fashion, and manufacturing industries are ahead of the game in this respect, while automotive and batteries are next in line, said Sightline.

An airline trade body is calling for the EU to reform the Emission Trading System (ETS) and let all international flights, including those within the European Economic Area (EEA), be subject to CORSIA, the international aviation offsetting scheme.

Stacking carbon, biodiversity, and water at the MRV level would improve efficiency for participants in the EU’s public certification scheme for carbon removal activities, however markets for each credit type should be kept separate, a summit heard on Thursday.

Switzerland should prioritise domestic removal projects 'as far as possible', a body for the sector has urged the government in response to a consultation on the country's net zero framework.

The Innovation Fund, which channels revenues from the EU ETS to innovative decarbonisation projects, is failing to deliver the expected level of greenhouse gas emissions reductions, concluded the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in a new report.

Two months after the EU greenlighted auctions to support up to 12 GW of new gas power plants, the German government has yet to submit a related draft law to Brussels, news outlet Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday.

Fresh eyes - Climate tech company Spiritus has announced two leadership appointments - Kip Hensley has joined as head of project development, while Dorian West has joined the company's board of directors. Spiritus pairs high-efficiency natural gas generation with point-source carbon capture and direct air capture (DAC) driven by waste heat. Hensley joins Spiritus after eight years at Brightmark where he developed and managed renewable natural gas plants across the US, and will now guide Spiritus's first commercial-scale efforts in Wyoming. West joins Spiritus’s board after 15 years at Tesla, where he was an early employee and held engineering leadership roles. He will support the company’s next phase of engineering scale-up as it moves from technical validation into larger systems built for commercial deployment, stated the press release.

CDR assessment - EU member states national energy and climate plans (NECPs) are falling short in delivering a proper assessment of how permanent carbon removals will be deployed to help achieve net zero, concluded Carbon Market Watch (CMW) in a new study. The most popular carbon removal technologies present key challenges as they compete for clean energy, water, and land, and can put pressure on food production, biodiversity, and the local community rights, it said. CMW therefore urges stronger governance at EU level, including through a dedicated space in NECPs for permanent carbon removal work and a clear definition of carbon removal overreliance as insufficient climate ambition.

A proposal to remove natural gas power plants from the EU’s carbon market could dramatically reshape Europe’s electricity system – cutting prices in the short term but triggering wide-ranging economic and environmental consequences, according to new analysis published on Thursday.

The European Union plans to begin preparing earlier for the year-end United Nations climate conferences and adopt a more “realistic” multi-year strategy after what many described as a disappointing performance at last year’s talks.

FLAG update - The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has published an updated version of its forest, land and agriculture (FLAG) guidance, which is designed to make climate action more accessible and actionable. The updated version aligns FLAG with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s (GHGP) land sector and removals standard, sets a no-deforestation target date with an absolute deadline of Dec. 31, 2030 for submissions after 2028, and keeps the expected deforestation cutoff date to 2020 or earlier. It also updates the commodity requirements under no-deforestation commitments to include the main deforestation-linked commodities globally, and sets a requirement to publish evidence showing how companies will deliver their no-deforestation commitments. The updated FLAG guidance goes into effect immediately. More details here.

Construction of a major carbon capture demonstration plant in Germany has entered its final assembly phase and will start operating in mid-2026, the developers have announced.

New York lawmakers are advancing a corporate climate disclosure bill that could contribute to a broader convergence of emissions reporting rules across US states, potentially pushing companies toward a single reporting framework even without federal regulation.

The UK will allocate around £6 billion to international climate finance (ICF) over the next three years, compared to a £11.6 bln five-year commitment for 2021-26, as part of wider changes to its development spending, the government said on Thursday.

A wide range of sub-national rates have been proposed by an expert UN panel that will be used to calculate how many units a cookstove project can generate under Article 6.4 carbon crediting.

The UK government wants up to half of the country's steel use to be made domestically, and for the industry to move towards electrification, under new plans to protect critical manufacturing resource.

Emissions disclosure alone is not enough for the food industry, a UK-based consultancy has argued, suggesting businesses instead deploy a new metric connecting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with corporate gross value added (GVA).

A US-based regenerative agriculture company is unveiling a new environmental asset division to issue carbon credits generated through soil carbon sequestration (SOC) and other climate improvement practices.

Indonesia is exploring the role of carbon trading as a form of funding to bolster state finances for management of the archpelagic country’s vast national parks.

Missile attacks on the world’s largest gas field in Qatar has fundamentally changed the outlook for liquefied natural gas (LNG) globally, leaving Asia under pressure to reduce demand, and Europe cutting down on spring storage plans while prolonging coal-fired generation, analysts said Thursday.

Permits in China's national emissions market traded lower over the past week but seeing sustained trading volumes, with some expecting the planned allowance carryover schedule may help support liquidity in the coming weeks.

Proposed revisions to how companies calculate their Scope 2 emissions under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol could result in higher market-based emissions, even without changes in the underlying electricity consumption, analysts said on Wednesday.

War in the Middle East is dominating talks on industrial competitiveness at an EU summit opening Thursday, with a draft leaders’ statement calling for planned reform of the bloc's Emissions Trading System (ETS) to be presented “by July 2026 at the latest”, as well as urging near-term energy price containment measures.

India will continue to depend heavily on coal to ensure grid reliability over the next decade, even as it scales up renewable energy and storage, according to a government planning document.

A coalition of European industry and climate organisations has called on EU policymakers to launch a sweeping new investment strategy, warning that the bloc faces a historic moment requiring urgent and coordinated financial action.

A justice described the New Zealand government’s consultation-after-the-fact on its climate plan as “fundamentally flawed” in Wellington High Court this week during a three-day hearing into a legal challenge to the plan.

Busting bills – The Australian Energy Regulator has released its draft 2026-27 Default Market Offer (DMO), proposing electricity price decreases for households and small businesses across New South Wales, South East Queensland, and South Australia, reflecting lower wholesale costs driven by more renewable energy, it announced on Thursday. It also introduced reforms to strengthen consumer protections, including new tariff caps and a “Solar Sharer” option that offers free electricity during midday solar peaks, while maintaining the DMO’s role as both a price cap and comparison benchmark. The draft is open for consultation before a final determination in May 2026, with changes set to take effect from July 1, 2026. The regulator said it remains cautious about global events, particularly in the Middle East, and how they can influence energy markets in the lead up to the final decision.

Bond success – Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank (NDB) has raised LKR16 bln ($51.3 mln) via the country’s largest Basel III-Compliant thematic bond, it said in a press release this week. Supported by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), issuance of the inaugural Tier II Rated Unsecured Subordinated Redeemable GSS+ Bonds opened on Mar. 10 and was oversubscribed, the Seoul-based intergovernmental organisation said in its own release. NDB said the issuance strengthens its commitment to advancing its ESG agenda and supporting Sri Lanka’s climate and development initiatives, noting that the bank has funded around 20% of the South Asian island country’s renewable generation capacity since 2004. The bond’s proceeds will be directed to eligible green (including blue, ie marine-based), social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked projects, which support environmentally responsible, socially impactful, and sustainable economic development, NDB said.

Oil exposure – Current volatility in the global oil market has highlighted how exposed New Zealand is to fuel shocks and why it needs to rethink how it powers its transport sector, said the University of Auckland. Noting that only 3.5% of the country’s light passenger vehicles are electric – versus more than 30% in Norway, which is a similar size to New Zealand – energy systems professor Nirmal Nair said the government needs to make intentional choices if it wants to boost EV uptake. However, he added, the electricity market will need to adapt to accommodate this and address infrastructure gaps, such as access to chargers and battery lifecycle management. The current National-led coalition government scrapped the Clean Car Discount, which provided rebates for EV purchases, shortly after assuming office in late 2023.

Tailored and attainable provincial targets are needed for China to better regulate emissions intensity and absolute emissions, considering their diverse regional contexts, a report has suggested.

Guyana has sold jurisdictional forest carbon credits to 19 international airlines over the past 18 months, a senior government official said, as demand for CORSIA-eligible units grows ahead of tightening aviation offsetting requirements.

Offtake outcome – Australian hydrogen and graphite producer Hazer Group has signed a non-binding MoU and offtake agreement to provide 85,000 tonnes of graphite over a 10-year period to Green Steel of WA, it announced. Hazer's patented low emissions hydrogen production technology creates graphite as a by-product. The proposed offtake letter of intent would see Hazer's graphite provided to Green Steel of WA's proposed electric arc furnace as a recarburiser replacing anthracite in the steelmaking process. Green Steel of WA's project is Australia's first low emissions steel mill and is expected to be operational by 2028, with graphite supply expected in 2030, according to the ASX announcement. Hazer's share price rose 5% off the back of the news.

EV reboot – Verra has opened a consultation on minor revisions to its Verified Carbon Standard’s (VCS) EV methodology, VM0038, and its associated module, VMD0049. Proposed changes include updates to the applicability conditions taking into consideration market share in a project’s host country, updates to the positive list which determines additionality, and the adoption of VCS tools to bolster integrity, among other things. The consultation will run until Apr. 17, 2026.

Virginia's solar backslide – Virginia installed only 716 MW of solar in 2025 – less than half of its 2024 figure and the lowest since 2019 – even as the US added a record 43 GW nationally, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Virginia ranked ninth nationally for total installed solar capacity at 7.6 GW, with solar supplying just under 9.5% of the state's electricity. However, this trend might reverse as Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) has a goal to boost solar capacity and rejoin the RGGI cap-and-trade programme as part of her energy affordability agenda.

A nationally replicable UK model for coordinating public and private investment into nature-based solutions (NbS) has been published in a report on Thursday by the Green Finance Institute (GFI).

A developer of nature-based infrastructure assets and a nature-based solutions (NbS) carbon project developer will share risks and long-term project value via a new co-development model, they announced Thursday in connection with an afforestation and reforestation (A/R) initiative.