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As Cop29 in Azerbaijan reaches final stages, countries try to shore up support for conference where question of limiting global heating will be key

Australia is locked in a standoff with Turkey over which will host vital UN climate talks in 2026, where the question of whether the world can limit global heating in line with scientific advice is likely to be decided.

Australia’s government wants to host the summit in partnership with Pacific nations, which are among the countries most threatened by climate breakdown.

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Ukraine's environmental protection minister, Svitlana Grynchuk, and the Palestinian chair for the environmental quality authority, Nisreen Tamimi, raised the alarm on the ecological impact of war in their countries and beyond. Grynchuk said Russia's 'unlawful reporting' of its carbon emissions on Ukrainian territory was undermining the integrity of the Paris agreement. Tamimi said the rebuilding effort in Gaza would release an estimated 30m tonnes of carbon dioxide

• Cop29 live: campaigners say talks are ‘reaching point of real emotion’

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Developing countries have rebuffed the idea of a $200 billion annual climate finance target for wealthy government coffers, calling it a "joke" as ministers rushed to bridge persistent differences in the last stretch of COP29 negotiations on Wednesday.

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme set to launch next year in the UK will require packaging producers to report how much they produce, and pay associated fees, though it is unclear how high those costs could go, say industry experts.

A top European court on Wednesday dismissed a €40.1-million damages claim by a French cement manufacturer against the European Commission and relating to the free allocation of carbon allowances, ruling that the company failed to prove it suffered financial harm directly caused by Brussels’ actions.

France's newly launched biodiversity credit scheme is unlikely to scale unless the EU takes actions to incentivise corporate voluntary purchases across the bloc, consultancy CDC Biodiversite told Carbon Pulse.

The Council of EU member states on Wednesday approved a proposal to delay the bloc’s controversial anti-deforestation law by one year but did not endorse the European Parliament’s proposed amendments, triggering angry reactions from conservative lawmakers who called the move “irresponsible”.

Power-hungry data centres in Europe will need more electricity to feed their expanding memory banks and artificial intelligence functions over the rest of the decade than the growing fleet of electric vehicles, according to new analysis.

The UK could become a global hub for carbon market startups, building on the £790 million the sector has already raised — if the British government gets behind to boost the voluntary carbon market's growth, according to a report published on Wednesday.

With hopes of a breakthrough on Article 6 remaining high as COP29 races towards its conclusion, data from first-moving countries and projects reveals a market poised to make full use of Article 6 carbon trading once market dynamics are fully operationalised.

OECD complaint alleges top firm has increased investments in companies implicated in environmental devastation

BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset management company, faces a complaint at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for allegedly contributing to environmental and human rights abuses around the world through its investments in agribusiness.

Friends of the Earth US and the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil accuse BlackRock of increasing investments in companies that have been implicated in the devastation of the Amazon and other major forests despite warnings that this is destabilising the global climate, damaging ecosystems and violating the rights of traditional communities.

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Chris Uhlmann says power costs are soaring while renewables are falling short, but do the pair have anything in common?

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What is “The Real Cost of Net Zero” asked political journalist Chris Uhlmann this week, after weeks of trailing his new documentary on Sky News Australia.

Uhlmann is no fan of Australia’s shift to renewables, and in a preview published in the Australian said politicians and governments “pushing ambitious renewables targets” were “breathtakingly, stunningly energy illiterate.”

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Graham Readfearn is Guardian Australia’s environment and climate correspondent

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Article 6.2 or CORSIA-eligible carbon credits are currently trading in the $7-22 range, with prices expected to peak in 2027 and stabilise by 2030, according to a market specialist speaking to Carbon Pulse on the sidelines of COP29.

The deputy prime minister addressed the controversy over Labour's plan to extend inheritance tax to some farms after hundreds of people attended a rally outside Downing Street a day before. The Conservative party's Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, told Rayner he had spoken to farmers across the country who were outraged. Rayner responded by insisting the government was 'absolutely committed' to British farmers and had added £5bn to the farming budget

• UK politics live – latest updates

• Starmer denies mounting class war as farmers claim they have been ‘betrayed’

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Early intervention can mitigate half of risks in forest investments, but stakeholders must look beyond carbon credits and address broader challenges like land rights, community engagement, and governance, according to a new report.

European industries are grappling with significant technological, financial, and regulatory hurdles as they work towards net zero emissions, according to a new report.

EU carbon allowances gradually edged higher on Wednesday as weekly positioning data showed investment funds held their first net long position in 15 months, while gas prices rallied modestly after profit taking had dropped prices on Tuesday.

There is an increasingly strong likelihood that the US will implement a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), but such a policy would likely come with challenges on the international level, according to experts speaking at COP29.

Some 25 countries, as well as the EU, have urged the rest of the world to stop new unabated coal investment for use in energy systems.

A group of 68 global NGOs, business coalitions, companies, and Indigenous Peoples organisations has called for COP29 parties to recognise nature’s role in addressing the climate crisis within negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG).