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Conservation group warns species threatened by exploding populations of grey squirrels who carry lethal virus

Red squirrels will soon disappear from England unless the government funds a vaccine against squirrelpox, one of the biggest groups set up to protect the species has warned.

Conservationists say the English population of non-native grey squirrels has exploded this year, triggered by warmer winters which enable mating pairs to feed and breed all year round, and estimate that 70% are carrying squirrelpox, a virus which is lethal only to red squirrels.

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On the eve of a G20 meeting in Rio do Janeiro on next week, business groups and a Brazilian national official called for developing countries to submit ambitious national climate plans to elicit greater investment, while observers said the summit in Brazil could ease parallel finance negotiations at the UN climate summit in Baku. 

Republican members of Congress arrived at COP29 in Baku Saturday to pitch US natural gas and nuclear energy as decarbonisation solutions for the world, arguing that exports can help increase energy security and decrease costs.

With deforestation compromising Brazil’s hydropower generation capacity, REDD+ projects are one way to address the threats to electricity supply, according to a study presented at COP29.

The federal government of Pakistan unveiled its international carbon market regulations at COP29 in Baku on Saturday following two years of work, including fee structures for international credit transactions, and is expected to launch a national carbon registry by Q1 2025.

The COP29 climate finance text was still a mess midway through the summit, as several delegations described difficulty in engaging with key elements of the current draft, and observers suggesting they do not expect a strong outcome in Baku for the headline objective of the summit.

Sustainable sources of carbon will be necessary in a net-zero economy – chiefly in petrochemicals and steelmaking – paving the way for green sources of CO2 derived from biomass to scale up negative emissions after 2050, the Dutch vice-minister for climate said at the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Water company claims information is not in the public interest despite widespread pollution of UK waters

• ‘It’s a national disgrace’: fury at sewage-filled Windermere over toxic algae and dead fish

One of the UK’s biggest water companies is fighting a legal battle to block public access to data on treated sewage it is discharging into Windermere in the Lake District.

United Utilities initially claimed that data from phosphorus monitors at sewage treatment works at the lake “was not environmental information”. It later claimed the information on phosphorus – which can pollute watercourses when at high levels – was “internal communication” and exempt from disclosure.

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A group of Brazil-based nature-based solutions (NBS) project developers and the nation’s export agency signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Friday to promote the sale of carbon credits abroad.

The SBSTA UN advisory body has laid out final exit protocols for the Kyoto-era Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), predecessor to the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), at COP29 in a draft text.

While the election of US President Donald Trump is expected to generally stifle US momentum on climate action, there may exist avenues for increased voluntary carbon market (VCM) enthusiasm under his leadership, market participants told Carbon Pulse on the sidelines of COP29.

Captive coal-fired power plants (CFPPs), a large and growing source of emissions in Indonesia, will be covered under the country’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) from next year, according to the head of its Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) secretariat.

Prime minister hails ‘path of change’ in Wales and Westminster at Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno

Keir Starmer said he would defend the budget “all day long” at the Welsh Labour conference, amid protests by farmers outside the venue.

In his first address to the Welsh Labour conference since taking power, the prime minister went on to hail a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.

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Climate negotiators are struggling to agree on how to move forward with last year’s milestone commitment to transition away from fossil fuels, with emerging economies pushing to keep any reference out of this year’s COP29 agreement. 

Morocco will launch and implement an Article 6 framework in the coming months, culminating in offtake agreements involving millions of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs), according to a government advisor speaking to Carbon Pulse on the sidelines of COP29 in Baku.

Volcanic rock, dating back billions of years, has been detected in the first samples collected from the mysterious "dark side".

Bolivia’s about-face on carbon markets continued this week as the government teamed up with a US-based environmental data platform for help measuring carbon stocks and emissions, aiming to unlock the country's domestic offering.

More lobbyists for the controversial technology were present this year, despite debate about its viability

At least 480 lobbyists working on carbon capture and storage (CCS) have been granted access to the UN climate summit, known as Cop29, the Guardian can reveal.

That is five more CCS lobbyists than were present at last year’s climate talks, despite the overall number of participants shrinking significantly from about 85,000 to about 70,000.

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It is Day 6 at COP29 in Baku - Science Day. It's the final day negotiators have with the texts before they're handed over to the presidency and appointed ministers, although not much progress is expected on finance in the next 24 hours. In our daily running blog, Carbon Pulse will report relevant or useful updates throughout the day. Timestamps are in local time (GMT+4).

North Dakota’s Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a permit for a multi-state CO2 pipeline, clearing path for project development in the state amid permitting struggles in other regions.