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Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries need clarity on asset classes and information security – not just environmental regulations – to attract investment in carbon markets, the director of a carbon credit exchange told Carbon Forward Middle East in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Exclusive: Water industry calls for PFAS ban after analysis of sampling data shows contamination across country

• What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?
• The Guardian view on chemical pollution: the UK can’t ignore the risks from PFAS

Raw drinking water sources across England are polluted with toxic forever chemicals, new analysis has revealed, prompting the water sector to demand that ministers ban the substances and polluters pay for the astronomical cleanup costs.

The areas covered by Affinity Water and Anglian Water were found to be particularly badly affected, and experts have said they fear “we are drastically underestimating the size of the problem”.

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The African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) has revealed 22 members of its fellowship programme, which seeks to raise biodiversity finance, including executives from several large financiers.

Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s former finance minister, is expected to pledge to scrap the country’s contentious carbon tax when she announces her candidacy for federal Liberal Party leader, according to local media.

European carbon allowances were firmer for much of the morning, driven by a rally in natural gas prices and technical buying by speculative traders, before easing to end the first half of the day modestly weaker.

A US asset management firm has launched a carbon exchange-traded commodity (ETC) on the London Stock Exchange that offers broad coverage of cap-and-trade carbon allowances.

A new political landscape for climate policy in the US, set to dominate following President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next week, could jeopardise the revival of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) in 2025, a conference heard Thursday.

The prospect of a global emissions levy on shipping is getting closer to reality, according to a recent briefing and document from the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The Arab League will next week sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a voluntary carbon standard to build capacity for Paris Agreement carbon markets, an executive told Carbon Forward Middle East in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Benchmark European carbon prices could slump below €50 in the event of a regional recession brought on by US tariffs that may be introduced by President-elect Donald Trump, according to a scenario modelled by analysts.

Expanding carbon removal (CDR) portfolios to include a variety of technologies and nature-based solutions can cut costs, reduce reliance on land-intensive methods, and address energy and logistical challenges, a new study has found.

Levels of PFAS chemicals found in sludge destined for British land would not be considered safe for allotments

• Where are the UK’s ‘forever chemical’ hotspots?
• Industry using ‘tobacco playbook’ to fend off ‘forever chemicals’ regulation
• The Guardian view: the UK can’t ignore the risks from PFAS

Sewage sludge spread on farmland is contaminating soils, water and potentially the food chain with “forever chemicals”, and whistleblowers from the Environment Agency say the systems in place to prevent such pollution are “not fit for purpose”.

Watershed Investigations and the Guardian obtained samples of treated sewage sludge destined to be spread on land from five different catchments, and found levels of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) forever chemicals that would not be considered safe on allotments, as well as levels of flame-retardant chemicals described by experts as “exceptionally high”.

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With few exceptions, the news has shied away from showing how the unfolding climate crisis plays a large role in the disaster

Last week, as the Sunset fire was bearing down on her Los Angeles home, Allison Agsten approached a group of television news crews gathering in her neighborhood. Did any of them plan to mention the role of the climate crisis in their reporting?

The question was professional as well as personal for Agsten, who runs a climate journalism center at the University of Southern California and has trained reporters on how to connect the climate crisis to what’s happening in the world. She has lived in her home along Runyon Canyon, near Hollywood, for a decade.

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Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief said this week that the nation’s bourse will introduce carbon trading in a bid to gain experience and boost liquidity.

The current lack of attention to the downsides of artificial intelligence (AI) in nature conservation and its broader implications could result in undesirable consequences, including the development of a biased biodiversity credit market, an expert told Carbon Pulse.

An Indian biochar firm has agreed to sell 100,000 carbon dioxide removals (CDR) credits to technology giant Google, in what it dubbed the “world’s largest industrial biochar offtake agreement” in an announcement on Thursday.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's space company blasts its first rocket into orbit in a challenge to Elon Musk.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's space company blasts its first rocket into orbit in a challenge to Elon Musk.

Nuclear energy is set to see a resurgence for a complex conflagration of drivers including decarbonisation plans coupled with the need for reliable baseload power, new electricity demand from the computing sector, nations’ interest in energy self-sufficiency, and a projected fall in costs for new types of nuclear energy like small modular reactors (SMRs), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Global forestry investment manager New Forests has announced the final close of its fund focussing on Australian and New Zealand forestry and landscapes, successfully raising A$600 million ($372 mln).