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On almost every level the chancellor’s decision to expand the London airport looks naive, if not foolish

For 20 years, politicians, industry leaders and campaigners have fought in courts, parliament and public meetings over the idea of building a new runway for Heathrow. For some, a third runway would not only boost passenger numbers at the airport but would be a symbol of the country’s determination to seek economic regeneration. For others, it would demonstrate, in vivid terms, our complete failure to understand the grim, global threat posed by further increasing carbon emissions.

Last week, Rachel Reeves chose to enter the fray. Remarkably, for a supposed green chancellor, she elected to back the project and seek the expansion of Heathrow to raise its annual passenger capacity by 50% to about 140 million. “A third runway at Heathrow would unlock further growth, boost investment, increase exports and make the UK more open and more connected,” she claimed. It was a bold move. It is unlikely history will view it as a sensible or justifiable one, however. On almost every level – political, local or environmental – her decision looks naive, if not foolish.

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The Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) is seeking feedback on a new code of conduct to ensure responsible financing in the sector, as it waits to discover if any carbon crediting methodologies pass the Integrity Council of the Voluntary Carbon Market's (ICVCM) quality test in the coming months.

The European Commission adopted a draft regulation on Thursday to calculate the annual price difference between sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and fossil kerosene, so that airlines can obtain funding support from the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

US tech giant Google spent over $100 million on contracting carbon removal last year, three times more than it had initially planned, the company said Thursday, hinting it would continue to scale up investment in the sector this year.

The international emission trading association IETA has said more clarity is needed on how the EU’s Carbon Removals Carbon Farming (CRCF) will be implemented so as to facilitate the uptake of high quality carbon removal.

Washington has suspended funding for the forest finance LEAF Coalition initiative as part of a wider withdrawal from foreign aid under the new administration of President Donald Trump.

An environmental standard announced on Thursday it has opened a public consultation on its framework for Nature Stewardship Credits (NSCs), setting out eligibility criteria for biodiversity conservation and restoration projects with demonstrated social benefits.

Madagascar is keen to get involved with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and is aiming to develop a national registry and standards to start generating credits, the country's Designated National Authority (DNA) said on Thursday.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has seen the first trades of carbon credits, which are eligible to be used as offsets against the country’s carbon tax, the exchange announced Thursday.

The UK is on track to reduce emissions by 82% by 2050, lowering household energy costs along the way, even though carbon prices would increase significantly to $250/tonne, according to a report by an industrial risk management company.

The European Commission’s legislative proposal for a 2040 climate target plan, initially expected early in the year, is now slated for the second quarter of 2025, according to a leaked document suggesting the proposal could be put forward after the Polish presidential election in May.

The world’s biggest offshore wind developer Orsted has slashed investment by 25% up to 2030 in the wake of challenges to the renewable energy industry and the decision by US President Donald Trump to suspend new leases for offshore wind in the US.

A member of the European Research Council has endorsed the use of nature credits to address the biodiversity crisis, provided that the mechanism is developed 'cautiously', she told the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) on Thursday.

The European Commission has awarded approximately €120 million to support the development of a liquefied CO2 receiving terminal at a planned storage site in Greece, the project developer announced on Thursday.

European carbon prices edged higher on Thursday morning amid further gains in gas and power with traders still questioning the bullish trend, while reports that the European Commission is considering ways to water down the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism for small and medium-sized enterprises triggered speculation over what the impact might be for demand and free allocation.

The year 2024 was a “turning point” for integrity in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) and the prices that high-quality credits command, according to a new set of quality and pricing indices launched by a ratings agency and backed by a carbon market intelligence firm.

Concerns raised as $10bn Bezos Earth Fund halts funding for Science Based Targets initiative, which monitors companies’ decarbonisation

Jeff Bezos’s $10bn climate and biodiversity fund has halted its funding of one of the world’s most important climate certification organisations, amid broader concerns US billionaires are “bowing down to Trump” and his anti-climate action rhetoric.

The Bezos Earth Fund has stopped its support for the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an international body that assesses if companies are decarbonising in line with the Paris agreement. Earth Fund had been one of two core funders of the SBTi, with the Ikea Foundation: the two accounted for 61% of its total funding last year. Earth Fund’s decision was first reported by the FT.

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A carbon removal developer with huge offtake support verified the first US-based afforestation (ARR) project through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), it announced Thursday.

Even brief exposure to particulate matter found to impede selective attention and emotional recognition

A person’s ability to focus on everyday tasks is affected by short-term exposure to air pollution, a study has found.

Researchers analysed data from cognitive tests completed by 26 participants before and after they were exposed either to high levels of particulate matter (PM) using smoke from a candle, or clean air for an hour.

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The UK government has sold £236,376 in statutory biodiversity net gain (BNG) credits to developers to offset their impacts since the legislation came into force, Carbon Pulse has learned.