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Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge on emissions is an encouraging step at a frightening moment

Predictions that this will be the first calendar year in which the 1.5C warming limit enshrined in the Paris agreement is surpassed provide a stark backdrop to the UN’s 29th climate conference. This year – 2024 – has already seen the hottest-ever day and month, and is expected by experts to be the hottest year too. Addressing delegates on Tuesday, the UN chief, António Guterres, referred to a “masterclass in climate destruction”. The escalating pattern of destructive weather events, most recently in Valencia, is a warning of what lies ahead.

When the 1.5C figure was included in the 2015 deal, it was known to be a stretch. The treaty says countries must hold the average temperature “well below 2C above pre-industrial levels” and aim for 1.5C. Busting this target in 2024 will not mean it has been definitively missed; the measurement of global temperatures relies on averages recorded over 20 or more years. But the crossing of this threshold is a menacing moment. Around the world, people as well as governments and climate specialists should take notice – and act.

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South Korea and the UK announced multimillion dollar funding commitments to support international efforts to reduce methane emissions, while the US launched a fine of over $1,000/tonne on excess production of the greenhouse gas from the fossil fuel sector on Tuesday.

Carbon crediting methodologies may now be approved from mid-2025 following Monday's COP29 agreement on Article 6.4 standards, but technical details still need to be ironed out both in Baku and once the international market becomes operational, according to experts.

New Zealand food manufacturers are beginning to embrace the circular economy but are up against a lack of government support, customer awareness and low-emission freight options. Sitong Michelle (Michelle) Chen, Senior Lecturer in International Business, Auckland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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Greenpeace and Uplift say Rosebank and Jackdaw licences were granted unlawfully by former Tory government

Climate campaigners have urged a Scottish court to cancel the licence to drill the UK’s largest untapped oilfield, arguing it will cause “sizeable” and unjustified damage to the planet.

Greenpeace and Uplift accuse the former Conservative government of having unlawfully given the Norwegian oil giant Equinor a licence to exploit the Rosebank oilfield, which sits 80 miles (130km) north-west of Shetland and holds nearly 500m barrels of oil and gas.

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Keir Starmer has confirmed that the UK has committed to an 81% cut to emissions by 2035. The prime minister also said the British government was due to launch the CIF Capital Markets Mechanism, a climate finance scheme, on the London Stock Exchange to help developing countries

• UK has ‘huge opportunity’ to lead on green investment, Starmer says

• Cop29 – live updates

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Emissions from flaring are more than double for 10 major international oil companies (IOCs) when including both operated and non-operated assets, compared to when assessing operated assets alone, a new report has found.

The COP29 summit's speedy Article 6.4 agreement was met with polarising reactions on Tuesday, with advocacy groups lambasting it as a distraction from genuine climate action while UN negotiators hailed its potential to unlock up to $250 billion in private climate finance by 2030.

Singapore-based Climate Impact X in January will be reinstating one REDD project and removing another from its nature-based standard contract.

A Brazilian think tank is creating a facility to enable investment around Brazil and the Amazon Basin, tackling nature-damaging illegal activity while exploring biodiversity credits, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Environmental Protection Agency rule seeks to curb ‘super pollutant’ more potent than carbon dioxide in short term

Oil and natural gas companies for the first time will have to pay a federal fee if they emit dangerous methane above certain levels under a rule being made final by the Biden administration.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule follows through on a directive from Congress included in the 2022 climate law. The new fee is intended to encourage industry to adopt best practices that reduce emissions of methane – the primary component of natural gas – and thereby avoid paying the fee.

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All bird species have declined in number, after suffering habitat loss, pesticide use, climate breakdown and bird flu

Wild bird numbers in the UK are continuing to fall despite government promises to halt nature decline by 2030.

Data released by the government on Tuesday shows that over the past five years, all bird species have faced population decline after suffering from habitat loss, pesticide use, climate breakdown and bird flu. Overall, bird species have declined in number UK-wide by 2% and in England by 7% in the five years since 2018.

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Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions have surged by 40% since 1980, driven mainly by agricultural practices, and are set to climb another 30% over 2020 levels by 2050 if left unchecked, according to a UN-backed report released on Wednesday at COP29.

Shell has won an appeal against a landmark climate ruling in the Netherlands that would have forced the oil and gas giant to radically cut back its greenhouse gas emissions, including indirect scope 3 emissions, to comply with the Paris Agreement.  

The UK will slash its emissions by 81% in the next decade under an updated Paris Agreement pledge, which many on Tuesday cautiously welcomed as a "shining example" of leadership at the start of tense COP29 negotiations while warning that it needs to be backed up with actual policies.

A US programme for improved forest management (IFM) carbon projects has published a report outlining the key steps developers must take to ensure the quality and integrity of their projects, tackling issues of additionality, permanence, leakage, and social integrity.

European carbon allowance prices were modestly lower at midday on Tuesday after early weakness tested a key technical support and gave way to to a steady rally along with the main energy markets.

A regional government in England has launched the country's first local nature recovery strategy, eyeing nature markets to mobilise private financing towards biodiversity conservation and restoration activities.

Ofgem gives green light to five interconnectors capable of powering millions of homes

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Projects to lay five subsea power cables capable of powering millions of homes have been given the green light as Great Britain prepares to use its giant offshore windfarms to become a net exporter of green electricity in the 2030s.

The energy regulator, Ofgem, has approved three subsea cable projects linking Great Britain to power grids in Germany, Ireland and Northern Ireland to help share renewable electricity across borders.

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