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French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's ousting on Thursday raises new risks and uncertainties for national and EU-wide climate action, particularly for the private finance sector — and it comes just as France begins to show signs of progress, according to an expert.

EU member states can still use Article 6 for above-and-beyond mitigation, the head of the EU’s international carbon markets diplomacy taskforce told Carbon Pulse at the sidelines of a conference on Thursday, despite the bloc's current plans to avoid using international carbon credits towards UN climate goals.

The EU should reconsider exempting the least developed countries, as well as Ukraine, from its incoming carbon border fee, and use its revenues to help developing countries decarbonise their industries and minimise the blow, a think tank recommended this week.

Strong growth in futures has driven EEX exchange-traded EU carbon volumes higher in both November and 2024 to date, according to data published Thursday.

A rise in emissions resulting from the boom in data centre energy demand over the coming years will depend on whether countries can overcome power grid issues, obstacles to renewable expansion, and how much of the added electricity consumption is met with fossil-based generation, industry leaders told a summit in Paris this week.

A global food and pet care products manufacturer on Dec. 5 announced several partnerships with suppliers and soil carbon project developers to scale regenerative farming practices across Europe.

Nomura Asset Management plans to incorporate nature-related opportunity indicators into its proprietary ESG scoring model in the “near future”, an executive has told Carbon Pulse.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries must actively implement carbon pricing mechanisms and increase investment to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors in order to effectively respond to EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), a report has found.

A coalition of First Nations has announced its intention to file legal action against Canada’s carbon tax, claiming the federal government breached their duty to consult the groups when instituting the carbon pricing scheme.

Some media outlets are already offering forecasts nearly three weeks out – but the BoM advises people to check in on 18 December

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Wondering whether to pack a poncho or sunhat for carols? Locking in plans for a picnic or pool party on 25 December?

Some media outlets are already offering a Christmas Day forecast – nearly three weeks out from the festivities – but is it too early to rely on the festive weather forecast?

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Financiers, mostly development banks, at the UN desertification conference COP16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week have committed $12 billion towards drought resilience, land restoration, and combatting land degradation.

European carbon prices were marginally lower at midday, following the evolution in front-month natural gas as both markets consolidated amid what has been a weak few days.

The historic consensus on Article 6, achieved in November at COP29, may have been broadly welcomed, but some remain cautious that gaps in final decision texts could lead to a lack of integrity in the newly developed, UN-approved international carbon markets, if implementation over the coming years is not sufficiently robust.

French bank BNP Paribas has launched a low-carbon transition equity fund, targeting €750 million from institutional investors such as insurers, pensions funds, and corporates.

China's environment ministry is seeking comments on emissions accounting rules for domestic steelmakers, as the sector will soon be included in the national emissions trading scheme.

A Paris-headquartered certifier for nature-based carbon projects has raised €5 million in fresh funding to expand its operations and develop new methodologies, the organisation announced on Thursday.

A Canadian tech company has collaborated with a concrete producer and a gas distributor in Saudi Arabia to produce low-carbon materials by incorporating captured CO2, the companies announced this week.

‘Tight correlation’ between premium rises and counties deemed most at risk from climate crisis, experts say

Concern over the climate crisis may evaporate in the White House from January, but its financial costs are now starkly apparent to Americans in the form of soaring home insurance premiums – with those in the riskiest areas for floods, storms and wildfires suffering the steepest rises of all.

A mounting toll of severe hurricanes, floods, fires and other extreme events has caused average premiums to leap since 2020, with parts of the US most prone to disasters bearing the brunt. A climate crisis is starting to stir an insurance crisis.

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The EU’s 2040 climate target proposal, due early next year, should make a clear distinction between emission reductions and carbon removals, said Swedish lawmaker Emma Wiesner, denouncing the bloc's plans to put forward a net target as “a slap in the face” and “a huge betrayal” for the European Parliament.

An exchange that supports one of China's pilot carbon markets has unveiled an online financing service targeting carbon pledges in a latest attempt to explore innovative financial instruments.