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A direct ocean capture startup claims to have a unique way to use curtailed renewable energy to power the majority of its energy use, significantly reducing its drain on the electricity grid.

Some wildlife species have accumulated many times more than safe amount of PFAS in their tissue and organs

• Revealed: drinking water sources in England polluted with forever chemicals
• Revealed: scale of ‘forever chemical’ pollution across UK and Europe

Dolphins, otters, porpoises, fish and birds across the UK have been found to have toxic “forever chemicals” in their tissue and organs, analysis of official data has revealed.

Manmade chemicals called PFAS, known as forever chemicals because they do not degrade, are used in a wide range of consumer products and industrial processes and some have been linked to serious diseases in humans and animals, including cancers. PFAS have been found widely to pollute water and soils and are thought to be in the blood of every human on the planet.

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The price of carbon credits eligible for CORSIA Phase 1 (2024-26) could reach as high as $51 per tonne based on the current supply and demand outlook, with the annual market valuation for the period to exceed the current total for the entire VCM, according to analysts speaking at the Carbon Forward Middle East conference this week.

European prices forged higher for a seventh consecutive day on Friday morning, breaching an important psychological level as buyers took control, while energy markets followed the strength in EUAs across the board.

A London-headquartered limestone-based carbon removal (CDR) provider announced Thursday it has secured $13 million in Series A funding.

The method put forward by the European Commission to calculate the exchange rate applicable when clawing back EU carbon allowances that are unduly or mistakenly delivered to operators “raises serious concerns”, according to Finland and other market players.

Multiple gulf states have adopted domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions pricing or reporting schemes over the past year, reflecting coordinated efforts to reduce the carbon intensity of their economies, market participants said at Carbon Forward Middle East in Abu Dhabi.

Sentiment in the Chinese carbon market has fallen off a cliff in recent days after the completion of the annual compliance deadline, with permits trading below 95 yuan ($12.96) over the past week.

Region hit by strong winds, flash flooding and giant hailstones, causing one death and widespread power cuts

Severe thunderstorms have been wreaking havoc across eastern Australia this week, unleashing heavy rain, strong winds, flash flooding and giant hailstones.

In some regions there were wind gusts of more than 100mph (160km/h) and strong winds caused operational disruptions at Sydney airport as well as extensive damage nearby, including roofs being torn off buildings. An 80-year-old man died after a tree fell on his car in New South Wales, and several other injuries have been recorded. The storms also triggered lightning strikes, leading to widespread power outages that affected more than 200,000 homes and suspending rail services.

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Shopify spent $36.3 million on carbon removal (CDR) in 2024, increasing its total commitment to $83.9 million, the e-commerce company announced on Thursday.

The world looks close to adding 20% new carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) capacity in 2025, a leading energy consultancy said this week, calling it the “largest annual increase to date”.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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The UK’s drive to decarbonise most of its electricity grid by 2030 has been given added impetus after Norway, a main fossil fuel exporter to the UK, warned that production will start declining before the end of the decade.

Growth in China's thermal power generation in 2024 slowed from the previous year, buy annual production of coal and gas both reached new record highs, according to government data published Friday.

A huge private bathhouse is found after lying hidden for 2,000 years under volcanic rock and ash.

Indonesia’s first international sale of carbon credits on its national exchange next week has been hailed as an exciting development for the country’s market, but observers have raised concerns that there could be a lack of interested buyers for a multitude of reasons.

Switzerland has opened a funding round worth CHF 100 million (€106 mln) to develop carbon removal projects in the country, the government announced Thursday.

A Seoul-headquartered intergovernmental organisation has initiated a $20 million methane mitigation programme to drive down emissions in Southeast Asia.

Another delay to highly anticipated cap-and-trade rulemaking jolted California Carbon Allowances (CCA) prices in the secondary market briefly to near three-year lows on Tuesday, with volatility driving up option prices.

Experts criticise Defra’s decision not to use OECD definition of PFAS, with one asking if move is ‘politically based’

• What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?

Leading scientists have criticised the UK government for failing to take stronger action to tackle “forever chemical” pollution and refusing to match moves in the EU to ban non-essential uses of the substances.

Last year, 59 experts in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) sent a letter to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) asking it to follow the science, which has established that PFAS do not biodegrade and that despite variations in toxicity, this persistence itself is sufficiently worrying that all PFAS should be regulated as one class.

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