Carbon Pulse

A proposed biochar production facility in northern California has received unanimous approval from local regulators, marking a significant step in the state’s ongoing efforts to address wildfire risks and advance forest biomass utilisation.

Canada’s environment ministry has weakened its clean electricity regulations (CER) in a final version published Tuesday, opting for a less stringent emissions standard for power generators compared to prior drafts.

Several EU nations worry the implementation of a new Emissions Trading System (ETS) for transport and heating fuels, as well as a looming ban on CO2-emitting cars, may harm the bloc's automotive sector, with more and more hesitations emerging from Tuesday's Environment Council.

A voluntary carbon market (VCM) ratings agency has introduced environment and social safeguards as part of a project’s risk assessment criteria, it announced Tuesday.

A carbon credit buyers club has reached offtake agreements with two carbon removal startups totalling $80 million that are slated to remove nearly 300,000 tonnes of CO2 by 2030, according to a Tuesday announcement.

EU member states are considering the possibility of setting a specific target for carbon removals in the EU's new emissions reduction target for 2040, which is due to be negotiated over the course of next year.

Quebec will ban the sale and lease of combustion engine-powered light-duty vehicles in 2035, according to regulations approved by the provincial cabinet in December.

The UK is on track to meet its two domestic emissions reduction targets covering 2023-32, with energy demand and greenhouse gases set to fall by nearly a quarter out to 2050, according to government data published Tuesday evening.

The UK hydrogen strategy is moving “at pace”, with a number of key milestones reached in 2024, according to a strategy update released on Thursday, which also laid out what policy developments are expected in 2025.

A new study has raised concerns about the effectiveness of jurisdictional REDD+ (JREDD) programmes, revealing how strategic enrolment decisions and anticipatory behaviour risk undermining efforts to curb deforestation and reduce carbon emissions.

Italy has received the green light on Tuesday for a €9.7-billion scheme to support the construction of new renewable power capacity that could increase the country's installed total by nearly a third compared to 2023.

The latest draft regulations for Vietnam’s planned emissions trading scheme include a number of significant changes that will have a big impact on the market, according to analysts who have seen the unpublished document.

The December 2025 EUA future started its run as the benchmark carbon contract trading in a relatively narrow range on Tuesday morning, before prices slumped late in the day to post a 1.5% fall, triggered by a brief period of substantial selling that sources said reflected both positioning changes and technicals.

The value of credits retired in the voluntary carbon market jumped to around $900 million in the first 11 months of the year, as the market recalibrated around quality and impact, according to research published by a marketplace.

The requirement for many large companies to start disclosing under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) from next year will improve the quality and consistency of reporting on ESG issues, bringing it up to investor-grade quality on par with other financial disclosures, experts have said.

Shareholders submitted a record number of biodiversity-related resolutions this year, though most of them have been blocked due to the opposition of some of the world's biggest asset managers, an NGO has said.

A Boston-headquartered startup has raised $2.3 million to generate carbon offsets from methane emissions avoided by diverting edible food from landfills, the company announced on Monday.

A multinational professional services firm has joined forces with an ocean-based carbon removal developer to help build a large-scale facility.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s influence on the global nature agenda may be limited, with policy leaders in areas such as Europe continuing to strengthen action on biodiversity risks unabated, according to experts.

Biodiversity credit markets have the potential to finance African smallholders' transition towards sustainable practices and help them meet new regulations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the vice president of a Nairobi-headquartered organisation told Carbon Pulse.