Global Climate News

The Vice President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, speaking for the Italian Government at the climate summit in Belém, announced Italy's support for a balanced, socially-conscious approach to climate policy and promoted a trilateral biofuels initiative with Brazil and Japan. - **Main announcement/action:** Italy, represented by **Antonio Tajani**, promoted an initiative with **Brazil and Japan** to **quadruple production of sustainable biofuels by 2035**, while urging a **balanced approach** that includes **social considerations**; Tajani referenced the recent agreement reached by **EU Environment Ministers in Brussels**. - **Background and details:** Italy stated that **renewables now cover 50% of its electricity production** and highlighted the **Fondo per il Clima (over €4 billion)** which Italy is directing **toward projects in Africa**; Tajani spoke days before **COP30** and recalled the **10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement** and Italy's cultural reference to **800 years since St. Francis' birth**.

The Environment Agency has issued an environmental permit for Vivergo Fuels Limited's Saltend Bioethanol Plant under the Industrial Emissions Directive. - **Permit issued:** Environmental permit **EPR/WP3633KH/V007** granted to **Vivergo Fuels Limited** for the **Saltend Bioethanol Plant** under the **Industrial Emissions Directive**. Documents published include a **Variation Notice** (PDF, 482 KB, 40 pages; dated 29/10/2025) and a **Decision Document** (PDF, 149 KB, 8 pages; dated 29/10/2025). Page published **6 November 2025**. Contact for accessible formats and enquiries: **enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk**. - **Background and details:** Applies to **England**; operator name recorded as **Vivergo Fuels Limited** and installation name as **Saltend Bioethanol Plant**. Documents available on GOV.UK; the page provides instructions to request accessible formats and repeats the enquiries email for assistive-technology users.

Bioenergy Europe held the European Bioenergy Future 2025 (EBF 2025) conference in Brussels on 5–6 November 2025. - **Main announcement/action:** Bioenergy Europe convened **over 100 participants** from EU institutions, industry and research at **Le Louise Hotel, Brussels (5–6 November 2025)** to discuss how **bioenergy can drive Europe’s energy transition**; the event was supported by **Graanul Invest, Drax, and Elimini**. - Date: **5–6 November 2025** - Location: **Le Louise Hotel, Brussels, Belgium** - Agenda/subject: **role of bioenergy in heating, industrial decarbonisation, carbon removals, biodiversity safeguards, and cascading use of biomass** - **Background and details:** Panels and sessions featured policymakers and industry speakers including **MEP Emma Wiesner**, **Nicholas Dottino (Graanul Invest)**, **Christoph Pfemeter (Bioenergy Europe)** and **Jean-Marc Jossart (Bioenergy Europe)**; technical and industry case studies were presented by **BKtech Group, Justsen Energiteknik A/S, ENGIE, KNAUF Iberica, Eurogypsum**, and organisations such as **RISE**, **Bioenergy Association of Finland**, **Austrian Biomass Association**, **Drax Group**, **Uniper**, **CEPI**, **Södra**, and the **German Bioenergy Association**. The event included a special session by **Bioenergy Europe’s Working Group on Sustainability** on biodiversity safeguards and wood energy carbon footprint.

Bioenergy Europe hosted a lunch debate (hosted by MEP Peter Liese) presenting a BEST study showing BECCS potential to deliver large-scale carbon removals by retrofitting existing bioenergy capacity. - **Main announcement:** The event on **5 November 2025** in Brussels (Sofitel Brussels Europe Hotel) presented a BEST study, supported by **Bioenergy Europe**, which finds that capturing carbon from **38% of Europe’s existing medium and large bioenergy installations** could deliver **80 million tonnes of CO₂ removals per year**, sufficient to meet the EU’s **2040 carbon removal target**. Speakers included **Jérémie Geelen (Bioenergy Europe)**, **Erik Rylander (Stockholm Exergi)** and **Michael Schytz (HOFOR)**. - **Background and details:** The debate focused on BECCS as a **mature and scalable solution**, including discussion of scaling **CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure** and the need for the EU **Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Framework (CRCF)** to **support market deployment and investment**. Event context: 5 November 2025, Sofitel Brussels Europe Hotel; agenda: present BEST study findings and discuss implementation challenges ahead of the 2025 European Bioenergy Future Conference.

The authors (Yara Hossam et al.) have published a non-peer-reviewed preprint reviewing underexplored AI paradigms for marine PET management and proposing a forward-looking research agenda. - **Main action:** The review **identifies underrepresented AI paradigms** (reinforcement learning, generative AI, Edge AI, soft robotics, federated learning, explainable AI, decision support systems, and large multimodal models) for **marine PET waste management**, reports bibliometric search results (**237** Web of Science records and **580** Scopus records), and provides dataset pointers (TrashNet, SeaClear, TACO, MARIDA, PoTATO) and implementation pathways for detection, collection, biodegradation, and policy support. - **Background & details:** The article synthesizes existing literature where available (e.g., RL, Edge AI, soft robotics), highlights sparse areas (federated learning, LMMs), and documents concrete technical proposals such as **Edge AI** for on-device detection, **RL** for autonomous collection and policy optimization, **soft robots** for enzyme deployment, and **GenAI/LMMs** for synthetic-data augmentation and domain-specific models. No financial commitments or timelines are reported.

Brazil announced a US$1 billion pledge to the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) as a principal outcome to be presented at COP30. - **Main announcement/action:** Brazil pledged **US$1 billion** to the **Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF)** and presented the TFFF as a key outcome of **COP30**, stating the fund will be **an innovative financing mechanism** that pays investors while generating income for forest-preserving countries; the TFFF is scheduled to be **launched at the Belém Leaders' Summit** (COP30) on the following day. - **Background and other details:** **President Lula** reported a **50% reduction in Amazon deforestation** since the start of his third term and **reiterated a target to end deforestation across all biomes by 2030**; **President Alexander Stubb** said he will review the TFFF (Finland is ~70% forest-covered) and both leaders supported signing the **MERCOSUL–European Union** agreement at the MERCOSUL Summit in **Rio de Janeiro in December**.

The European Commission unveiled the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP), proposing revenue certainty measures including pilot double-sided auctions and potential extension of the SAF allowances mechanism in the EU ETS to unlock investment in low-GHG aviation and marine fuels. - **Main action:** The STIP will **launch pilot projects**, including a **double-sided auction** that creates a **"market intermediary"** to connect SAF suppliers and consumers and offer **long-term contracts to producers** and short-term offtake contracts to consumers; the Commission will **assess feasibility of an EU-wide double auction** to support both aviation and marine fuels, with implementation urged quickly to help meet ReFuelEU and FuelEU Maritime targets by **2030**. - **Background & details:** ICCT highlights that **e-kerosene plants have estimated construction costs of US$1–2 billion**, and the largest operating European plant (Ineratec) produces ~**2,000 tonnes/year (~0.4% of 2030 need)**; market price uncertainty and airlines' reluctance to sign long-term high‑cost offtakes are major barriers, so **revenue certainty mechanisms** (similar to those used for offshore wind) are recommended to secure financing.