Global Climate News

The World Bank issued a NOK 5 billion sustainable development bond to raise awareness for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The bond, managed by Nordea, drew strong investor interest, highlighting growing investor focus on biodiversity. The World Bank also emphasized the need to integrate nature into economic models and decision-making, noting that over half of the world’s GDP depends on nature’s services. An estimated $700 billion in extra funding is needed annually to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

India invited around 10,000 special guests to witness the 76th Republic Day Parade. The guests included representatives from various government schemes focusing on renewable energy (PM Surya Ghar Yojna, PM KUSUM), agriculture (Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, Rashtriya Gokul Mission), and rural development (PM-VISHWAKARMA yojana, OM Matasya Sampada Yojana). Disaster relief workers, Pani Samiti, Water Warriors, and environmental conservation volunteers were also invited.

The UK government has announced a new farming roadmap focusing on sustainable food production, business diversification, and nature restoration. £5 billion will be invested over two years in sustainable farming methods. The government will also monitor public sector food sourcing to increase purchases of British produce and introduce reforms to improve supply chain fairness and planning regulations for farm businesses. New precision breeding technologies will be introduced to improve crop resilience.

Neste and Bayer signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a winter canola ecosystem in the US, aiming to scale winter canola production for renewable products. Regenerative farming practices will be used to reduce emissions and increase farm productivity. The resulting lower carbon intensity raw material will be used to produce renewable fuels.

German Fraunhofer UMSICHT is showcasing mushroom materials as a bio-based, sustainable building material at the 2025 BAU trade fair. They are exhibiting applications like a 1 x 1.2-meter facade element combining photovoltaics and mushroom material insulation, developed with Fraunhofer ISE. The institute also offers a mycelium pilot plant for material production and prototype construction.

Australian-based Fortescue awarded A$123,000 in its inaugural Innovation Grants to seven Pilbara initiatives focused on environmental sustainability. These include a traditional bush medicine ‘pharmacy’, green power solutions, and a school upgrade project. The grants aim to support projects with positive sustainable impacts on Pilbara communities.

Swedish Landshypotek Bank refinanced its SEK 6 billion green covered bond, which finances sustainable forestry and absorbs CO2 emissions. The bond drew SEK 14.2 billion in investor interest, setting a new greenium record for AAA-issuers at 12 basis points. The underlying forests represent 513,000 hectares and are certified or have green management plans. Investors like Öhman Fonder participated in the bond and a forest visit.

Brazil has implemented a National Policy for the sustainable management, planting, extraction, consumption, commercialization, and transformation of pequi and other Cerrado fruits. This policy prohibits predatory logging of pequi trees, promotes sustainable economic exploitation by traditional communities, and encourages planting seedlings to protect the Cerrado biome and support small farmers.

Studies of 15 dominant tree species in the interior western United States have revealed that seedlings are occupying historically cooler areas than mature trees, indicating regeneration failures in the hottest parts of species’ ranges. Disturbances did not uniformly catalyse climatic range shifts; differences were species- and disturbance-specific. Assisted migration programmes may be needed to help trees adapt.

The IUCN, with support from the European Commission, launched a project in Belgium, Finland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands to identify Environmental Harmful Subsidies (EHS) and improve biodiversity financing. The project aims to assess EHS, develop National Biodiversity Finance Plans, improve data governance, and build capacity, ultimately contributing to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets of reducing harmful incentives by at least $500 billion per year and mobilising $200 billion per year for biodiversity.

Chile has received $5.1 million from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) for reducing 1.03 million tons of carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This is the first payment under Chile’s Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with FCPF, which provides up to $26 million for reducing 5.2 million tons of emissions. The program spans six regions and helps restore ecosystems while supporting communities to build climate resilience. The program also benefits from over $60 million from the Green Climate Fund.

The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, shared images of the Ahmedabad International Flower Show. He highlighted that such shows celebrate nature's beauty and inspire awareness about sustainability, providing a platform for local farmers, gardeners, and enthusiasts.

Taiwan has completed the Wushui Niaozui Tan artificial lake project. The project, costing NT$21.95 billion (approximately US\\$710 million), provides 210,000 tons of surface water daily to Changhua and 40,000 tons to Nantou County, reducing land subsidence and enhancing water supply resilience. The project also includes planting 6,600 trees and providing NT$185 million (approximately US\\$6 million) to subsidize school lunches in Nantou County.

The UK government has repealed the 2031 cut-off date for recording historic rights of way, allowing local authorities more time to record an estimated 40,000 miles of paths. This decision aims to improve public access to green spaces, which has been associated with health benefits valued between £6.2 billion and £8.4 billion in 2020. The government is also progressing the King Charles III England Coast Path and other initiatives to improve access to nature.

Norwegian research institute Nofima, in collaboration with several partners including Corbion, MOWI, Cargill, Innovafeed, and Auchan, has successfully tested the inclusion of a microalgae-based product (AlgaPrime™ DHA LS) in salmon feed. The research, funded by The Research Council of Norway, showed that higher levels of the algae product could be added to the feed than initially anticipated, improving the sustainability of salmon farming by replacing fish oil with a more sustainable alternative. The results are positive for Corbion, the supplier of the algae product.

German researchers from Fraunhofer WKI presented an ecological timber building construction at BAU 2025, using high-quality pine wood, recycled wood, and insulation materials from renewable resources and mycelium-based materials. The project aims to promote resource-efficient innovations in construction using recycled materials and closed resource cycles, supporting the transition to climate neutrality in metropolitan regions.

Japan-based Green Carbon and Thailand’s Rubber Authority (RAOT) have partnered to create a biochar project using rubber tree waste. This is the largest-scale carbon credit initiative involving rubber trees globally, utilizing waste from approximately 4 million hectares of rubber plantations. The project aims to transform rubber tree waste into biochar for carbon credit creation, aligning environmental sustainability with industry practices.

A study has classified global ecoregions into dependent, resilient and vulnerable categories to analyze the impact of tropical cyclone pattern changes on coastal ecosystems. The study found that 9.4% of terrestrial ecosystems are susceptible to transformation due to cyclone pattern changes between 1980-2017 and 2015-2050 under climate scenario SSP5-8.5. Even resilient ecosystems may experience a decrease in the average interval between storms, potentially affecting their recovery time.

\"India submitted its 4th Biennial Update Report (BUR-4) to the UNFCCC on December 30, 2024. The report highlights that India's GHG emissions decreased by 7.93% in 2020 compared to 2019, and that India's forest and tree cover sequestered approximately 522 million tonnes of CO2 in 2020. Between 2005 and 2020, India's emission intensity of GDP reduced by 36%, and by October 2024, non-fossil sources comprised 46.52% of installed electricity generation capacity.\"

Canadian agri-tech company Hempalta acquired full ownership of the Hemp Carbon Standard (HCS) for $63,544 (CAD90,000). HCS, a digital carbon platform, certifies carbon capture through regenerative agriculture and other methods, sequestering 15,325 tonnes of CO2 in 2023 and aiming for 50,000 tonnes in 2024. The acquisition enhances Hempalta’s capacity to deliver carbon credits derived from industrial hemp farming and scale its sustainability programs globally.