California on Wednesday released an updated draft of its cap-and-trade regulations that for the first time includes language that would link its carbon market to a similar scheme in the Canadian province of Quebec.

The draft language called for the mutual acceptance of compliance instruments like allowances and offset credits between the two jurisdictions.

It also called for a common allowance registry and auction, and included provisions for tracking allowances which are designed to enhance market security.

Europe's economic slump is allowing utilities in some countries to burn increasing amounts of cheap, highly polluting coal for electricity generation and still meet legally binding targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions, Reuters research shows.

The EU's carbon scheme, its main tool to fight global warming, caps CO2 emissions on around 12,000 industrial and power plants in 30 countries and requires them to purchase permits to exceed those caps.

New Delhi: Acting tough on the unilateral carbon tax proposed by the European Union for airlines operating to and from the region, India has barred its airlines from submitting any emission data to EU. Without the data, EU will not be able to levy the controversial tax on Indian carriers that would have meant extra fare of $50-250 per passenger. Airlines using EU airports were supposed to comply with these new rules from this January.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is making little headway on market-based measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions from international shipping, putting it on a policy collision course with the European Union, observers said.

A committee of the 170-member United Nations shipping body was unable to make "tangible progress" after a week of talks that ended late on Friday, a delegate told Reuters.

Global airlines called on Sunday for a U.N.-brokered deal to prevent a row over aviation emissions between China and the European Union spilling into a damaging trade war.

The call by the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) comes amid signs that the EU may be willing to soften a unilateral stance that also risks souring efforts to resolve Europe's sovereign debt crisis with Chinese support.

British Airways, Qantas and other airlines are calling on governments to find a swift resolution to a political dispute over the European Union's carbon scheme, because the deadlock may create competitive distortions.

Since the start of 2012, EU law obliges all airlines using EU airports to be included in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the 27-nation bloc's main policy to fight global warming as it caps emissions on over 11,000 power and industrial plants.

Report Also Breaches Firewall Between Rich & Poor. A high-profile panel of the United Nation Secretary General (UNSG) on Global Sustainability has recommended that the world adopt sustainable development targets. The move has been opposed by India and several other developing countries as creating a backdoor for caps on emissions and green targets, while breaching the firewall between developing and rich countries that is enshrined in the Rio declaration and the United Nation convention on climate change.