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pilot project that sought to demonstrate that carbon dioxide emissions could be locked up by turning them into rock appears to be a success. Tests at the CarbFix project in Iceland indicate that most of the CO2 injected into basalt turned into carbonate minerals in less than two years, far shorter a time than the hundreds or thousands of years that scientists had once thought such a process would take. Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/iceland-carbon-capture-project-quickly-converts-carbon-dioxide-stone-180959365/#GpYzrDcLOjF1tUZx.99 Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Carbon Brief analysis shows the UK's CO2 emissions fell by 5.8% in 2016, after a record 52% drop in coal use.

Carbon emissions in the UK are down to 420 million tons annually, or about what the country emitted more than 120 years ago, according to a report from Carbon Brief. A 52% decrease in coal consumption during 2016 fueled an overall decline in carbon emissions of 5.8% for the year.

Unsustainable agricultural methods have caused the planet's soil to release up to 70% of its carbon into the atmosphere -- and scientists say that restoring soil conditions might help to reabsorb that carbon and slow climate change. "If we treat soil carbon as a renewable resource, we can change the dynamics," says carbon-cycle expert Thomas Goreau

The briefing is a very clear explanation of the fundamental difference in terms of climate change between the carbon stored in fossil fuels and the carbon stored in trees. REDD as a carbon trading mechanism assumes that a ton of carbon not released from forests is the same in terms of the climate as ton of carbon emitted by burning fossil fuels. As Greenpeace explains, this assumption is wrong.

India-based Carbon Clean Solutions has developed a technique to turn harmful carbon dioxide emissions into sodium carbonate. Several other companies want to acquire the technology and use the soda ash that's produced to manufacture baking soda, glass, detergents and sweeteners.

Costa Rica's left-wing opposition looks set to win next month's national elections, and party leaders say one of their first moves would be to cancel the country's pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2021. That goal, which is markedly more ambitious than any other country's carbon-reduction target, is no longer attainable, officials say. "We don't think it would be possible to reach carbon neutrality by 2021, because the most important tasks to reduce emissions in the country are yet to be done," said opposition environmental adviser Patricia Madrigal.

Southern Co.'s coal plants are among the biggest carbon emitters in the U.S., but the company is about to build a new carbon-capture plant that could play a vital role in slowing climate change. The Mississippi plant, along with another in Canada, will capture carbon emissions and pump them into depleted oil reservoirs

Microsoft's internal carbon pricing has helped the company recoup $10 million a year in energy savings and has reduced companywide emissions by the equivalent of 7.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. "Microsoft has been a pioneer in facing the facts, which are that climate change is happening and is going to mean a certain amount of change in the economy," said Paula DiPerna, a special adviser to the Carbon Disclosure Project. "Companies need to know what the hidden costs are."

Worldwide levels of carbon dioxide - the gas scientists say is most responsible for global warming - reached a significant milestone for the month of March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday. The global monthly average for carbon dioxide hit 400.83 parts per million in March, the first time the average surpassed 400 ppm for an entire month since such measurements began in the late 1950s, NOAA said.

Global carbon dioxide levels averaged 400.83 parts per million in March, marking the first time that atmospheric carbon has remained above the 400 ppm threshold for an entire month, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It's both disturbing and daunting," said NOAA chief greenhouse gas scientist Pieter Tans. 

Companies including Campbell Soup, Colgate-Palmolive and Owens Corning use internal pricing mechanisms to keep tabs on, and hopefully reduce, their carbon emissions. That's a sign that business leaders are preparing for regulatory measures aimed at curbing carbon emissions, says Lance Pierce, president of nonprofit CDP North America. "The world's biggest companies anticipate a future in which their carbon emissions carry a price," he said. 

The UK brewing industry has met its 2020 carbon target - to reduce carbon emissions by 67 percent compared to 1990 levels - eight years early and is on track to achieve its 2020 target for improved water efficiency, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) says.

The UK brewing industry has met its 2020 carbon target - to reduce carbon emissions by 67 percent compared to 1990 levels - eight years early and is on track to achieve its 2020 target for improved water efficiency, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) says.

Kudzu, the invasive plant spreading across the southern U.S. at a rate of more than 120,000 acres a year, is drawing huge amounts of carbon out of the soil as it grows, researchers say. Kudzu-infested forests give up as much as a third of their soil-sequestered carbon, totaling up to 4.8 million tons of carbon a year

Climate negotiators in Paris are warming to the idea of "carbon farming," or sequestering carbon in soil. That's a critical adjunct to curbing emissions, since it allows the active removal of existing atmospheric carbon, experts say. "This is a game changer," said Andre Leu, president of IFOAM -- Organics International

Lawmakers in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont aim to introduce carbon pricing legislation, including carbon taxes and market-based carbon cap-and-trade measures,

The story that should dominate every end of year round up from every media outlet on the planet came last month in the form of two reports released at the U.N. climate summit in Bonn. The first confirmed atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years and possibly 3 million to 5 million years. As Emily Shuckburgh of the British Antarctic Survey said, the last time concentrations of greenhouse gas were as high as they are, sea levels were around 10 meters higher. Up to two meters of sea level rise this century is now entirely plausible. However, the second report was the real kicker. The Global Carbon Project predicted carbon emissions will rise this year after four years when flat emissions fuelled hopes global economic growth and carbon emissions had been decoupled

A new technology called bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS, could potentially eliminate the equivalent of China's total carbon emissions from the planet's atmosphere, dramatically slowing the rate of climate change, according to a draft U.N. report. The system, which involves capturing and burying carbon emissions from burning biomass, has not yet been tested at scale but is increasingly seen as "an essential component" of any effort to tackle climate change, the report notes.

Could the health and environmental benefits of taxes on sugary drinks and carbon-intensive foods outweigh the out-of-pocket costs? New research from Oxford University and the University of Reading suggests that is indeed the case. A study found that a combination of a sugar tax on soft drinks and a food-based carbon tax in the United Kingdom could raise £3.6 billion in revenue, reduce carbon emissions by 19 million tonnes, and increase life expectancy.

"Tropical forests used to absorb carbon. Now they emit as much as all US transit" - a standout headline as a new study published by Science magazine caused a bit of a media stir. Once considered an all important carbon sink, the study is suggesting that tropical forests have reached a significant turning point.

Satellite readings show that atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide are continuing to increase despite global efforts to reduce emissions. Methane concentrations were somewhat constant until 2007, but since then have increased at about 0.3% per year, whereas global carbon dioxide levels continue to rise at about 0.5% per year. The world's atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide levels continue to climb despite endeavors to rein in global emissions, new research shows. Carbon levels have risen by 0.5% per year since 2007, and methane levels are rising at about 0.3% per year.

Trudeau (Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will implement nationwide carbon emissions pricing in 2018. According to Trudeau's plan, provinces will be charged CA$10 per metric ton of carbon emissions produced, which will increase to CA$50 per metric ton during 2023.