This week in ESG news: Sustainability software provider osapiens raises $100 million at “unicorn” $1 billion valuation; investors say simplified EU CSRD sustainability reporting standards will reduce quality of information; Microsoft starts off year with series of major carbon removal deals; court rulings allow work to resume on building clean energy projects after Trump orders halt; L’Oreal’s €100 million sustainability solutions fund backs 13 startups; CDP sees major jump in companies awarded top sustainability reporting scores; bp Chief Sustainability Officer exits for new sustainability role at Rolls-Royce; Diginex acquires carbon accounting platform Plan A for $64 million, and more.

See below for the highlights of the past week, and get all your ESG news at ESG Today:

Sustainability Goals, Initiatives and Achievements

Google Buys 1.2 GW of Carbon-free Energy to Power Data Centers Across U.S.

U.S. Court Allows Equinor to go Back to Work Building $5 Billion Offshore Wind Project Halted by Trump

Microsoft Kicks Off 2026 With Flurry of Large-Scale Carbon Removal Purchase Deals

Salesforce Signs Deals to Purchase Carbon Removal from 19 Early-Stage Suppliers

Microsoft Signs Deal for 2 Million Tons of Carbon Removal from Uganda-Based Forestry Project

Bain Signs its First DAC-Based Carbon Removal Purchase Deal with Oxy’s 1PointFive

Microsoft Pledges New Datacenters Won’t Increase Electricity Prices or Impact Water Supply

U.S. Court Allows Ørsted, GIP’s $5 Billion Offshore Wind Project to Restart After Halt Ordered by Trump Administration

Green Steel Startup Stegra Signs Multi-Year Supply Deal with thyssenkrupp

Meta Unveils Series of Major Nuclear Energy Deals to Power U.S. Data Centers, Support Clean Energy Goals

Government & Regulators

ESMA Guides Investment Firms on Expectations to Avoid Greenwashing in ESG Strategies

Guest Post: CBAM Goes Live, and the Impacts Won’t Stop at Europe’s Borders

EU Financial Regulators Release Guidelines for Integrating ESG Risks Into Stress Tests

UK Completes Largest-Ever Offshore Wind Auction in Europe

Sustainability Reporting

Most Investors Concerned Simplified EU Sustainability Reporting Standards will Reduce Information Quality: EFRAG Study

CDP Reports 70% Jump in Companies Awarded Top Sustainability Reporting Scores

ESG Services and Tools

Sustainability Software Provider osapiens Raises $100 Million Led by BlackRock, Temasek Decarbonization Fund

Diginex Acquires Carbon Accounting Platform Plan A for $64 Million

Sustainable Finance

Canaccord Acquires Energy Transition-Focused Investment Bank CRC-IB

U.S. Clean Energy Platform Aspen Power Raises $200 Million from Deutsche Bank

Sustainable Investing

ALTÉRRA, BBVA to Launch New $1.2 Billion Climate Fund

Guest Post: Defying the Headwinds, Investors Intensified their Focus on Deforestation in 2025

Private Equity & Venture Capital

L’Oreal Backs 13 Climate, Nature and Circularity Solutions Startups

Impact Investor Blue Earth Capital Raises $100 Million to Launch New Secondaries Strategy

Biodiversity Solutions VC Investor Superorganism Raises $26 Million for Debut Fund

Aether Fuels Raises $15 Million to Build New SAF Plant in Singapore

Exec Moves

Rolls-Royce Appoints Former bp CSO Ivanka Mamic as New Chief Sustainability Officer

Ørsted Appoints Anders Johannes Enghild as Head of Global Sustainability