Guyana will for a second consecutive year tweak the share of proceeds (SOP) from carbon credits that is allocated to Amerindian communities, keeping absolute financial benefits the same, the vice president announced at an Indigenous national assembly on Tuesday.

The Bezos Earth Fund on Tuesday unveiled the recipients of 24 inaugural Phase I grants under its AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature, awarding a total of $1.2 million to support the development of artificial intelligence solutions targeting some of the world’s most urgent environmental challenges.

Cuts and delays - Climeworks Co-CEO Jan Wurzbacher told Bloomberg Wednesday that the DAC removal company will cut 106 jobs or 22% of staff. The Swiss firm, which operates the “Mammoth” carbon removal facility in Iceland, said last week that it may delay its Louisiana plant, citing US President Donald Trump’s rollback of climate incentives. A $50-mln US grant for the project remains active, but future phases now face uncertainty.

End of an era - Alberta-based Hempalta has completed the closure and decommissioning of its Calgary hemp processing facility as part of a strategic shift to focus solely on its growing carbon credit business, the company announced Tuesday. The wind-down triggered a technical default notice from Farm Credit Canada (FCC) due to the cessation of operations, though no monetary default has occurred. In response, Hempalta’s subsidiary has signed a binding agreement to sell its hemp and biochar processing equipment for USD $1.15 mln. A 50% deposit has been received, with closing subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Proceeds from the sale will be used to resolve the FCC default and reduce corporate liabilities. Meanwhile, Hempalta reported strong progress in its carbon credit operations. Around 29,000 tonnes of CO2 removals from the 2024 crop year are undergoing final verification, expected to bring total verified credits to more than 44,000 tonnes. The company plans to provide 2025 projections in its second-quarter results due at the end of May. Hempalta in March announced that it was refocusing its business towards carbon credits, as its Q1 2025 financial results showed a significant drop in revenue.

Biomass backed - The Government of Ontario announced it is investing C$11.3 mln ($8.2 mln) in five projects through its Forest Biomass Program to support the forest sector in northeastern Ontario. The funding aims to help recipients modernise operations and explore new uses for wood byproducts. Hornepayne Power expects to increase regional energy production and explore on-site green hydrogen generation, while GreenFirst Forest Products plans to upgrade its biomass cogeneration plant and research alternative fuels. Circular Carbon Canada is studying the feasibility of biochar production at sawmills, and Wikwemikong Development Commission aims to advance a pellet and biocoal facility.

Benchmarks on board - General Index (GX), a UK-based commodities benchmark provider, and ATOBA Energy, a global sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) aggregator, announced a partnership to develop technology-specific SAF price benchmarks. The collaboration aims to address the aviation sector’s need for tailored pricing tools to support investment and long-term offtake agreements, the partners said.

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has released its first report from the Continuous Improvement Work Programme (CIWP) focused on permanence, which welcomed the strong foundation of approaches to have been implemented across the market to date, but recognised that many of these have not been standardised.

Microsoft has signed the “world’s largest" biochar carbon removals deal with a South American project developer, agreeing to buy 1.24 million credits over the next decade.

Direct air capture (DAC) is “a necessary tool in the climate toolbox”, an Amsterdam-based developer said in a statement this week, reaffirming its focus on solid sorbent systems, integration with industrial waste heat, and curtailed renewables.

The EU’s Green Claims Directive is key to shaping demand for EU-certified carbon farming credits, experts said repeatedly during a public workshop organised by the European Commission on Tuesday.

Birds eye view - Climate market intelligence provider cCarbon has launched the Carbon Removals and Offsets Monitor (CROM), a new open access platform aiming to improve transparency around carbon removals. The beta version of CROM offers a thorough view of removals and offset activity for free, by aggregating and analysing data from sources like registries and public announcements. It tracks purchases and key trends across both engineered and nature-based solutions, and is designed for market stakeholders including investors and developers. It offers granular insight on buyers, suppliers, project types, and volume, the release states.

More data please - ClimeFi has begun a new data partnership with Crystaltrade, which is a product powered by Crystalchain, a dMRV platform for carbon removals. The partnership will enable ClimeFi to gain access to insights into CrystalTrade’s dMRV data to help inform its project ratings and risk management models. The ratings and risk management provider intends to further grow its network of data providers in future, the release said.

Verra’s new methodology for crediting avoided deforestation REDD+ projects will slash issuance levels and create a minimum floor price of $15/tonne, but the current value of units is still too low to incentivise many project developers to take the risk, according to new analysis.

An Australian environmental markets administrator on Thursday launched a new biodiversity market aimed at protecting and restoring landscapes in Queensland’s Wet Tropics region that are home to the cassowary.

A popular Kenyan mobile money system is being applied to the voluntary carbon market (VCM), lowering costs for micro-scale projects and funnelling revenues to local communities, as per a presentation at the Kenya Carbon Markets Conference in Nairobi on Tuesday.

A Tokyo-headquartered software company has launched a carbon accounting service that uses AI to help calculate clients' GHG emissions, it announced Wednesday.

An electric bicycles mitigation activity, forming part of a wider Article 6 carbon trade agreement, has been fully authorised by Switzerland and Ghana, confirming Carbon Pulse reporting from earlier in May.

Uncovered - An investigation by Mongabay has revealed that the Republic of Congo has granted nearly 80 gold mining and exploration permits in areas covered by projects under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) framework, driving deforestation and negatively impacting local communities. Mongabay Africa staff writer Elodie Toto interviewed a local resident who reported now having to walk 20 km to find food and water due to the devastation caused. Toto said that a REDD+ project developer seemed aware of the situation and appeared to justify the mining, saying "we can’t just save our forest and expect some [money] from it; we are a developing country, and to develop a country, one needs money". The country has been protecting about half of its lush rainforests via the REDD+ framework.

Replacing Verra – Estonia-based climate tech startup Carbontribe Labs has received certification from verification body Earthood for its methodologies on afforestation, mangroves, and regenerative agriculture, making it the first company globally to achieve that for a fully digital environmental value asset generation framework, it said in a statement Wednesday. More than 90% of the credits generated using these methodologies, to be called “Verified Impact Assets”, will be automated by AI and can be used by companies to meet their Scope 3 emissions. The company said it has already conducted demonstration projects in Japan and overseas and aims to establish an “international standard for the post-Verra era”.

Doing it right - Japanese developer Green Carbon has signed an MoU with Vietnam National University and Hanoi Business School to conduct research on improving rice quality through the introduction of alternate wetting and drying (AWD) methodology for rice cultivation. Other than the known effects of AWD such as GHG emissions reductions and yield improvement, the partnership will aim to scientifically clarify how AWD affects the quality of rice. To start with, the partners will target fields in Nghe An province, where Green Carbon has already introduced AWD. In the past year, the developer has signed agreement with 22 provinces in Vietnam for methane reduction projects from rice cultivation.

Always a first – Japanese developer ByWill has signed an agreement with Toho Bank and Miharu Town in Fukushima prefecture for the creation and distribution of J-Credits, it announced Wednesday. The partners will start by generating credits through the introduction of LED and solar power generation equipment. ByWill aims to achieve carbon neutrality in all 47 prefectures of Japan, and this is the first time it signs an agreement with a local government in Fukushima Prefecture, it added.

BlueGrace Bolivia - The Bluegrace Amazon Carbon Token (BGACT) backs 1 tonne of carbon captured across 20.5 mln acres of protected Amazon rainforest and offers an institutional-grade financial instrument in line with the UK vision for trusted voluntary carbon markets, Fox59 reports. The BGACT is the world's first ISIN-certified, blockchain-tokenized voluntary carbon credit, and aligns with standards including MiCA (EU), CFTC (US), and VARA (Dubai) compliance. BlueGrace Energy Bolivia developed BGACT, offering a blueprint for the trustworthy and compliance-backed carbon market the UK envisions. BGACT's structure claims to deliver auditable carbon sequestration, ESG-compliant asset credentials, and compatibility with ESG-linked loans and sustainable portfolios.

Debate over the use of carbon credits has erupted in Australia once more, in the wake of EnergyAustralia's recent legal settlement with an NGO and the ensuing reaction by the industry and activists.

Last year saw a record surge in global forest loss, with fires overtaking agriculture as the main driver of tropical primary forest destruction, being responsible for nearly 50% of the total loss, according to a study published Wednesday.