New materials are poised to gain market share over conventional gas separation membranes for biomethane production and carbon capture applications, according to a global research group.

Last week, the ministries of environment of Peru and Chile announced state-led frameworks to regulate emerging biodiversity credit markets, one official detailed to Carbon Pulse.

Methane madness - Danone has cut methane emissions from its fresh milk supply chain by over 25% since 2020, moving closer to its 2030 target of a 30% reduction, aligned with its Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) commitments under the Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) framework. Milk production accounts for 51% of Danone’s agricultural carbon footprint and over 70% of its methane emissions. To achieve these cuts, Danone has implemented herd, feed, and manure management practices, improved data collection, and supported farmer livelihoods. It is also advancing biogas solutions, recently partnering with Sistema.bio to roll out 6,500 biodigesters by 2030, initially in Mexico, Morocco, and India, targeting smallholder farmers. Danone is among the few major dairy producers to show verifiable progress on methane reduction, according to the Changing Markets Foundation, which found most companies unresponsive or lacking specific targets. Methane must be cut by 40-45% by 2030 globally to meet 1.5C climate goals, according to the UN Environment Programme. (edie)

Two Democratic US senators are proposing a bill that would create a tax credit for biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) projects in order to reduce wildfire risks while driving down emissions.

Experts have issued a stark warning about the proliferation of unsustainable "zombie" biochar companies, highlighting critical challenges facing the emerging carbon removals technology.

Carbon removal credit offtakers must think before they buy to avoid leaving startup founders stuck "between a rock and hard place", while those on the supply side must also be careful before committing to long-term sales agreements, according to a senior member of a carbon removal venture capital firm.

Afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) activities need to achieve carbon credit sales at a price nearly 10 times higher than the current market value to scale and make a worthy return on financing, an investor told an industry event Tuesday.

The European Commission on Tuesday published draft rules to promote harmonised third-party verification under the bloc's Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) regulation – ensuring EU-sanctioned CO2 sequestration certificates meet high quality standards.

Buyers should build a strong defence against any potentially negative brand impact of investing in poor-quality carbon projects by using risk mitigation tools such as due diligence, using qualified intermediaries, and ratings agencies, experts said on a webinar Tuesday.

Large carbon removal (CDR) transactions are being made behind the scenes despite a more challenging narrative around corporate climate action, but capital must continue to flow into the sector to avoid a supply-side collapse over the next few years, an industry conference heard Tuesday.

The Nordic countries of Europe have launched a carbon removal association, which combines policymakers and industry in a bid to scale the demand side of the market.

US carbon capture permitting slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2025, even as regulatory developments continued to advance throughout the country, according to a recent report from a Canada-based energy sector research firm.

The French Development Agency (AFD) and state-owned Banco do Brasil (BB) have signed a Letter of Intent to raise €250 million for sustainable projects focused on bioeconomy, recovery of degraded areas, low-carbon agriculture, reforestation, and biofuels.

The first credits from an activity transitioning to the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) are expected to be issued towards the end of this year, a UNFCCC official said Tuesday.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) should be formally recognised as a compliance option under the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), with environmental safeguards to avoid increasing the pressure on Europe’s forest carbon sink, a Brussels-based think tank recommends.

Nature credits should be integrated into the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and into member states' national environmental strategies, according to draft recommendations prepared by the European Committee of the Regions.

Biochar first credits - CapChar, a UK-based biochar standard and developer, has issued and retired the first 8.6 tonnes of CO2 removals as part of a 50-tonne forward agreement between architectural firm Bennetts Associates and project developer Restord that was concluded at £200 per credit. In January, CapChar launched its methodology for the quantification of biochar carbon sequestered from UK-based projects. The standard issues biochar carbon units (BCUs) for each tonne of CO2 sequestered.

A US-headquartered carbon credit ratings agency has made its analysis-based platform accessible to the public, including sharing access to its GHG Integrity and SDG impact ratings.

A London-headquartered fintech company announced Tuesday it will commit £500,000 to support nature-based (NbS) and hybrid carbon removal (CDR) solutions in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.

A new dynamic scorecard was launched Tuesday to enable do-it-yourself carbon credit risk assessment.

Mounting costs, technical challenges, and growing scrutiny are fuelling doubts over whether direct air capture (DAC) can deliver on its carbon removal promise, raising concerns that policymakers may be placing too much faith in a technology still in its infancy.

Battery breakthrough - A new fuel cell could enable electric aviation, claim researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A laboratory breakthrough in  lithium-air or sodium-air batteries could pack three times as much energy per pound as today’s best EV batteries, offering a lightweight option for powering trucks, planes, or ships, the researchers claim. Instead of a closed battery which releases stored energy, the new concept is a kind of fuel cell, which can be quickly refuelled with liquid sodium metal rather than recharged. The other side of the cell is just ordinary air, which serves as a source of oxygen atoms. In between, a layer of solid ceramic material serves as the electrolyte, allowing sodium ions to pass freely through, and a porous air-facing electrode helps the sodium to chemically react with oxygen and produce electricity. Tests using an air stream with a controlled humidity level produced more than 1,500 watt-hours per kilogram at the level of an individual “stack,” which would translate to over 1,000 watt-hours at the full system level, according to the researchers. “The threshold that you really need for realistic electric aviation is about 1,000 watt-hours per kilogram,” said professor of materials science and engineering Yet-Ming Chiang, one of the authors of the paper. “Today’s electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries top out at about 300 watt-hours per kilogram — nowhere near what’s needed.” Getting to 1,000 watts per kilogram would be an enabling technology for regional electric aviation, although not long haul, Chiang added. The technology could be an enabler for other sectors as well, including marine and rail transportation. “They all require very high energy density, and they all require low cost,” he says. “And that’s what attracted us to sodium metal.” The new fuel cell could even be carbon negative, the researchers claim as sodium oxide emissions would soak up carbon from the atmosphere.

Trusted data - Sustainable certification company Atmen has raised a €5 million seed funding round, led by Project A, with participation from existing investors Revent and Vireo Ventures, alongside angel investors including former TÜV SUD CEO Axel Stepken, bringing its total funding to to €6.3 mln, stated the release on Tuesday. Atmen's technology is layered on top of industrial supply chains, to document and certify product characteristics. The solution enables effective climate action in industry through trusted data and is already in use across industrial sites in nine countries, the release said. The funding round will allow Atmen to expand beyond hydrogen, renewable, and low-carbon fuels to certify a wider range of energy-intensive goods, including steel, chemicals, and fertilisers.

The Indian government is planning to update its shipping rules in order to align with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) zero emissions regulations in an effort to decarbonise the industry, according to local media reports.

The CCS+ initiative has built a modular approach to CO2 accounting for carbon capture and storage projects, which backers hope will help standardise the voluntary market thanks to a free-to-use, open source methodology developed by Verra.

Following its latest meeting, the Article 6.4 Methodological Expert Panel (MEP) has begun more intense work on how crediting carbon removals will be carried out under the new UN mechanism.

Benin is in talks with a number of countries about bilateral Article 6 deals, following its first with Norway last year, as the West African country seeks to lure in carbon market developers and drive economic growth, a government official told Carbon Pulse. 

Sweet credits soon - Kenyan climate tech company Tera, which converts byproducts from sugarcane production into biochar, has become the first African developer to be independently validated and listed on the Riverse registry, it announced Tuesday. Tera combines digital MRV with nature-based solutions to remove carbon, restore soil, increase yields and farm productivity, and boost rural economies. With third-party validation now secured, it is issuing high-integrity carbon credits, the company said in an email. By 2030, Tera aims to produce 450,000 tonnes of biochar, permanently sequester 1 MtCO2e, and restore 900,000 ha of degraded farmlands.

More cookstove credits could qualify for the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) quality seal after the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) on Tuesday approved earlier versions of a Gold Standard methodology – but only under additional conditions.