Every $1 spent by companies on addressing physical climate risks could deliver a return of up to $21, with an average benefit of $8, analysis from a global environmental impact organisation shows. 

An India-based startup developing algae-powered carbon capture technology has secured pre-seed investment to support the scaling of its nature-based emissions removal systems aimed at improving urban air quality.

India’s national compliance carbon market under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) is estimated to become the third largest in the world after China and the EU, but complexity in design, lack of regulatory clarity, and a dearth of accredited verifiers may hamper early implementation and undermine price discovery, according to experts.

India’s voluntary carbon market is being constrained by prolonged registration timelines and limited sectoral focus, and this is undermining its growth potential and credibility, according to a report released this week.

One of Japan's largest oil refiners is backing an emissions reduction project under Tokyo-led Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) that can cut emissions from rice cultivation.

Let's do more - The Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is urging the private sector to invest in large-scale reforestation efforts, as a "strategic path" towards earning carbon credits and building climate resilience. DENR Secretary Raphael PM Lotilla stressed that forests are not just environmental assets, citing the potential for carbon credits in sustainable forest management areas. The appeal was made during the signing of an MoU between the DENR and the Ayala Group under the regulators' Forests for Life programme, which aims to plant at least five mln indigenous trees across critical watershed areas over the next three years.

Clarity - China's newly revised green finance project catalogue, released last month by the country's financial regulators, offers a more unified green standard for bonds and loans that could help scale up financing for target projects in China, according to a report published this week by Sustainable Fitch. The latest version replaces previously separate classification systems for green bonds and loans, streamlining asset management guidance and reducing project identification costs for issuers and investors, the report said. After the new catalogue takes effect in October this year, all onshore green debt issuers are required to align financed projects with it and report their progress accordingly.  

New partnership - Japanese project developer ByWill, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality in all 47 prefectures of Japan, has concluded a collaboration agreement with the government of Kagoshima Prefecture's Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Bank, and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, it announced Tuesday. Similar to partnerships that ByWill has previously secured, the alliance will work to create and distribute environmental values, such as domestically issued J-Credits.

A carbon removal buyers club has opened a summer call for project applications.

No shocks here – The first phase of the 850-MW Waratah Super Battery has come online, Akaysha Energy announced on LinkedIn on Tuesday. With a capacity of 350 MW, the battery is acting as a shock absorber in the New South Wales grid, in the event of a heatwave or lightning strikes, the firm said. The remaining 500 MW will come online later this year.

A clean cookstoves project in Fiji has received the country’s first carbon credits issued by Verra, with thousands more pending, according to the project developer’s general manager for Asia Pacific.

Laos looks to nuclear – Laos is exploring the prospect of nuclear power with Russia’s Rosatom, signing an agreement to develop a roadmap after a presidential visit to Moscow by Thongloun Sisoulith, Malaysia’s Bernama reported this week, citing Russian and Laotian news. The landlocked country hopes to diversify its power mix from hydropower, coal, biofuel, and waste. Around 80% of its electricity generation is from hydropower, though over half of this is exported to other nearby nations. It follows neighbour Vietnam into exploring nuclear, which shelved plans twice before putting them back on the table recently.

A new report to support developing countries in Asia develop carbon markets has identified nine key issues which need to be resolved in legal frameworks to attract investment and facilitate high-integrity projects. 

FEED for CCS - Japanese gas giant Inpex announced entry into front-end engineering design (FEED) at its Abadi LNG project offshore Indonesia this week. There are four packages within the FEED work, and each one will contain a scope related to carbon capture and storage (CCS), Inpex said. The company has been clear for some time it planned to incorporate CCS into project development given the high CO2 content of the gas reservoir. It has previously mulled developing carbon credits but not offered further details, although it was the first proposed CCS project greenlit for credits within Indonesia in 2023. It said its planned LNG expansion, which will be able to meet 10% of total Japanese demand, at 9.5 mln tonnes.