Carbon markets can both harm and empower Indigenous communities, with extra care that should be taken to ensure benefits among host proponents, panellists said during a discussion that highlighted the risks of exclusionary rulemaking and the need for direct financing.

Global commitments to reach net zero emissions are rising among companies, regions, and cities, even as the US federal government stepped back from its own climate pledges, according to analysis released Tuesday during New York Climate Week.

Ten years after the Paris Agreement, all its components are now in place and the focus for COP30 must be to “roll up sleeves and get the job done”, UN Climate Change Secretary Simon Stiell said at the opening of Climate Week NYC in New York on Monday.

China’s forestry carbon sinks grew by nearly 8 billion tonnes between 2003 and 2022, but with sharp regional disparities in efficiency and shifting hotspots, according to new research that calls for refined policies and market mechanisms to underpin the country’s carbon neutrality pledge.

The cost of a majority of durable carbon removals could fall below $100 per tonne within 10 years, an expert from a global consultancy told an event Monday, given the focused nature of technological development across the different strands of the supply side.

US carbon removal (CDR) buyers are still procuring credits in large volumes, but details of the offtakes are being kept behind closed doors amid a more difficult climate investment environment in the country, market participants said at an event held during Climate Week NYC on Monday.

Remove the removals - An open letter to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), led by NGO CLARA and members of civil society, has urged removals to be excluded from the proposed Corporate Net Zero Standard v2.0. They argue that requiring near-term corporate purchases of carbon removal credits undermines science, equity, and climate urgency. The letter stresses that unproven technologies like BECCS and DAC risk delaying real emission cuts, diverting funds, and entrenching inequities. Instead, companies should prioritise deep, immediate emission reductions and finance beyond-value-chain mitigation as contributions, not offsets. The Standard is currently in the process of being revised and will come into force in 2026.

An overreliance on voluntary demand in the carbon markets, as well as unresolved systemic risks, could undermine the sector’s overall growth prospects, according to panellists speaking Monday.

Environmental groups are calling on the EU to expand the scope of its carbon market to include flights outside the bloc, in a week when the aviation industry is instead looking to the UN's ICAO, opening a two-week summit on Tuesday, to help speed up the issuance of international offsetting credits eligible for its CORSIA scheme.

Nearby CORSIA futures started to reflect a market moving from expectations to actual demand last week, with the price not only hitting a record high but also seeing volatility.

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) could cut costs, boost transparency, and help rebuild confidence in voluntary carbon markets, while improving efficiency in compliance schemes, but scaling it will hinge on solving governance and regulatory barriers, a new academic paper argues.

Compliance carbon pricing mechanisms will be the "large-scale industrial kitchens" of carbon removal demand in the long term, but voluntary markets remain essential to moving the sector forward in the near term, said the CEO of a registry and standard on Monday.

A group of leaders from developed and developing countries have pledged to step up their efforts to meet voluntary collective goals, including to triple renewables and double energy efficiency by 2030, in an effort to foster economic growth while protecting the planet.

Bangladesh-Japan credits - The Bangladesh-Japan Joint Crediting Mechanism panel has last week issued a no-objection ruling for a methane reduction project focused on sustainable rice cultivation, developed by a local non-profit. The initiative, which applies efficient water management practices, marks a step toward generating carbon credits under the bilateral scheme.

Xpanding into Korea - Carbon market infrastructure provider, Xpansiv, has signed an MoU with NH Investment & Securities (NHIS), one of Korea’s financial institutions, to explore a potential business collaboration aimed at expanding access to carbon and renewable energy certificate (REC) markets in Korea and internationally. The MoU envisions NHIS becoming a participant on Xpansiv’s CBL spot exchange and leveraging the Xpansiv Connect portfolio management system to support client trading activity in the global environmental commodity markets. “This is another significant step forward to support Korea’s environmental commodities markets through innovation and collaboration,” said John Melby, CEO of Xpansiv. “We believe NHIS’s position as a trusted corporate advisor will facilitate market adoption by companies as part of their comprehensive net-zero and emission-reduction programme.”

Governments worldwide should take urgent measures to conserve the Amazon, Congo, and Southeast Asia rainforest basins, as failing to do so could jeopardise over half of the world's food production and up to 8% of global GDP, according to a new report.

Global demand for oil and gas is set to peak within the next five years as electric vehicles and renewable energy rapidly scale up and outcompete fossil fuels on cost, a report released Monday has found.

Less gas, more milk - India-based Banas Dairy, which is a large dairy cooperative with several popular brands, has launched a methane reduction programme covering its 3 mln cattle, aiming to cut emissions by up to 30% a year, Business Standard reported. The project is developed with climate-tech firm eVerse.AI, and is one of the world’s largest livestock methane initiatives. It will deploy plant-based feed additives and digital MRV tools to both reduce enteric fermentation and boost milk yields. eVerse.AI is already running a similar Verra-registered project with Maharashtra covering 20 mln  animals.

Progress so far - The Pacific island of Palau has submitted its initial report under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, detailing its involvement in the Japan-led Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM). The A6IP Center said it supported Palau in drafting the report and provided explanations to strengthen understanding of the reporting requirements, laying the foundation for future submissions covering additional cooperative approaches. Palau and Japan have been working on JCM projects since 2014.

A global investment firm with over a trillion dollars in assets said Monday it will partner with a Malaysian clean energy company to build more than 1.5 GW of solar and battery storage projects.

Chemical cuts - German chemical-maker BASF has managed to cut greenhouse gas intensity from rice cultivation by 30% without yield loss, it said in a press release Monday. It used alternate wetting and drying methods during field trials in the Philippines in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute. Other practises such as direct seeding and improved straw management also reduced emissions and water use. The trials form part of BASF’s wider goal to cut CO2e emissions in five major crops by 30% by 2030.

Views of the energy transition across Southeast Asia are evolving rapidly with Singapore now no longer seen as being the driver and most advanced by the vast majority of survey respondents, according to a regional energy association.

Dot the i's and cross the DACs - Australian listed CCS hopeful Dotz Nano, which is also listed on the US over the counter market, has filed a new patent application in the US for a new CO2 capture technology. The ‘amine-modified polymer’ is a sorbent technology, a common form of carbon capture, but more effective than historic iterations, Dotz said Monday. Its tech is primarily to be used in the more nascent direct air capture (DAC) space rather than to take CO2 from power station flue gas or strip it out from the wellhead at natural gas fields. The majority of DAC projects, which take CO2 from the air for permanent subsurface storage, are not yet at commercial stage. The world’s largest, owned by an oil company subsidiary, will start sending 500,000 tCO2 per year beneath the ground later in 2025. Dotz claims its kit offers scalability for use in large-scale point-source capture and DAC applications.

Rage - Tens of thousands of Filipinos took to the streets on Sunday to protest against government corruption, the Guardian reported, following allegations that taxpayers have lost billions of dollars due to fraudulent flood relief projects. As much as PHP 1.089 trillion ($19 bln) of the government’s climate-tagged expenditures could have potentially been lost to corruption since 2023, according to Greenpeace's estimate. Corruption and greed are undermining the country's ability to cope with climate change, and millions of Filipinos lose lives, homes and livelihoods due to more frequent and more intense flooding, Greenpeace said.    

SAF use - South Korea's biggest carrier is expanding the use of environmentally friendly aviation fuel on its Japan routes to reduce emissions. A 1% blend of domestically produced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has been introduced on Korean Air flights from Incheon to Kobe and those from Gimpo to Osaka, starting Friday and continuing through Dec. 31, the airline said. South Korea has mandated a minimum blending ratio of 1% SAF in outbound flights from 2027 before gradually increasing the requirement to 3-5% by the end of this decade.  

Not in the same league - China’s dominance in clean tech has left key sectors in the West "uninvestable", according to Bloomberg, which cited comments by venture capitalists. Some of them argued that investments in Western startups spanning battery manufacturing and recycling, electrolysers, solar, and hardware for wind are no longer viable, while some are seeking ways to collaborate with Chinese firms across supply chains. China manufactures roughly 80% of the world’s solar panels, provides around 60% of the world's wind turbines, 70% of electric vehicles, and 75% of batteries, all at a lower economic cost compared to the West, according to data from BloombergNEF.  

Rich countries could raise up to $6.6 trillion each year to finance the global transition away from fossil fuels by implementing fair taxation and polluter-pays measures, according to a report released Monday.

Japan is contemplating giving additional allowances to companies exposed to carbon leakage risk and those actively investing in decarbonisation solutions under the country's emissions trading scheme.

Pumped up, and up - On Monday Queensland’s conservative state government announced A$48 mln ($31 mln) to overhaul a pumped hydro power station to improve its reliability and efficiency. Both 285 MW turbines at the Wivenhoe station will be overhauled within the next two years. Wivenhoe generated 218 GW hours of power in the last quarter of the prior financial year, setting a record, the government said. State-owned CleanCo is also looking at the feasibility of turning a mothballed gold mine into another pumped hydro site, with A$50 mln already invested. The government has also cancelled several clean energy projects developed under the prior Labor government. It will hand down its five-year Energy Roadmap Oct.10.

Governments plan to produce 120% more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent under a 1.5C-aligned pathway, according to research published Monday.

Cautionary coal - New Zealand's Genesis Energy has struck a two-year deal with local mining company BT Mining to supply 240,000 tonnes of coal to the Huntly Power Station. A statement from the government noted the coal was required due to the tightening of the country's low supplies of gas, and that the domestic supply deal would mean it is less reliant on coal imported from overseas. The Huntly - New Zealand's largest power station - can burn between 300,000 to 1 mln tonnes of coal per year, depending on gas declines, dry years, and low wind.  

Fast track battery - Victoria has approved a 1-gigawatt battery in Portland Energy Park. Valued at A$1.3 bln ($856 bln) and developed by Pacific Green, it will be the state’s largest energy storage project and was fast tracked for development via Labor’s Development Facilitation Programme. This is part of a wider fast tracking of clean energy developments worth over A$6 bln at this stage. The full project includes four 250 megawatt battery parks and can power over 350,000 homes during peak demand, sent out via existing transmission lines, the government said.

More two-way, please - Western Australia’s Horizon Power has completed a year-long trial to test two-way EV charging in Exmouth, several hundred kilometres north of capital Perth. Energy and decarbonisation minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the vehicle-to-grid tech could manage two-way charging and allow EVs to act as ‘mobile storage systems’. The trial was the first of its kind in Western Australia and was conducted using the regional energy provider's Distributed Energy Resource Management System, the government said. The power company hopes to better understand how EVs can be incorporated into its microgrids in more remote areas. While the most populous areas of the state are connected to two main grids, given WA’s size, many operate on microgrids, and remote communities and mining sites still rely on diesel generation.

Triple digits - The Australian Labor government has approved its 100th renewable energy project since being elected in 2022, it announced. Environment Minister Murray Watt said the milestone was reached following the approval of the Nowingi solar and storage project in Victoria. Watt said 90% of the approval decisions were delivered on time, as the renewable energy industry complains of slow approval processes. The 100 projects will reduce emissions by 53 MtCO2e per year, the government said, and comprise 43 solar farms, 22 onshore windfarms, 13 energy storage systems, 13 infrastructure and exploration projects, and nine transmission projects.

A prominent legal group is alarmed that the New Zealand government is reportedly considering whether to exclude the Climate Change Commission (CCC) from formulating the country’s emission reduction plans.