The New Zealand government has announced it will cut the country’s methane reduction target, citing advice from an independent panel it appointed and arguing it gets the balance right between agricultural productivity and remaining committed to its overarching climate commitments.

The Australian government should start designing a way to fold the electricity sector into the Safeguard Mechanism, as it will accelerate decarbonisation efforts while having minimum impacts on household energy bills, according to a report.

State carbon registry – The Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) of Sarawak in Malaysia has signed a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) with Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX) to explore the development of Sarawak Carbon Registry. The two-year partnership will look at registry objectives, capacity-building programmes, technical expert consultations, high-level design, and crafting a structured implementation plan. The roadmap would be implemented under the Environment (Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emission) Ordinance, 2023, which empowers NREB to regulate emissions and promote low-carbon strategies across sectors.

The US is considering retaliatory measures against nations that support a global carbon tax on shipping emissions, the State Department said in a statement late Friday opposing the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) proposed Net-Zero Framework (NZF).

See you next year - Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Friday announced a national budget of $111 bln for 2026, reaffirming the government's plans to introduce a carbon tax beginning next year, targeting the iron, steel, and energy sectors as part of broader efforts to boost tax revenue and reduce dependence on oil-based income, Reuters reported. Earlier this month, the government unveiled its steel industry roadmap, laying out a three-phase plan to decarbonise one of the country’s most energy-intensive sectors and prepare for the carbon tax regime. Proceeds from the tax would be allocated to a new “carbon competitiveness fund” to finance low-carbon technology adoption, market expansion, and ensure exports remain competitive with lower carbon alternatives, according to the roadmap. To date, Singapore is the only country in the Southeast Asian region to implement a carbon tax, even as others such as Thailand have announced plans that have yet to be implemented.

The Supervisory Body (SBM) for the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) on Friday accepted a permanence standard for credits issued under Article 6.4 (A6.4ERs), adjusting or deferring judgment on controversial provisions to alleviate some stringency.  

An executive at Verra said that he expects a significant amount of projects see issuances tagged with the high integrity Core Carbon Principles (CCP) stamp of approval to hit the market in 2026, at a conference in London on Thursday.

Kyrgyzstan plans to start developing a carbon market, leveraging opportunities under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, said a government minister, according to reports by local media.

A review paper published earlier this week criticising voluntary carbon credits ignores progress made to solve market challenges and selectively ranks climate solutions, market participants told Carbon Pulse.

The seventh meeting of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) concluded in Manila this week, drawing sharp criticism from civil society groups and campaigners who accused the board of failing to deliver on its core mission of rapid support for climate-vulnerable nations.

Prices of Chinese emissions permits reached their lowest level since June 2023, while trading volumes jumped amid continued selling pressure, with analysts expecting limited room for price growth for the rest of this year.

As the market continues to reflect on Climate Week NYC, one theme is dominating conversations across the voluntary carbon sector - that while integrity may be necessary, it may still not be enough to drive a major rebound in credit demand, experts have said.

Credit supply needs to shrink to stimulate the “sharks” of the corporate carbon world into buying, the Carbon Forward Expo conference heard this week.

Biofuels, widely promoted as a climate-friendly fix for transport decarbonisation and import substitution, emit 16% more CO2 than the fossil fuels they replace once the effects of deforestation, soil degradation, and land-use change are accounted for, a report claimed this week.

The Queensland state government plans to extend the life of its coal-fired power plants, use more gas, and cut funding for renewable energy, so as to better incentivise the private sector to step in, according to an energy roadmap published Friday. 

Matchmaking - Japanese consultancy S-Pool Blue Dot Green has launched a programme to connect J-Credits generated in the Tohoku region with prospective buyers, as part of a government-backed initiative to promote the national carbon credit scheme. The matching project, commissioned by the Tohoku Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry, aims to boost awareness and use of locally issued credits by helping companies across Japan identify suitable units for purchase and offsetting. The firm will also host a seminar Oct. 22 to explain the basics of the J-Credit system and its applications in emissions reporting and carbon offsetting.

Get ready - China has announced the second batch of eligible bodies to conduct validation and verification work under the country's national voluntary CCER programme, according to a recent notice by the National Accreditation and Certification Administration (CNCA). That means more new companies are now qualified as verifiers for CCER projects associated with three sectors: energy, fuels, and transportation. The move comes as China is seeking to add several methodologies to the carbon offset scheme, including coal mine gases and tunnel lighting systems.  

Part of the project - Japanese engineering company Chiyoda is planning to deliver a water electrolysis system for a low-carbon hydrogen production business being conducted by Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation, and Iwatani Corporation at Aichi Steel Corporation. Chiyoda, involved in upstream hydrogen production and the development of hydrogen utilisation technologies, said it will manufacture and sell water electrolysis equipment using Toyota-manufactured stacks, combining Toyota's fuel cell technologies with its design expertise and large-scale plant construction capabilities.

New Zealand’s carbon price continues to trade sideways as the December auction is all but guaranteed to decline, according to participants, as the government signed agreements with Singapore, part of which will see them cooperating on carbon markets.

Tokens - Environmental markets operator Xpansiv said Friday it will, in a phased manner, tokenise renewable energy assets on a blockchain network. To do so, it will issue smart IDs and performance tokens, enabling secure, permissioned sharing of real-world data across platforms. The pilot's goal is to use tokenisation as a pathway to unlock finance for energy transition, its CEO said in a statement.

CCS potential - Japanese engineering company JGC Holdings has signed a MoU with Norway-based SLB Capturi and its parent company SLB to initiate discussions on strategic collaboration in post-combustion CO2 capture technologies, targeting markets in both the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions, it announced Friday. SLB Capturi's CO2 capture solution has been adopted in leading CCS projects in Europe, including Brevik CCS, the world's first industrial-scale CCS project for a cement plant.

Australia’s carbon market industry body has appointed a former climate advisory principal and chief impact officer as its new CEO, after a five-month search, it announced Friday.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has opened the second round of its Hydrogen Headstart Program, offering A$2 billion ($1.3 bln) to speed up the development of large-scale green hydrogen projects, with a focus on what it described as “high priority use cases”.