The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has opened a call for nominations for experts to lead and contribute to its upcoming 2027 methodology report on carbon removal, capture, utilisation, and storage technologies, which have been deemed by the UN scientists as essential for keeping the world aligned with the Paris Agreement.

Mongolia is set to soon announce its partnership with Switzerland to facilitate carbon credit collaboration via Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, the country's environment minister said Wednesday.

Turkiye has won the race to host COP31 in the resort city of Antalya in 2026, beating out Australia, with both countries agreeing to share the presidency in an unprecedented arrangement for UN climate negotiations.

China is using the void left behind by the US to become essential to the world meeting its climate goals – by offering its bounty of clean energy technology, as opposed to more traditional diplomatic leadership at venues like COP30, experts say.

Nuclear comeback - A Japanese prefecture governor is set to give approval as early as this week for the restart of the world's largest nuclear power plant, more than a decade after the Fukushima nuclear disaster led to its shutdown, Nikkei reported. Nuclear took up around 8% of Japan’s electricity mix in 2024, data from Ember showed. Japan has set a 20-22% target for nuclear energy, 36-38% for renewables, and 41% for fossil fuel, for 2030. While the country has 33 nuclear power reactors classed as operable, only 14 have restarted, and 11 are currently in the process of obtaining restart approval, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Indonesia’s carbon pricing regime is failing to put a dent in Southeast Asia’s largest economy’s heavy dependence on coal-fired power, as low CO2 prices, distortions in the electricity market, and subsidies for the fossil fuel render the framework “largely ineffective”, according to a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) thematic report released this week.

Credits issued under all three scenarios of Verra’s jurisdictional REDD (J-REDD) methodology will be eligible for the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) badge, the Integrity Council of the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) said on Wednesday.

Countries across Latin America, Africa and Asia launched a joint initiative on Wednesday at COP30 to scale solutions that cut methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture, while improving farm resilience and productivity.

You can do better - South Korea, which earlier this week announced its commitment to closing at least 40 of its existing coal-fired power plants by 2040, should bring forward its coal phaseout date, Greenpeace said Wednesday. The country's current target is considered misaligned with the guidance for OECD countries by the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), which calls for a phaseout by no later than 2030, the non-profit said. The country was also urged to end all overseas coal financing and establish a clear roadmap without gas expansion.

Denied - Auditing and verification company Earthood Services has refused validation of Bengaluru-based AltCarbon’s Darjeeling Revival Project, an enhanced rock weathering (ERW) scheme in India, after finding the site’s highly acidic soils make meaningful carbon removal effectively impossible. The auditor said the project’s soil pH, far lower than initially reported, lowers expected CO2 drawdown by up to 99%, rendering the activity non-compliant with Isometric Standard requirements. Reviewers also flagged gaps in baseline soil data, inconsistencies in laboratory methods, inaccessible calculation code, and unresolved feedstock reporting issues. This project is distinct from another Darjeeling project from where Alt Carbon recently delivered the first tranche of credits from an offtake deal to Japanese shipping giant MOL.

Synergies - Biomass aggregator Punjab Renewable Energy Systems (PRESPL) has signed an MoU with EcoKrishi Solutions to pilot field-scale biochar production and on-farm application, the companies said on Wednesday. The partnership will combine PRESPL’s aggregation and supply chain with EcoKrishi’s low-tech pyrolysis systems and biochar enrichment technologies. The initiative aims to convert crop residues into high-quality biochar to curb stubble burning, boost soil carbon, and expand carbon-removal opportunities for farmers, they said. Earlier this year, PRESPL said it will launch a biochar carbon credit platform.

The greater stability and private-sector integration in Article 6.2 make it more suited to durable carbon removals (CDR) than the Article 6.4 Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), according to the chief commercial officer at a removals standard.

The Australian government has proposed changes to the register for Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) projects, including enhanced transparency on historical issuances, as 2.5 million units were issued in October.

Carbon removal industry stakeholders on Wednesday launched what they describe as the first openly available baseline contract intended to simplify and standardise durable CDR transactions.

Eight countries announced support on Wednesday for a Brazil-led initiative aimed at scaling billions of dollars in investment to restore farmland globally.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is on course to cease operations at the end of 2026, as parties in Belem appear to have finally agreed on a date to move on from the Kyoto Protocol-era crediting system.

New Zealand's climate minister Simon Watts took to the stage in Belem calling for COP30 to ensure the world keeps the 1.5C goal alive, however NGOs and experts back home derided his remarks following a series of policy changes that have weakened the country's climate ambitions.

Capacity constraints and fragmented policy frameworks are holding back Article 6 progress in South and Southwest Asia (SSWA), with countries unable to fully engage in international carbon markets due to institutional, technical, and regulatory shortcomings, the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has said.

Day 9 at COP30 in Belem. It really is crunch time now. Brazil wants to force through a Belem Package of measures - made up of the hardest problems to solve like climate finance and fossil fuel phaseout - on Wednesday. Article 6 formalities could also well be wrapped up. Seasoned observers note with admiration how excellent the presidency has been so far, but there are still four days for fireworks.

The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has this week declined to assess Woodside’s proposed offshore carbon storage project in the Browse Basin, triggering sharp criticism from environmental groups.

Gold Standard on Wednesday opened public consultations on two new methodologies for early retirement of coal plants and other fossil fuel assets, as support for a roadmap for shifting away from non-renewable power sources picks up steam at COP30 in Belem.

G20 countries have the opportunity to collectively reduce 11 billion tonnes of C02e below expected levels by 2030 if they implement energy and methane mitigation goals agreed upon during the COP28 climate summit in 2023, according to analysis published Wednesday.

There has been pushback in the negotiating rooms at COP30 on the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) landmark advisory opinion on climate change, despite countries referencing it in public statements, Vanuatu climate minister Ralph Regenvanu said on Tuesday.

The start of a roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels looks poised to be a defining outcome of Brazil’s COP30 climate summit – whether it’s agreed or not – as more than 80 countries threw their weight behind the proposal on Tuesday.