Senegal expects to have its carbon market regulatory framework and national registry ready in the coming months, as the country moves to position itself as a frontrunner in Africa’s rapidly-expanding Article 6 landscape.

Brazil's national development bank at COP30 on Wednesday opened a call for proposals to structure a certification model for blue carbon projects, while also announcing R$1o million ($1.9 mln) for restoration in the Atlantic Forest.

Bolivia’s new centre-right administration is drafting a regulatory framework to support participation in voluntary and compliance carbon markets to channel climate finance into local communities, two officials said on Wednesday.

Brazil launched a public consultation Monday on a long-awaited draft decree that establishes the regulatory procedures for CCS under its Future Fuel Law, filling a regulatory gap that has limited project development.

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.

Triple A rating - Ratings agency BeZero Carbon has reaffirmed its AAA rating for the Climeworks Orca plant - a direct air capture and storage (DACS) facility in Iceland, the developer posted on LinkedIn. This required reviewing the plant's embodied emissions, amortisation approach, operational and transport-related emissions, geothermal energy and freshwater usage, storage and mineralisation data, and pre-2023 credit issuance as part of the reassessment of newer vintages from Dec. 2023 to June 2025. A triple A rating is the highest in the industry for carbon removal credits - intended to reflect their quality, durability, and effectiveness.

Methodology update - Gold Standard has issued a rule update applicable to the methodology for Carbon Mineralisation using Reactive Mineral Waste (V2.0).  The update strengthens project sink calculations for aqueous state/slurry carbonation by accounting for CO2 loss during the reactor startup and shutdown processes, which were previously thought to be negligible. This is expected to increase the accuracy and conservativeness of calculating net removals. Secondly, the update includes provisions for reversal mitigation while the Reversal Risk Assessment for Mineralised Carbon is being developed.

Ukraine can use both compliance and voluntary carbon markets to help finance its green reconstruction and reach its 2050 net zero goal, but it needs strict governance and alignment with Paris Agreement principles, according to an academic report.

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.

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.

A US-based carbon removal (CDR) company is piloting an electrochemical process with Saudi Arabia’s water regulator to cut desalination emissions and enable permanent carbon removal across the Kingdom’s treatment network, it announced Wednesday.

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.

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.

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.