The Bahamas has closed a $25-million senior secured financing facility to capitalise its new sovereign blue carbon fund, advancing the country’s plan to commercialise marine-based mitigation outcomes, according to an announcement on Monday.

A US-based agtech firm is expanding a partnership with Walmart that helps Arkansas rice farmers implement regenerative farming practices and reduce emissions, according to a Monday announcement.

Go to the woods – The world’s largest motorbike manufacturer, Yamaha Motor, has signed an agreement with three other private sector companies to implement a voluntary carbon project in Goto, Japan. In a press release on Friday, the Japanese company said the Goto Connecting Carbon Credits (Tsuna-Kure) project would conserve 815 ha of city-owned unmanaged forest on Kuga Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. The credits will be issued by the Natural Capital Credit Consortium (NCCC) – a Japanese association aiming to boost the country's carbon credit market, specifically NbS – and consistent with international standards, the motor vehicle manufacturer said, including for CO2 reductions and biodiversity benefits. The three partners are environmental services company iForest, forestry company Somarin, and environmental association Mitsumeru Tabi. The NCCC issued its first credits last year.

Verra released on Monday the final allocated deforestation risk maps for Peru, clearing the way for project developers in the country to request activity data needed to register REDD+ projects under its VM0048 methodology and associated VM0055 module.

The European Commission on Friday adopted stricter conflict-of-interest and oversight rules for third parties accredited to verify carbon removals (CDR) certified in the European Union, but otherwise largely stuck to an earlier draft released in June, experts said.

Japan-Ukraine soil pact – Japan-based agri-tech firm Sagri has signed an MoU with Ukrainian grain producer Grain Alliance to develop digital MRV and soil carbon quantification across 57,000 hectares. The partnership aims to scale carbon farming and improve sustainability in Ukraine’s agriculture sector.

Tokyo firms selected – The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has appointed four companies to run programme-type projects that aggregate emissions cuts from activities like efficient boilers, solar panels, LED lighting, and rice farming practices, with the aim to generate J-Credits. The selected firms — Carbon EX, Creatura, Bywill, and Feiger — will coordinate credit issuance and return revenue to participating SMEs and farmers across the city.

Japanese fuel offsets – Japan-based Green Carbon and Cosmo Oil Marketing have completed the country’s first local fuel emissions offset using rice farming carbon credits, applying J-Credits from methane reductions in Fukushima’s Aizu region. The credits, generated by Green Carbon through mid-season drainage, were used to offset emissions from fuel trucks operated by Cosmo’s local distributor, Kita-Nihon Energy. Part of the revenue was returned to participating farmers, supporting a circular model that links agricultural decarbonisation with local credit use.

Prices were little moved last week amid what some saw as a disappointing COP30 in Belem, which also failed to give a strong signal to the voluntary market, while CORSIA fundamentals remain hazy despite the release of bullish demand-side data.

Corporate timberland owners see economic and climate promise in forest carbon markets, but a new study finds their participation is still constrained by financial viability concerns, regulatory complexity, and verification burdens.

A marketplace focused on carbon removals has launched a new call for expressions of interest for a government-backed bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project, it said Monday.

The COP30 UN climate summit wrapped up last week with a record $9.5 billion pledged for forests – yet nature at large took a back seat in the negotiation rooms, according to observers.

A carbon removals registry has made updates to its biochar methodologies, as well as announcing new production modules for biochar developers, it announced on Monday. 

A San Francisco-headquartered enhanced rock weathering (ERW) developer operating in Brazil announced last week it aims to expand its deployment fivefold by the end of 2026.

A Canadian industrial hemp firm has last week unveiled plans to raise up to C$2 million ($1.4 mln) through a non-brokered private placement and a share consolidation.

The new Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) is no longer just a theoretical part of Article 6 markets, according to an executive at a major project developer, but it will take time to fully assess the investment viability of different types of activities.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has launched a digital carbon credit registry to support the implementation of Article 6 and strengthen oversight of its environmental assets, its environmental ministry announced on Nov. 20 at COP30 in Belem.

The UN has opened public consultation on the first global methodology for savanna fire management (SFM) under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement.