The voluntary carbon market risks degenerating unless certifiers sharply improve the accuracy of their project screening processes, according to a new study that warns that current market structures could result in a self-reinforcing spiral of falling credit prices, vanishing high-quality supply, and eventual collapse.

Commons people - The OAE Field Data Commons is being developed by Carbon to Sea and Submarine Scientific to create a shared, high-quality repository for ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) field data. The online platform will centralise datasets from academic and private-sector projects, building on the OAE Data Management Protocol to standardise formats and improve accessibility. By harmonising data, the Commons aims to support cross-site comparisons, meta-analyses, and independent assessment of OAE’s effectiveness and co-benefits, helping researchers, policymakers, and collaborators make better-informed decisions. The Commons forms part of a wider set of OAE Data Management tools that also includes: the Data Management Protocol, which sets metadata and data-quality standards; a Metadata Builder to help users create compliant metadata; and a Compliance Checker to validate datasets and issue adherence badges. These tools will integrate with existing repositories and are being field-tested with research partners such as Rost Marine Research Center, the National Oceanography Centre, the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, and Iceland’s Marine & Freshwater Research Institute. The Data Commons pilot will use datasets contributed by Planetary Technologies, including those underpinning its Frontier offtake agreement.

Rising demand for high-integrity nature-based credits continues to support prices and increase the need for higher-quality data, with Earth observation (EO) and ground-based measurements being combined to verify carbon project outcomes, a webinar heard on Wednesday.

Cemented collaboration – Cura, a Canadian climatetech company developing electrochemical systems to cut CO2 from cement production, announced on Wednesday it has signed an MoU with Acciona to validate and test its low-carbon cement technology at one of the Spanish-based global infrastructure company's flagship projects. The partnership, shared at the Spain-Canada Business Summit in Toronto, will focus on performance testing and life-cycle assessment of cement produced with Cura's process, which the company claims can reduce emissions by up to 85%. Cura said the agreement marks a shift from laboratory innovation to field-scale validation, while Acciona said the collaboration is part of its broader push to cut Scope 3 emissions and assess new technologies that can reduce embodied carbon in construction.

Global fire emissions averaged 3.4 billion tonnes of CO2 annually during 2002-22, according to a new scientific database that incorporates better detection of small fires and improved fuel consumption modelling.

Only One Dyas left - Germany’s environment ministry has put forward a draft law that would ban new oil and gas extraction projects in protected areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, according to Tagesspiegel Background, via Clean Energy Wire. Environment minister Carsten Schneider (SPD) made the prohibition a condition for his ministry’s approval of an existing gas project located on the Dutch-German maritime border near the island of Borkum. The project, operated by Dutch company One Dyas, spans both Dutch and German waters and therefore required permitting from authorities in both countries. It was approved only after lengthy delays and legal challenges over concerns about potential harm to the Wadden Sea’s fragile ecosystem. Schneider endorsed the cross-border agreement in October, but insisted it be followed by legislation preventing any future oil and gas drilling in protected marine zones.

EU Allowance prices ended the day little changed on Wednesday as prices moved in a €1 range after weekly positioning data showed that speculative traders had amassed their largest ever net long position in European carbon, while at the same time building their biggest net short in TTF gas futures since June 2023.

Serbia's parliament approved on Wednesday legislation to introduce a national tax on greenhouse gas emissions from 2026, as the country moves to align with EU climate policy and shield exporters from costs under the bloc’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

The European Commission's planned carbon removals buyers' club, aimed at boosting demand and project deployment, could be open to international buyers too, a senior Commission official said on Wednesday. 

European lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly backed new rules to expand CO2-monitoring requirements for heavy-industry goods entering the EU, giving the green light to detailed provisions for the accrediation of verifiers and auditors under the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

A carbon removal-focused registry is hoping to become one of the approved certification schemes under the EU’s Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) scheme, an executive told Carbon Pulse in Barcelona.

The cap on non-aviation related emissions from the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme will be 8.7% lower in 2026 than in 2025, the European Commission confirmed in a report published Wednesday.

A global commodities trading firm has revealed its investment in a series of African cookstove projects amid expectations of reaping rewards for CORSIA-eligible credits that could top $40 per tonne, a conference in Barcelona heard on Wednesday. 

The EU’s upcoming Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) and European Grids Package must address persistent gaps in electrification and clean infrastructure investment in order to put heavy industry on track for 2040 climate targets, a research consortium said Wednesday.

Europe’s domestic sustainable biomass resources appear sufficient to meet projected demand for advanced biofuel in transport for 2030 and 2050, but only if large volumes of energy crops on marginal land are mobilised, a new study has found.

A Netherlands-based environmental commodities trader has launched a digital platform to support corporate efforts to reduce Scope 2 emissions, initially through the use of renewable energy certificates, it announced Wednesday.

Africa's roadmap opposition - Tanzania reportedly urged African ministers at COP30 to oppose the call for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, which ultimately was cut from the final Belem package of agreements, Climate Home News reported. As chair of the African Group of Negotiators, Tanzania's lead negotiator, Richard Muyungi, made the recommendation in a four-page presentation dated Nov. 15, midway through the summit, while also urging African countries to support the inclusion of a call for universal energy access in the text. Tanzania is home to significant gas reserves, which it is looking to auction off in an upcoming licensing round.

European natural gas prices could fall below €25/MWh next year and potentially dip under €20 if a Ukraine peace deal allows partial Russian supply to return, analysts at a US investment bank predict, while a wave of new LNG supply, growing data centre electricity use, and Germany’s coal-to-gas shift will underpin wider spark spreads and firmer EU Allowance demand.

Market labels that indicate eligibility for CORSIA or the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) are already driving the value of cookstove credits higher, and as the voluntary and regulated carbon markets increasingly converge, prices should only rise across the board, said analysts at an industry event in Barcelona.

Julian Popov, former environment minister of Bulgaria, has urged the European Union to tighten rules on how revenues from its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) are spent, saying current provisions allow governments to subsidise fossil fuels.

Global nitrogen fertiliser production has increased 20% since 2009 despite scientists warning that use must decline sharply to bring pollution within planetary boundaries, a report said Wednesday.

Delivered - K Line, one of Japan’s major shipping lines, has delivered the Northern Phoenix, the third of four liquefied CO2 carriers ordered by Northern Lights, a Norwegian CCS transport and storage venture, according to a press release. Built by China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore, the vessel will move captured CO2 from industrial clients outside Norway to Northern Lights’ Oygarden terminal. The LNG-fuelled ship, equipped with rotor sails and air-lubrication tech, will be managed by K Line Energy Shipping UK, the company’s London-based gas-carrier arm.

European Union legislators struck a provisional deal early Wednesday on new rules to phase out all imports of Russian gas by Autumn 2027, a move billed as a central pillar of the bloc’s effort to end its reliance on Russian energy following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has teamed up with a project developer to target industrial decarbonisation, promoting the integration of hydrogen-based solutions into global carbon markets.

Green light – Vulcan Energy Resources has secured €2.2 bln of financing to proceed with Phase 1 of its Lionheart lithium and renewable energy project in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany, the ASX-listed company announced on Wednesday, including €1.4 bln in strategic support from German, European, and international government-backed financial institutions. Construction is set to begin in the coming days, the company said, with this phase targeting a production capacity of 24,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide monohydrate annually – enough for around half a million EV batteries – as well as 275 GWh per year of renewable energy and 560 GWh of heat.

A series of high-profile sovereign forest carbon project agreements covering vast swathes of land, struck between Dubai-based Blue Carbon LLC and multiple developing nation governments in 2023-24, have stalled or could now be void as the company appears to have ceased operations, according to sources and media reports.

Project developers signalled strong support on Tuesday for replacing traditional buffer-pool contributions with regulated insurance products under Verra’s forthcoming permanence pilot, arguing that the shift could materially strengthen project economics and improve financial viability across nature-based portfolios.