Biomass estimates produced from airborne LiDAR can shift by as much as 11% depending solely on the spatial resolution used, a new analysis has found, raising concerns for carbon offset developers and buyers that rely on high-resolution canopy-height products to quantify forest carbon gains.

Monitoring public spending – Brazil’s federal government unveiled this week its first methodology and interactive dashboard to track public spending on climate action, biodiversity, and disaster risk management. Developed by the Planning Ministry with support from the Inter American Development Bank (IDB), the tool maps federal expenditures over 2010-23, revealing R$421 bln ($77.8 bln) for climate, R$250 bln for biodiversity, and R$111 bln for risk management. Officials said the system will improve transparency and guide more effective mitigation, adaptation, and fiscal planning.

US farms get charred - The US Biochar Initiative (USBI) kickstarted its Growing with Biochar programme with California sessions, beginning a nationwide training effort through 2026 to teach growers about sourcing and applying biochar in commercial systems, HortiDaily reported. While initial sessions focused on field agriculture, USBI sees growing opportunities for vertical farms and is seeking input from controlled-environment operators to develop targeted training modules, noting biochar's lightweight properties and nutrient efficiency benefits could reduce costs for indoor growers.

The EU could purchase 363 million international carbon credits as part of a pilot scheme linked to its decision to allow up to 5% of the bloc's 2040 emissions reduction target to be met by offsets, according to new estimates.

A global commodities firm has reported a significant rise in carbon trading volumes to more than 165 million tonnes, in a 2025 annual report published this week.

A carbon standard is considering its first nature-based project, it announced Thursday, as it looks to expand its reach into new sectors and regions.

A coalition of market participants has called on governments to overhaul their carbon regulations, with a lack of clarity across host country frameworks, and often a lack of capacity on the supply side, preventing the unlocking of $50 billion in finance by the end of the decade.

Verra has defended its continued issuance of hydropower offsets after US-based researchers accused the standards body of knowingly generating a large pool of potentially non-additional units that could rival or exceed the scale of excess crediting observed at Zimbabwe’s embattled Kariba REDD+ project.

To reach a durable state of net zero, CO2 fluxes must be rebalanced with the corresponding type of removals, though the high cost of permanent carbon removals (CDR) poses a challenge to neutralising fossil fuel emissions, according to a team of researchers.

Drax, a large carbon removal developer and energy producer, expects earnings to be at the "top end" of market forecasts this year, and is looking at the potential of developing a data centre in the north of England, it announced on Thursday.

ARR tender - The provincial government of Balochistan in Pakistan has opened international competitive bidding for a major afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation-based carbon offset project spanning 34,351 ha across Gwadar and Lasbela regions. Announced through the Balochistan Public-Private Partnership Authority in collaboration with the Forest and Wildlife Department, the project will be developed under a design, build, finance, operate, maintain, and transfer model with a 46-year concession period. Bids are due by Feb. 3, 2026, with a pre-bid meeting scheduled for Jan. 6. According to the authorities, the flagship initiative aims to drive environmental regeneration, carbon sequestration, and long-term ecological sustainability under the province’s PPP framework.

A Tokyo-headquartered developer is planning a low-carbon rice farming project under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) in the Philippines, which has the potential to reduce emissions by almost one million tonnes in the coming decade.

Planned study - Indonesian developer Fairatmos has signed a one-year MoU with state-owned PT Pupuk Indonesia to jointly study nature-based carbon projects, the companies said in a press release. The partnership will focus on mangrove and peatland restoration, reforestation, and agroforestry initiatives, with Fairatmos providing technical and MRV support. The developer last month signed a letter of intent for a credit offtake agreement with South Pole.

UN experts this week pushed forward with their work on a new tool to assess reversal risk, to be used alongside a much-debated permanence framework for Article 6.4 carbon crediting.

A regional development bank on Thursday approved a CNY 1.07 billion ($150 million) loan to pilot a nature credit mechanism in China’s southeastern province of Sichuan.

Underwater - Japanese startups, BlueArch and Umiaile, have teamed up with the government of Kanagawa prefecture and a local fisheries cooperative for a demonstration project, in order to develop a seaweed bed observation method featuring autonomous underwater vehicles. This marks the first attempt in Japan to remotely obtain seaweed bed coverage data, required for blue carbon credit applications, without the use of boats, BlueArch said in a statement Thursday. The companies aim to apply for the issuance of J-Blue Credits using survey data obtained from the pilot project by Sep. 2026.    

Landing date – The GHG Protocol will be releasing its long-awaited inaugural Land Sector and Removals (LSR) Standard on Jan. 30, 2026, it announced on Wednesday. Five years in the making, the standard was developed with input from experts from academia, business, governments, and civil society. Once it is launched, the GHG Protocol will host a webinar to explain its coverage and how corporates can use the standard, it added.