Laser leaves – Maine researchers have launched a joint effort to sharpen local forest monitoring by using LiDAR data to generate more detailed assessments of forest health and structure as drought and climate stresses increase. The University of Maine and Colby College are pairing aerial laser scans collected from UMaine’s research aircraft with terrestrial measurements taken by Colby teams to build high-resolution, three-dimensional forest models. The data is intended to support forest managers and industry stakeholders by improving estimates of timber supply, carbon storage, and forest health and composition, while reducing reliance on secondary datasets.

A Brazilian state has approved new legislation aimed at enabling participation in voluntary carbon markets and the establishment of a jurisdictional programme.

Cutting the UK aviation sector’s trajectory to net zero could cost up to hundreds of pounds per tonne of CO2, depending on which carbon removal technologies are used, according to a new report.

Spin the... - Pinwheel has announced a partnership with Agreena to expand access to nature-based carbon removal through regenerative agriculture. In its first phase, Pinwheel retired 18,000 tCO2e of Agreena’s verified soil carbon credits for a major global client, reflecting growing demand for high-integrity removal with ecological and community benefits, it said Wednesday. Agreena’s programme removes carbon while improving soil health, water retention, biodiversity, and farm resilience. The partners assessed how the solution fits within a diversified carbon portfolio and permanently retired the credits to avoid double counting, they stated. The collaboration illustrates how corporate demand can help scale innovative carbon-removal approaches, delivering climate impact, transparency, and long-term sustainability outcomes, according to the release.

Feedback on forests – Standard body Social Carbon is seeking feedback for its methodology for assessing and managing emissions leakage in forest conservation and avoided-deforestation projects, which is called Module for Leakage Management in Conservation Projects (SCD0005). It addresses both activity-shifting and market-effects leakage, ensuring that climate benefits are measured with transparency, integrity, and science, the standard body said. Stakeholders across the climate, forestry, and carbon finance sector are invited to provide feedback by Jan. 31, 2026.

A US-based tech giant has reached an agreement with a German-Brazilian enhanced rock weathering (ERW) startup for 28,500 credits from the South American country.

The European Parliament rubber-stamped a political agreement on Wednesday, reached earlier this month, to postpone and simplify the implementation of the EU's regulation on deforestation-free products.

A nature-based carbon developer is aiming to achieve permanent large-scale restoration focused on projects with biodiversity outcomes.

REDD hot cash - Brazil has received results-based payments for around 80 Mt of reported REDD+ avoided deforestation, UN data showed. Multiple entities, including several European governments, have now paid for the mitigation, according to documents published on the UNFCCC's REDD+ Information Hub on Wednesday. The results came from protection of the Amazon rainforest across 2017-19. Payment totals were not provided.

A UK standard has announced plans to issue a clarification to its crediting framework in January, alongside a series of initiatives aimed at improving monitoring, market transparency and project uptake across the land carbon sector, it said Wednesday.

Carbon crediting standard Verra will pilot new durability mechanisms to manage the risk of carbon credit reversals in land-use and geological storage projects, it said Monday.

Sweden has issued a new call for companies to apply for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) scheme that has more than $1 billion in funding available.

The ocean may have absorbed up to 15% more CO2 than previously thought thanks to the effect of air bubbles under waves that enable better gas absorption by seawater, a new scientific study has found.

Unauthorised deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado accounted for 86% of the total between 2009-24, a new analysis has found.

Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has picked a carbon removals registry to issue credits in line with the shipping company's goal for net zero emissions by 2050, it announced on Wednesday. 

Coastal cash splash – The Asian Development Bank has approved a grant of $16.7 mln for initiatives in Fiji to protect coastal communities, it said in a Wednesday press release. The Enhancing Climate Resilience of Coastal Communities Sector Project will benefit around 15 communities, the bank said, through the provision of nature-based coastal protection measures. It will also support revegetation and mangrove plantings to restore around 3,000 m of coastline and riverbanks, as well as strengthen institutional capacity to design, implement, and manage coastal protection measures.