Galicia gets credit - Spain's Galicia region has formed a Technical Committee to advance its Voluntary Carbon Credit System, moving forward with plans to launch the country's first regional carbon market by an autonomous community government. The committee will develop methodologies for project selection and credit calculation. Galicia received 37 submissions following a November consultation, including 10 methodology proposals and 25 project ideas spanning forestry, blue economy, aquaculture, and energy sectors. The system will function as a virtual marketplace connecting carbon credit generators with voluntary buyers, regardless of legal compliance obligations. Director General Paula Uria said the initiative aims to help Galicia achieve climate neutrality by 2040 while also creating economic opportunities across multiple sectors.

Not a silver bullet - Deep soils in forests may be less effective at storing carbon in the long term than previously thought, according to a study by Boku University focused on European beech forests in Central Europe. Another study investigating pine forests in Scotland found that soils under mature pine forests had about half as much carbon as nearby soils that stayed as grassland, and the carbon lost from the soil was equal to around a third of the carbon that the trees had absorbed from the atmosphere. These studies highlight that forests are not a silver bullet to climate change, said Thomas Parker of the James Hutton Institute. (the Standard)

Structural failings, lack of transparency, and weakening price signals have left the voluntary carbon market (VCM) a “dead body”, according to a new academic analysis that used the 2023 REDD+ integrity scandal to examine buyer behaviour and market dynamics.

A growing shift in voluntary carbon markets toward removals-based credits is taking finance away from avoided deforestation projects across biodiversity-rich Asia-Pacific, threatening ecosystems like forests, mangroves, and wetlands, a webinar heard on Wednesday.

A Berlin-based nature-based solutions platform has launched a request for proposals (RfP) to procure up to 600,000 high-quality nature-based carbon removal credits on behalf of a food and beverage company, with delivery targeted by 2030.

Thailand’s cabinet has approved carbon credits to be traded on its exchange to strengthen price discovery ahead of a new climate change law, the Southeast Asian country’s finance minister announced this week.