Ashes to assets - An Indonesian cooperative in Pasaman Barat, West Sumatra, has launched a biochar carbon credit project using agricultural waste including corn cobs, cocoa husks, and water hyacinth, Harian Haluan reported. The project is a joint venture between the Hidup Basamo Sepakat cooperative and Malaysian company Reclimate, and it has affiliations with both Gold Standard and Verra, according to the cooperative's operations manager. The biochar, marketed as a soil amendment that stores CO2 long-term, is intended for export as carbon credits. The project aligns with Indonesia's national target to cut GHG emissions by 43.2% by 2030.

Water NbS partnership - Non-profit Forest Trends have signed onto an MoU with the Association of Water and Sanitation Regulators of the Americas (ADERASA) and the Nature Conservancy (TNC) to strengthen the role of water utility regulators in advancing nature-based solutions (NbS) for water security across Latin America. The MoU, originally signed between ADERASA and TNC in Nov. 2024, recognises Forest Trends technical and strategic experience supporting regulators and utilities to integrate NbS into regulatory frameworks, planning processes, and investments in the drinking water sector. A central focus will be the co-creation and piloting of a regional benchmark to assess the condition and management of source waters that supply drinking water services. This is intended to help identify priority risks, gaps in action and investment, and the enabling conditions needed for NbS to effectively contribute to service reliability and climate resilience. Additional activities and areas of collaboration will be announced in the coming months, the partners said.

While some community-driven models are emerging, most projects in Colombia remain in intermediate participation categories, as procedural consent has dominated governance in the market, according to a new study.

Reduced deforestation risk - The Brazilian Amazon state of Para cut deforestation alert areas by 40% to 488 sq km between Aug. 2025 and Jan. 2026, down from 809 sq km/y earlier, according to an official press release this week. The decline outpaced the 35% reduction across the Amazonia Legal subregion. Separately, the state’s jurisdictional REDD+ system has completed 16 FPIC consultations to-date, of a planned 47, said the state environmental secretariat.

Soil stakes – The first credits from the soil carbon programme by US-based Veterans Carbon Holdings (VCH) have been issued, it was announced this week. The company says they are unique in relying on stratified soil sampling and third-party validation rather than satellite or practice-based modelling. The units were verified under BCarbon’s Soil Carbon Protocol v2.0 and will be serialised via DOVU’s blockchain infrastructure, while projecting expansion across 1.5-2 mln acres. VCH told Carbon Pulse that 200,000 credits relate to its 2024 enrolment and 206,000 to 2025 contracts under BCarbon’s 1 tonne-per-acre advance model.

Marine carbon removal (mCDR) faces significant legal uncertainty under international treaties, which could constrain large-scale deployment, a new report said.

Para J-REDD+ update – The Secretariat of the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) published on Friday the Portuguese versions of documents related to the jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD+) programme of Para, a Brazilian state in the Amazon. Until now, they had only been available in English. The materials comprise the TREES Registration Document for the 2023-27 crediting period and a TREES Monitoring Report for 2023. Stakeholders will have 30 days to comment on the documents. Similarly, Tocantins's documents were displayed in Portuguese earlier this month.

Nepal biochar tender – The UN Development Programme has launched a tender to support the creation of a commercial biochar enterprise in Nepal, seeking a contractor to develop a business plan and provide operational support, according to a notice published Feb. 23. The request for proposals is open until Mar. 10 and forms part of a broader programme to scale biochar deployment linked to climate and private sector development objectives.

Drax pellets – Drax Group will stop burning Canadian wood at its Yorkshire-based power plant within the next year, the Guardian reported this week. The decision is due to Ottawa’s decision to place a tariff on its biomass exports, the UK power company said. Environmentalists have repeatedly raised concern over the burning of Canadian wood pellets at the Drax power plant in Yorkshire after an examination of the company’s supply chain suggested these were sourced from some of Canada’s more environmentally important old-growth forests. Drax has pushed back at these claims, telling the Guardian that it does not source biomass from designated areas of old growth. Also this week, Drax shares prices hit a near 20-year high, Reuters reported.

Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the US House this week to formalise and fund a federal programme aimed at strengthening nursery capacity and scaling up reforestation efforts nationwide.

WWF has launched a five-year strategy aimed at advancing nature conservation and restoration efforts in Tanzania, looking to raise over $89 million to finance it.

A technical assessment released this week by the UNFCCC found that Senegal's updated national forest emission levels were now mostly transparent and complete, but only partially aligned with international guidelines.

China's extensive afforestation efforts are yet to have an immediate impact on CO₂ emissions, and the forest carbon sector needs a valuation framework that considers the time needed to peak sequestration potential, according to a new paper.

Integrating the outcomes of biodiversity credits into adjacent markets of carbon, bonds, and impact investing could generate $21-57 billion annually, a whitepaper shared with Carbon Pulse has argued.