Carbon market rules designed to ensure environmental integrity could inadvertently exclude Indigenous land stewards from participating in nature-based carbon schemes, according to a new academic commentary.

Seas of change – Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have reported preliminary results from the first US EPA-permitted ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) field trial, conducted in the Gulf of Maine in August 2025. The experiment was part of the LOC-NESS (Locking Ocean Carbon in the Northeast Shelf and Slope) project, and the findings were presented at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow. During the six-hour test, researchers released purified sodium hydroxide and a tracer dye into surface waters, then tracked the resulting alkalinity patch for four days using ships, autonomous underwater vehicles, gliders, water sampling, and satellite monitoring. The early findings demonstrate that small-scale OAE deployments can be engineered, tracked, and monitored with high precision, said project lead Adam Subhas.

Peru’s Indigenous-led jurisdictional REDD+ (RIJ) programme has advanced key governance and carbon market design elements, as it deepens alignment with the TREES programme from the standard ART.

Large-scale soil carbon sampling using automated analysis systems could make measuring climate impacts from land management practices economically feasible, researchers said during a webinar on Tuesday.

Promoting LATAM markets – A regional alliance of carbon markets associations, Red Carbono Latam, will push for increased participation in Article 6 and CORSIA, as well as advocating for market regulations, and environmental and social integrity throughout 2026, it announced Tuesday on social media. The regional network, launched mid-2025, includes industry and nature-based solutions associations from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Chile.

A Moroccan nature-based solutions (NbS) project last week registered with Verra, becoming the first large-scale NbS project in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to achieve registration under a major carbon standard, the developer claims.

A large carbon financier is on the verge of owning its portfolio “outright” after recovering from a challenging period, dismissing reports it had been put up for sale.

End-user demand across the voluntary carbon market (VCM) was strong in February, with over 25 million credits retired, a level not seen for a year, while prices for those eligible to be used under the CORSIA international aviation offsetting scheme took a tumble as analysts noted that a steady stream of supply may finally be on the cards.

Seagrass lab launch – Indonesia-based carbon project developer CarbonEthics and state-owned shipping company PELNI have announced last week the launch of the Seagrass Greenhouse Lab in Bintan, Kepulauan Riau, aimed at supporting seagrass restoration and blue carbon ecosystems. The facility cultivates seagrass in a controlled environment before transplanting seedlings into the ocean to improve survival rates, CarbonEthics said. The first phase has produced around 1,000 seedlings and involved 25 local community beneficiaries, alongside training in cultivation practices, greenhouse nursery development, and monitoring. The initiative is intended to strengthen coastal ecosystems that store carbon beneath the seabed while supporting fisheries and other local livelihoods.

Deep underground - Isometric has certified a module laying out requirements for storing sustainably sourced waste biomass in existing sub-surface mines. The Biomass Storage in Subsurface Mines (BSSM) module is designed to be used alongside the Subsurface Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage Protocol, the removals registry said on Wednesday. Certification follows a public consultation, with feedback received from stakeholders including Rewind that aims to generate credits from a deep mine storage project in Georgia using this module. Credits from projects using the methodology are estimated to have durability exceeding 1,000 years. The depth of sub-surface mines keeps temperatures stable and their low-oxygen conditions helps slow or halt decomposition of biomass.

A global racing team has invested in about 18,900 tonnes of CO2e carbon removals across a number of pathways in a bid to reach its 'race team control' net zero target by 2030.

Microplastics accumulating in terrestrial soils could significantly alter how carbon is stored and released from land ecosystems, with implications for climate mitigation strategies and carbon accounting, according to new research.

Wildfires in North America’s boreal forests have contrasting impacts on the climate depending on where they occur, with fires in Alaska contributing to warming while those in Canada tend to produce a cooling effect due largely to changes in snow reflectivity, according to a new study.