India’s upcoming compliance-based carbon market will have built-in “stability mechanisms” to manage both credit shortages and oversupply, a senior government official said on Saturday.

India on Saturday formally launched its long-awaited carbon market portal, taking a step in rolling out the country’s domestic carbon credit trading scheme.

India is fast-tracking the process of accrediting verifiers and upgrading a pool of nearly 20,000 energy auditors to ensure compliance with the upcoming emissions trading system, a senior official said Saturday, dispelling concerns about verification bottlenecks.

Brazil, India, and Kenya have the geology, renewable energy and industrial base to support large-scale carbon removal (CDR), but a lack of regulation, financing, and workforce capacity is holding back deployment, researchers and industry experts said on Thursday.

Pipe dreams – French tubular solutions firm Vallourec announced this week it had secured a contract to supply corrosion-resistant pipes and connections for an offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Indonesia. The company will deliver materials and services to Indonesian BP subsidiary BP Berau Ltd.'s Tangguh CCS development, including lifecycle technical support.

Voice of reason - Understanding more about how carbon removals can bring the world back from the 1.5C temperature overshoot likely to happen in coming years will be a key topic addressed in the IPCC'S next set of reports - AR7 - due to be released between 2028-29, said the organisation's chair Jim Skea. He spoke to Bloomberg about the more challenging environment the IPCC now operates in due to climate misinformation and the US withdrawal. Some 50 US scientists are involved in the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) who are funded by philanthropic bodies. The IPCC is resilient and continues to operate despite the challenges, said Skea. The first report of the cycle - the special report on climate change in cities - will be released by Mar. 2027. Under current policies, the world is on track for about 3C of warming by 2100, but implementing all the NDCs would reduce the temperature rise to 2.5-3C, he said. Higher warming levels would entail negative effects including reduced agricultural productivity leading to higher food prices. "The decisions that are taken or are not taken in the next few years will influence where we are," - "the gap lies in action", not science, said Skea. The biggest challenges ahead lie in engaging much larger numbers of people on actions such as reducing consumption and changing land use, which will be harder than the emissions reductions achieved so far through electrification and renewables.

Just 16% of European companies are pulling ahead on addressing environmental issues, according to a new report, which found they cut emissions about 60% faster than peers in the last year.

Japan is interested in developing blue compliance credits in addition to its government-backed J-Blue scheme, the Japan Blue Economy Association (JBE) said on Friday.

Carbon credits cooperation - Taiwan and St. Kitts and Nevis announced plans to set up a technical working group to advance cooperation on carbon credits and renewable energy ahead of COP31, following ministerial talks last week. The two sides are also planning to sign a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation, with preliminary negotiations targeted for completion by end-2026, local media Rti reported.

GX in Aus - Japan's Hitachi, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and technology service provider NTT Data signed an MoU to establish a strategic partnership to expand Green Transformation (GX) businesses in Australia, they said. Under the agreement, the UTS campus will be used as a lab to develop, verify, and commercialise GX solutions. The first initiative will be localising Hitachi's ESG data management solution, EcoAssist-Enterprise in Australia. The companies said the partnership underscores a shared commitment to positively impact society through responsible innovation.

India could emerge as a major global supplier of durable carbon removals (CDR), but it must first address policy gaps, weak demand, and high costs to scale the sector, a policy brief published this week said.

Blue credits - Japan’s Kansai Airports said it has obtained new J-Blue Credit certification for carbon absorbed by seaweed beds surrounding Kansai International Airport island. The certification reflects expanded blue carbon capacity, with seaweed coverage reaching 66 ha in Mar. 2025, up around 20% from 2022, the company said. The operator said 58 species of seaweed were identified, with improved monitoring and broader data collection indicating higher CO2 absorption than in previous certification.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has called on governments, businesses, and households to take immediate action to curb oil demand, as the supply disruption linked to the war in the Middle East has tightened global markets and pushed crude prices above $100 per barrel.

Australian and New Zealand forestry industry bodies on Friday published a valuation standard to provide guidelines for the physical and financial description and valuation of commercial plantation and natural forests.

The Australian government has put forward an exposure draft to expand its Guarantee of Origin Scheme to cover biogas, biomethane, and iron ore production.

Plan presented - Advocacy group GasNZ has presented a biomethane strategy to government, arguing that producing renewable gas from organic waste could significantly reduce emissions while helping address New Zealand’s declining natural gas supply, it announced. It sets staged targets—1 PJ in the short term, 5 PJ by 2035, and 25 PJ by 2050—potentially meeting up to half of future gas demand using existing infrastructure. The plan outlines policy and investment actions needed to scale the industry, emphasising biomethane as a practical, low-carbon alternative that also supports regional economies and hard-to-electrify sectors.

Life extension - Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) will extend the operation of the Tuas South Incineration Plant to 2035, with major upgrades to its systems to improve reliability and handle higher-energy waste, it announced. The upgrading works, scheduled from 2026 to 2027, will be carried out while the plant continues operating, with waste redirected if needed to maintain overall capacity. This extension supports Singapore’s long-term waste management strategy by ensuring continued waste treatment, reducing waste volume, generating energy, and contributing to a circular economy, the NEA said.

The New South Wales state government has put forward a plan to no longer approve new coal mines at greenfield sites, but will still consider extensions and expansions of existing mines.