Google "biodiversity" – Tech giant Google announced on Tuesday an investment into wetland restoration next to its Mountain View, California campus. The tech giant will partner with California-based researchers to make the project a living laboratory, seeking to quantify the benefits of wetlands restoration on carbon removal. Wetland restoration, like other natural climate solutions, has been lauded as an immediately scalable pathway within the US, despite the overall rollback of key US climate policies.

Benefit sharing – Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is discussing a proposal to expand access to REDD+ funding, allowing states and eligible entities to receive payments for local emissions reductions even when national deforestation and greenhouse gas indicators are unfavorable. The measure also seeks to unlock previously achieved but unused emissions reductions, potentially increasing financial flows for climate initiatives. The proposal, debated during a technical working group meeting under the National Commission for REDD+ (CONAREDD+), is expected to be submitted for formal deliberation later this semester, alongside ongoing discussions on safeguards such as Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). Participants also discussed potential criteria for benefit sharing in state and federal initiatives, considering the implementation of Brazil’s new emissions trading system (SBCE).

Wildfires are still an underestimated risk among carbon project developers, despite increasingly sophisticated satellite data that can warn developers about where risk is likeliest to occur and alert them as soon as any fire breaks out, experts said at a conference Wednesday.

A Finnish state-backed development fund has signed a $15 million loan agreement with a Panamanian-based sustainable forestry venture managed by a global emerging markets investment firm, in a deal aimed at expanding reforestation, sustainable timber production, and long-term environmental impact initiatives.

A senior European Commission official said that the EU will favour a centralised purchasing framework to acquire international carbon credits to help meet its 2040 climate target, rather than rely on individual companies to procure them directly.

A US-based forest carbon project developer has announced the sale of 100% of the credits from its biomass burial carbon removal (CDR) project in Montana.

Prague and Berlin received European Commission approval this week to provide state aid to projects that can help to reduce emissions – by adding biomethane production stations in Czechia, and supporting peatland rewetting on farmland in Germany.

Sri Lanka has no meaningful carbon market today, but has the potential to unlock millions of tonnes of compliance-grade credits if bureaucratic delays and financing gaps are resolved, according to a Colombo-based developer.

Measuring biodiversity co-benefits in carbon markets could offer nature tech companies an opportunity to increase revenues, at a time when the sector is set to face headwinds due to funding challenges, according to experts.

Airlines preparing for compliance under the UN's international aviation offsetting scheme are running into a shortage of host country approvals needed to use carbon credits, even as project supply continues to grow.

Sea forest - South Korea's Kolon Industries has signed an MoU with the Korea Fisheries Resources Agency (FIRA) and the Environment Foundation for a "sea forest" project, which aims to restore coastal ecosystems and expand marine carbon sinks by transplanting marine plants. The materials supplier said the project will focus on transplanting eelgrass, a marine plant known for its carbon absorption capacity. FIRA has already planted some 44,500 eelgrass seedlings to create the sea forest in the country.

Inconsistent methodologies and uneven data for calculating national greenhouse gas inventories are emerging as a constraint for the development of international carbon markets, a UN technical expert warned.

New estimates from a ratings agency evaluating 15 Brazilian REDD+ projects transitioning to Verra’s updated VM0048 methodology could see credit issuance fall by up to 90%, while increasing chances of being rated BBB and above.