A nature-based carbon project developer has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise up to €700,000, as smaller firms in the voluntary carbon market explore alternative financing routes.

Carbon vault – ExxonMobil is planning a carbon capture and storage project in southeast Texas that could begin construction as early as this year, pending state approval, 12 News reported on Thursday. The company said its Sunflower Carbon Storage Project would store CO2 underground across around 10,000 ha spanning Liberty and Jefferson counties. The project is designed to inject CO2 between roughly 0.5 miles and 1.5 miles below ground (0.8-2.4 km), beneath drinking water aquifers, and includes an 11-mile pipeline extension (18 km) linking to its existing network. ExxonMobil is seeking a Class VI permit from state regulators, with early construction targeted for 2026 if approved.

Canadian emissions stalled – The latest National Inventory Report (NIR) by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) shows the country’s GHGs have stagnated, in line with previous predictions ahead of the annual springtime report. In 2024, Canada’s GHG emissions were 685 MtCO2e, a 2.2 Mt or 0.3% decrease from 2023, or 78 Mt or 10% decrease from 2005. The oil and gas sector contributed the largest share of total emissions at 208 Mt in 2024, up 2% from 204 Mt in 2023. Trailing oil and gas GHGs were transport emissions at 151 Mt, down 0.7% from 152 Mt, and buildings at 81 Mt, down 2.4% from 83 Mt. Alberta remained the highest emitting province in Canada, coming in at 260 Mt in 2024 – the same as 2023. Ontario followed Alberta at 158 Mt, down 1.25% from 160 Mt, and Quebec at 78 Mt, even with the French province’s 2023 emissions figure. Canada accounts for approximately 1.4% of global GHGs, making it the 11th largest emitter. The country is not expected to meet its net zero target.

Insurance fight – Hawaii lawmakers advanced legislation this week to allow lawsuits against fossil fuel companies over rising insurance costs, E&E News reported. The state House of Representatives passed a bill that would enable the state and insurers to pursue legal claims against oil and gas firms, arguing they have disrupted the insurance market. If enacted, the measure could open a new legal front targeting major energy companies, as policymakers seek to shift the financial burden of climate-driven disasters. Supporters said the move reflects mounting pressure following recent wildfires and flooding events that have strained communities and insurers.

Conversion cash – XCF Global, a US-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) company, said on Friday it has received $10 mln from private investors to support a planned plant conversion, satisfying a key funding condition tied to a pending three-party business combination. The company, alongside carbon management company DevvStream Corp. and clean fuels developer Southern Energy Renewables, said the equity raise satisfies a key funding-related condition under their proposed business combination agreement. The funds, raised through the sale of 100 mln shares of common stock, are intended to support the planned conversion of XCF’s New Rise Renewables Reno facility in Nevanda, which the company says has a nameplate capacity of 38 mln gallons per year.

More than 73% of the credits retired from the voluntary carbon market (VCM) have stayed inside the country, found a new report presented Friday during the Colombia Carbon Forum, signaling high dependence on the offsetting mechanism of the carbon tax and a need to enter new markets.

Canadian nature finance experts agree that the country's recent nature strategy is a step in the right direction, but say uncertainty remains on how potential financing tools, including nature credits, could be designed and deployed.

Producers built California Carbon Allowance (CCA) net length through V27 holdings while extending their net short in RGGI Allowances (RGAs), per the latest data release from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

A global shift toward cross-border due diligence rules in environmental value chains has not missed Colombia or its carbon market, creating legal vulnerabilities for financial institutions and potentially carbon credit buyers, according to a Colombian environmental attorney.

A coalition of Oregon industry, business, and labour groups on Thursday launched a legal challenge against the state’s GHG trading programme, arguing such a policy should be legislatively approved and that it imposes disproportionate cost burdens.

Two Canadian banks are stepping back from previously announced emissions reduction targets, citing policy uncertainty and rising energy demand that they said have complicated earlier assumptions.

TFFF governance – Norway will join Brazil as co-chair of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), the country announced on Thursday on the sidelines of the World Bank’s Spring Meetings in Washington, DC. Launched during COP30, the fund aims to secure long-term financing for rainforest preservation. On that occasion, Norway also pledged up to $3 billion in loans to the TFFF.

Offset eligibility – Chile tightened eligibility rules for offsets used under its green tax compensation system. The Chilean Environment Ministry (MMA) published a new resolution (Resolucion Exenta N° 1.224) introducing a 21-year cap for carbon projects that are not related to agriculture, forestry, and land use (AFOLU). Under the measure, only emissions reductions attributable to the first 21 years of a project may be considered additional. Only those reductions may be submitted for homologation, while reductions generated after that period will not be eligible for certificate issuance. Where projects have migrated between certification programmes, the 21-year period will be counted from the first crediting period under the original programme. The modification is in line with international standards that seek to avoid the over-issuance of credits in long-term projects, said Claudia Alfaro, head of the Department of Legislation and Environmental Regulation at the MMA.

Brazilian SAF certification – The Brazilian government is evaluating the development of a system to enable the use of a Sustainability Certificate for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (CS-SAF), Jotan reported. Some aspects would be comparable to the RenovaBio programme, which is aimed at promoting decarbonisation by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. However, a CS-SAF scheme would present additional challenges, such as alignment with the UN’s international aviation offsetting scheme, CORSIA, and its potential inclusion in the national emissions trading system (SBCE). The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) is working based on the final report of an internal working group.

Colombia’s left-wing government is not anti-carbon markets but resists unrestrained “market logic”, advocating instead for a strong regulatory framework, according to a top official – even as critics claim the government has failed to perform the oversight functions it already has.

Although the Colombian government has deprioritised enacting an Article 6 regulation amid the end of the presidential term in August, its main implementation technical partner is developing a project pipeline, preparing for its eventual one-go rollout.

Colombia’s supply of carbon credits faces several near-term factors that will generate price volatility, according to a senior carbon trader at majority state-owned oil firm Ecopetrol.

Belize has sharply revised its forest carbon baseline after a UN review process, abandoning a controversial “zero” benchmark in favour of a negative reference level that better reflects historical trends and enables access to results-based climate finance.

Irrigated agriculture in the US could deliver deep emissions cuts at little additional cost by shifting away from diesel and deploying solar-powered electric pumps, but achieving full net zero would require a sharp rise in spending and infrastructure, according to a new study.

A new study has put a price tag on climate “loss and damage” at levels far above many existing benchmarks, finding that the bulk of harm from past emissions has yet to be felt and could run into tens of trillions of dollars globally.

US-based e-signature firm DocuSign has maintained its CarbonNeutral certification into FY26 while signalling a strategic pivot toward higher-integrity carbon credits and long-term removals, as it prepares to transition to a net zero-aligned approach.

A US-based non-profit has released a global, high-resolution dataset tracking aboveground biomass over more than two decades, in a move that could strengthen monitoring, baselining, and verification across carbon markets and nature-based solutions.

Biochar credit generation in Latin America is constrained by fragile demand signals and high investment barriers, local developers have said, where a potential time-out from major carbon removals (CDR) buyer Microsoft could exacerbate both conditions.