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.

Ukraine's CBAM pact - Ukraine and Sweden will aim to make accreditation procedures for verifiers easier under the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the duo announced late on Friday. The move will allow Ukrainian exporters to verify greenhouse gas emissions for CBAM using actual data rather than default values, according to the country's ministry of economy, environment, and agriculture. The Swedish Board for Accreditation and Conformity Assessment (SWEDAC) agreed to accredit Ukrainian verification bodies, with representitives of both countries set to meet next week to discuss the legalities of their partnership. Steel industry representatives recently called on the Commission to delay the application of CBAM on Ukraine exporter for three years, suggesting they need time to recver from the war. The bloc's executive may be prepared to delay the full rollout of the CBAM for Ukraine until Feb. 1, 2027, according to Ukraine’s environment ministry, though Kyiv has yet to submit a formal request, local media reported last May.

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.

EUAs posted their largest weekly increase since November 2024 as an early jump amid thin liquidity was followed in the afternoon by a second surge of buying amid growing signs that a peace deal between the United States and Iran could open the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial traffic.

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.

It’s official – The delegated regulation setting out methodologies to certify permanent carbon removals in the European Union was published in the EU’s Official Journal on Apr. 17. The delegated act aims to measure the sequestration of CO2 from three permanent carbon removal techniques: direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS), bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and biochar carbon removals (BCR). The act was passed after a failed attempt by the Greens and left-wing groups to block the methodologies in the European Parliament.

EU greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 3% in 2024, pushing total net domestic reductions to 40% below 1990 levels, but still short of the bloc’s 55% target for 2030, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in its annual submission to the UN.

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.

The United Nations Environment Platform (UNEP) Copenhagen Climate Centre is set to launch a digital platform this summer to help host countries implement Article 6.

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.

Oil tumbles – The price of crude oil has fallen sharply, after Iran’s foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz would be completely open to commercial shipping for the “remaining period of ceasefire” between the US and Iran, the BBC reported. Following the announcement, the cost of a barrel of Brent crude fell to below $90 a barrel, having been above $98 earlier in the day. In 2025, about 20 million barrels of oil and oil products passed through the Strait of Hormuz every day, according to estimates from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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.

The European Commission will urge EU governments to channel revenues from the bloc’s emissions trading system (ETS) into electrification as part of its “Accelerate EU Energy Union” response to the energy shock caused by the Middle East conflict, according to a leaked draft seen by Carbon Pulse.

Sailing CCS - Japanese shipping giant Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) has signed an MoU with regional utility Hokkaido Electric Power to study onboard carbon capture and storage in Tomakomai, a CCS hub in northern Japan, it announced this week. The partners will run a three-year demonstration, installing capture equipment on NYK’s coal carrier Pirika Moshiri Maru to test the capture, liquefaction, storage, and unloading of CO2. The technology could be a potential solution in reducing shipping emissions, it said.

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.

Trading volumes in China’s carbon market rebounded over the past week as permit pre-allocations to industrial sectors wrapped up earlier this month, with permits continuing to trade within a narrow range.

The European chemical industry has proposed creating a ‘savings account’ for revenues generated by the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which companies could draw on to finance decarbonisation investments when needed.

China will aim to double its supply of non-fossil energy by 2035 from 2025 levels, an official said on Friday, offering clarity on the country’s clean energy trajectory under its latest 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30).

Swedish accelerator – An investment programme, backed by a government body in Sweden, announced eight energy and climate projects will join its 2026 cohort. Funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, the accelerator programme aims to support early-stage companies develop energy transition technology. A total 22 companies applied, with the eight winners set to begin the programme's investor readiness activities from April. The succcesful applicants are focused on transition innovations including recovering waste heat from data centres, battery materials, rapid EV charging, and biomass to biochar conversion.

Brokers in the voluntary carbon market are seeing a growth in multi-year offtakes from corporate buyers who have become more selective in their procurement, and are seeking nature-based removals in particular, they told Carbon Pulse.

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.

Trials begin - Indonesia has opened trials for its new Carbon Unit Registry System (SRUK) ahead of a planned July launch, inviting project developers to begin submitting data, national news agency Antara reported, citing officials. The trial phase will help the start of carbon trading and ensure the system functions smoothly once operational. Earlier this week, the Southeast Asian country issued a new regulation designed to allow local forestry carbon projects to trade internationally, with a major project now expected to be issued a record amount of carbon credits.

The UK government is looking at ways to break the link between the cost of electricity and gas prices, in a bid to ease pressure on consumers and businesses battling higher power prices driven by the Iran war.

A French ministry official expects the EU to purchase as many as 716 mln international carbon credits in 2036-40 to help meet the bloc's new climate target, an official told Carbon Pulse on the sidelines of the European Climate Summit in Barcelona.

The European Union is drafting plans to tackle ​a looming jet fuel supply crunch and maximise refinery output, officials have told Reuters, amid news a major airline is already set to cut flights due to high jet fuel prices.

Recent progress - The Japanese government has published the feedback it recently gathered for methodology revisions under the J-Credit framework. As well, the methodology for cattle feed additives (AG-007) has been amended with a calculation formula for projects using 3-NOP in feeds. A new methodology (IN-008) for the introduction of natural refrigerants has been established and will become effective on Apr. 20, according to a govenment notice.

In talks - India and Singapore held talks on carbon credit cooperation, focusing on advancing bilateral engagement under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, India’s renewable energy ministry announced. Discussions covered potential collaboration in green hydrogen, battery energy storage systems, and other technologies eligible under India’s emerging carbon market framework. The meeting signals early-stage efforts to operationalise cross-border carbon trading, as New Delhi looks to attract finance and technology through bilateral crediting deals, with Singapore seen as a possible partner.

Japan has pledged to provide $10 billion in support of the development of a regional, fossil fuel-centred "energy resilience"  framework in Asia, amid global energy supply disruptions.

On path - Japanese developer Green Carbon said on Friday its industrial biochar project in India has passed a pre-screening audit by Isometric, paving the way for issuance of carbon removal (CDR) credits from this year. It plans to operate four biochar plants across India, targeting around 300,000 tonnes of CDR credits over the next decade, with initial issuance expected from mid-2026. The projects will use agricultural waste such as cotton stalks and peanut shells, aiming to deliver carbon removal alongside soil benefits for local farmers.

Green ships - Shipbuilder Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad (MHB) has signed an MoU with South Korea’s Hanwha Power Systems to collaborate on conversion and retrofit projects, with a focus on supporting maritime decarbonisation, the companeis announced Friday. The tie-up will combine MHB’s shipyard and LNG carrier repair capabilities with Hanwha’s energy-efficient turbomachinery and propulsion systems, targeting emissions reductions from existing and new vessels. The companies said the partnership would prioritise retrofit and conversion work to address demand for lower-carbon upgrades to ships.

The Australian government has released terms of reference to its review of a methodology on how fugitive emissions are measured, known as Method 2.

Electrifying - The NSW state government has signed a A$1.9 bln ($1.36 bln), seven-year renewable energy deal with federally owned Snowy Hydro Corporation to power its entire public transport network, aiming to cut electricity costs by about A$130 mln, it announced. The agreement will supply electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar, and hydro, helping avoid the equivalent of over 800,000 tonnes of CO2 each year compared to conventional power, while supporting the state’s broader transition to cleaner transport. Savings from the deal are expected to be reinvested into improving transport services, while also contributing to NSW’s long-term net zero and emissions reduction targets.

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.

Carbon analysts from two firms see UK carbon prices averaging above £60 in 2026 as the prospects of linking the market with the EU ETS should narrow spreads to European permits, though they warned of political downside risks in the second half of the year if a mid-year EU-UK summit is delayed or talks fail to make a breakthrough.

South Korea's main stock exchange is planning to launch future products linked to the country's emissions permits in the second half of next year, local media reported.

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.

Hard times - About 175 workers at the Liberty Bell Bay manganese smelter have been told they may be stood down or forced to take leave without pay after Apr. 24, because administrators say there is no money left to pay wages beyond the current pay cycle, the ABC reported. The facility, covered under the Safeguard Mechanism, was one of three entities that were unable to meet their compliance obligations during the last cycle, failing to surrender some 39,391 emissions units to meet its baseline. The site, which is in administration, owes more than A$7.4 mln ($5.3 mln) to 200+ employees and will likely retain only a small skeleton crew while efforts continue to find a buyer. The situation highlights ongoing financial troubles at the smelter—Australia’s only manganese processing facility—with workers left in limbo as administrators try to sell the business or avoid liquidation.

Pacific Island nations have used a regional meeting this week to launch a regional framework pushing for a fossil fuel free Pacific, they announced Friday.

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.

Article 6.4’s upcoming technical decisions on large-scale crediting, risk management, and reversal assessment will determine whether global carbon markets can scale a diverse portfolio of climate solutions or narrowly exclude key approaches like nature-based solutions.