New TREES VVBs - The Secretariat of the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) announced on Monday it has provisionally approved two more validation and verification bodies (VVBs) under its TREES carbon credit standard. There are now three such provisionally-approved VVBs, namely: S&A Carbon, TUV Sud, and SCS Global. The only two fully-approved VVBs are Aster Global Environmental Services and Aenor.

Data provider prisoners – Juan Carlos Gonzalez Aybar, founder of French project developer Fronterra, criticised the fees charged by data providers in a post directed at standards body Verra in a LinkedIn post last week. He said developers were facing a “triple squeeze” from “50-90% reduction in credits”, “extremely high fees” charged by the hectare, and “overall anti-climate anti-ESG backlash”. Gonzalez Aybar urged Verra not to become “prisoner of the data providers and their business model”, adding that “if you lose the supply companies, you lose the game”. Verra replied that it “regularly review[s]” its fee structure to ensure fees both cover costs and enable project implementation, while Gonzalez Aybar clarified that “your success is ours” and "we are big supporters of your work".

A South Korea-based multilateral climate finance facility last year supported mitigation programmes that could generate over $500 million in Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs), also hitting other milestones, according to its annual report.

The Brazilian COP30 presidency is pushing forward with the development of a roadmap to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, with the first consultations starting in New York on Monday on the margins of the 21st Session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF21).

High-rated mangrove restoration credits surged to record highs last week amid an uptick in demand for quality nature-based units, while the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) said another standard body and another methodology met its Core Carbon Principles (CCP) bar.

Global progress on forest conservation remains uneven, with continued tree cover loss and financing gaps threatening efforts to meet 2030 goals, a UN assessment said.

Five developing nations have outlined activities they may approve under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4 crediting mechanism, with most placing forestry, land use, agriculture, waste methane, and renewables among their main areas of interest.

Singapore will again allow companies under its carbon tax to carry over unused international carbon credits (ICCs) into the following year, as a shortage of eligible units under the city-state’s Article 6 framework persists.

Climate campaign group 350.org has cautioned Indonesia that revenues from export duties and windfall tax on coal should be directed toward renewable energy subsidies rather than reinforcing fossil fuel dependence.

China is seeking to bring in the first batch of financial institutions to participate in the national emissions market before the end of the year, according to a high-ranking government official.

Japan-Vietnam JCM – Japan and Vietnam signed a new memorandum of cooperation on May 2, formally establishing their Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) as a cooperative approach under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement. Verified emission reductions or removals from JCM projects can be used towards both countries’ nationally determined contributions, while projects registered under the Japan-Vietnam JCM cannot be used for other international climate mitigation mechanisms to avoid double counting. The partnership runs until 2030 and will automatically renew for successive five-year periods unless either side gives notice to discontinue it.

Next steps - South Korea is working to establish a framework for carbon market cooperation with Bangladesh and to identify international emissions reduction projects based on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, the Korean trade ministry (MOTIR) said Monday. MOTIR will host a training programme for Bangladeshi government officials this week, following a MoU signed between the two countries for their Article 6 partnership. The training also comes after Bangladesh announced its national carbon market framework.  

Yellow carbon - A team led by Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University travelled across five rural districts in Tainan to study “yellow carbon”, or carbon stored in agricultural soils, as part of efforts to develop natural carbon sinks and generate carbon credits, it announced. Researchers examined sweet potato fields in Xinhua, endangered white wax apple orchards in Xinshi, rice paddies in Liuying, and maize farms in Xinying, assessing how different crops and land management practices could absorb and store CO2. The initiative aims to create a Taiwan-specific agricultural carbon methodology using measurement, reporting, and verification systems.

Transparency is key - Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Philippine government have launched a technical cooperation project to strengthen sustainable finance and climate-related transparency. Improvements to the national GHG inventory will help establish the foundation for the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, including the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), JICA said.

Western Australia’s proposed Browse-to-North West Shelf gas project would not prevent the state from reaching net zero emissions by 2050, but would reshape the road to that goal, a new report has found.

Echoing A Tale of Two Cities, today’s climate transition is marked by both unprecedented progress and mounting headwinds, and overcoming false binaries will be critical to unlocking the capital and action needed at scale.

Taking measures - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged citizens to cut fuel consumption and avoid foreign travel to help the country weather the energy crisis sparked by the Western Asia conflict leading to elevated crude and refined product prices. Modi called for work-from-home arrangements, greater use of public transport and electric vehicles, and restraint on non-essential gold purchases to reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves. The South Asian country is the world’s third largest oil importer and consumer, and heavily dependent on energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. He also urged farmers to reduce chemical fertiliser use and shift towards natural farming, as the narrow strait is also a route for feedstocks for fertilisers.

Seeking feedback - Australia opened consultations on a draft National Environmental Standard for Environmental Offsets on Monday, seeking feedback on rules designed to ensure environmental damage from approved infrastructure projects is properly compensated. The standard would apply when environmental harm cannot be avoided or mitigated, requiring offsets through restoration activities, financial contributions, or both, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said. The government said the revised draft incorporated feedback from an earlier consultation round that closed in January, and aimed to ensure approved offsets leave the environment “better off overall”. Public submissions on the draft standard will close on June 9.

The New Zealand government on Monday unveiled its strategy to scale the country’s voluntary carbon and nature markets, focusing on unlocking private funding for restoration projects.