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".

Biomass carbon removal (CDR) developers may find a faster route to credit issuance by using third-party managed monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) services, rather than software-only digital systems, but a recent analysis said the right choice depends on a project’s internal expertise and compliance capacity.

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).

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.

Shopify signed $24 million in new durable carbon removal (CDR) offtake contracts in 2025, but most of its suppliers remained behind their original scale-up schedules, with just 37% of credits due by year-end delivered.

Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) projects could overstate their carbon removal (CDR) impact unless they account for a wider range of chemical, physical, and biological processes that can reduce CO2 uptake, according to a report.

A blockchain-based removal and reduction registry has appointed a new advisor to head design and build a new framework for nature-based projects, it announced on Monday.

Biochar funding in the US – Edinburgh-based Carbogenics has secured $80,000 from New Mexico’s Job Training Incentive Program to support its US expansion, the company announced last month. The funding will support the hiring and on-the-job training of three local workers at the company’s facility in northern New Mexico. Carbogenics produces engineered biochar products for applications including anaerobic digestion, wastewater treatment, orphan gas well sealing, and DAC.

More than two dozen Angolan landowners have registered to use the NatureOS platform to scan their areas for project potential and monitor risks such as fire, encroachment, deforestation, and climate exposure, according to the platform's developer. 

US forest carbon – The American Forest Foundation-led Family Forest Carbon Program has to date enrolled 200,000 acres across 20 US states, it said on May 6. Participating forests are on track to remove 3.5 mln tonnes of CO2 over the next 30 years, generating $54 mln in payments to landowners. Launched in 2021 with The Nature Conservancy, the programme is now open for enrolment across the northeast, Appalachia, midwest, and southeast.

UK Met Office tender – The UK Met Office is seeking suppliers of UK nature-based carbon removal credits under a contract worth up to £900,000 including VAT, according to a tender notice published on May 5. The five-year contract is expected to run from Oct. 31, 2026 to Oct. 30, 2030, with market engagement open until June 2. The procurement is intended to support the weather agency’s purchase of carbon removals, with the tender listed under Find a Tender notice 041217-2026.

Paraguay Article 6 – Paraguay’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development has launched a tender for a consultant to assess mitigation activities and develop mitigation activity idea notes, it said on May 6. The work forms part of a programme led by the ministry, implemented by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), and funded by the Carbon Transaction Facility to help Paraguay participate in international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Proposals are due by June 1 via GGGI’s e-Green Procurement Portal.

Ensuring that carbon projects demonstrate additionality is critical to preserving market integrity and climate goals, said scientists in response to a recent academic paper that suggested rethinking such requirements.

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.

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.

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.