VCS revamp complete - Verra has completed the operationalisation of its VCS Version 5 with the release of updated versions of various templates, it announced on Tuesday. This means that all project proponents can begin using the new version, Verra added. In addition to project description, monitoring report, and validation/verification report templates, the new releases include other new templates and documents related to environmental and social safeguards. The updated templates must be used for all project requests submitted after Jan. 1, 2027, including projects with audits that are already underway, Verra noted. If project proponents anticipate that their initial registration request, verification approval request, or crediting period renewal request will be submitted after this deadline, both project proponents and VVBs must transition to the use of the new templates. The voluntary standard said it will host training sessions on all VCS Version 5 updates, including how to use the new templates, later in 2026.

A diverse group of market actors are playing a decisive role in shaping soil carbon markets, but their growing influence is raising concerns over farmer autonomy, governance, and the effectiveness of carbon farming as a climate solution, according to a new analysis.

Carbon projects, pricing, and trading appeared in a new place on Tuesday: among the proposals to align public and private finance flows with low-emission development, as discussed in a first dialogue on the Paris Agreement goal. 

Migration milestone – A spokesperson for Winrock International confirmed to Carbon Pulse on Tuesday that the migration of both the ACR and Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) to ICE GreenTrace has been completed, transferring approximately 437.8 mln serialised carbon credits and more than 40,000 documents from 1,162 projects and programmes to 857 Registry Account Holders from issuance to retirement. The transition moved over 25 years of emissions reduction and removals data across 857 registry account holders in what was described as one of the most complex registry migrations undertaken in the carbon market.

REDD+ rating - French nature-based carbon standard Equitable Earth's M002 REDD+ methodology has been rated low risk by UK-headquartered ratings agency Sylvera, the former announced on Tuesday. The methodology's 3/10 score is one of Sylvera's highest ever for a REDD+ methodology, Equitable Earth said.

Fashionable move - Burberry has postponed its net zero emissions target from 2040 to 2050, citing improved understanding of greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain, enhanced data collection and measurement methods, and updated science-based methodologies, Edie has reported. The company stated that broader industry developments and economic conditions also influenced the revision. Alongside the new timeline, Burberry released its first Climate Transition Plan, aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C goal, reaffirming its commitment to achieving net zero emissions across both operations and supply chains. Under the revised plan, Burberry will maintain its target of reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 95% by 2027, compared with 2017 levels, and sustain this reduction through 2050. For Scope 3 emissions, it aims to cut non-Forest, Land and Agriculture emissions by 46.2% by 2030 and 90% by 2050, relative to a 2019 baseline.

The European Commission on Tuesday launched the Trans‑Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean Tech Cooperation (T‑MED) initiative, aiming to mobilise up to €25 billion in investments by 2035 to tap into the region’s vast but largely unused solar and wind potential.

US-based standard body Climate Action Reserve (CAR) is seeking feedback on a proposed update to set a standard permanence commitment period of 40 years.

EU carbon allowances fell back towards the €76 mark on Tuesday in a muted session that drew thin trade with the benchmark generally following gas and power movements, as participants pointed towards a broadly neutral configuration across the continent's energy markets.

Italian industry is calling for a fundamental overhaul of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), along with a softening of the whole carbon market structure, warning that the market risks accelerating deindustrialisation unless major reforms are adopted.

The European Commission has published a technical study recommending new approaches to account for electricity-related emissions in imported goods under the bloc's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), potentially paving the way for broader carbon charges on imports from third countries.

The European Union is preparing a proposal to expand its carbon pricing system to cover international flights, according to an internal Commission document seen by Bloomberg, a move aimed at strengthening climate action but likely to trigger opposition from international airlines and governments.

EU member states are set to resist the European Parliament’s push to start cancelling carbon allowances held in the reserve of the bloc’s new Emissions Trading System for buildings and transport (ETS2) from 2034, as well as the Parliament’s calls for stronger social safeguards.

Signed and sealed - The European Commission has approved a €10 mln Austrian scheme to support clean technology manufacturing capacity, in line with the Clean Industrial Deal objectives. Approved under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF), the scheme will be open to all companies that carry out investments into manufacturing capacity for the production of net zero technologies, with the exclusion of nuclear. This also includes aid to produce new or recovered related critical raw materials needed to produce final products or main specific components. The aid will take the form of direct grants, financed by the Austrian national budget, and may be granted until Jan. 31, 2027.

European Aluminium has called on EU finance ministers and ambassadors to address what it describes as critical shortcomings in the bloc's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), warning that the current proposal could fail to prevent carbon leakage in the aluminium sector.

L&D money for Kenya - Kenya is set to receive $700,000 in technical assistance from the UN's Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, which will support a comprehensive national assessment of climate-related loss and damage in the country over the past decade, the country's State Department for Environment and Climate Change posted on X. The technical assistance, agreed on the sidelines of UN climate talks underway in Bonn, should provide evidence that can inform policy, planning, and resource mobilisation to strengthen Kenya's climate resilience. This makes Kenya the second country in the world to receive assistance under the Santiago mechanism, and the first in Africa.

France has opened the final public consultation on the third version of its national low-carbon strategy (SNBC 3), giving stakeholders one month to comment before the climate roadmap is adopted by decree this summer.

Domino effect - Household electricity bills in Europe could rise by up to €120 a year if wholesale power prices increase by 60% above pre-Feb. 2026 levels, according to estimates by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). In new analysis, it found that capacity mechanisms and subsidies are keeping European gas power plants artificially online, and that households in Italy, Ireland, and the UK are most exposed to power bill rises in Europe due to gas's dominant role in power price formation in those countries. To keep a lid on European power prices, IEEFA recommends more energy storage and demand-side flexibility to curb the role of gas plants in setting wholesale power prices. Gas prices remain volatile off the back of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East - still trading around 20% above levels a year ago on TTF - Europe's benchmark gas trading hub, despite progress on ceasefire efforts.

An air traffic controller has agreed to buy £500,000 of durable removal credits from a diverse range of projects, as part of a UK Sustainable Aviation coalition that has pledged £2 million to stimulate the carbon removal (CDR) market.

Singapore and Tanzania have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on carbon credits collaboration, as they aim to strengthen bilateral climate cooperation.

A Danish cement producer has secured up to DKK 16.5 billion (€2.2 bln) in state support for a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project expected to remove up to 1.25 million tonnes of CO2 a year from 2030, it announced Tuesday.

Researchers, environmental organisations, and carbon market experts are urging the industry to look beyond traditional buffer pools and adopt a wider range of tools to ensure the long-term durability of nature-based carbon credits – using a new "unified framework".

The incoming presidency of COP31 has proposed a global target to increase the share of energy demand met by electricity to 35% by 2035, positioning electrification as a cornerstone of efforts to reduce emissions and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.

A strong and predictable EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is essential to achieve Europe's climate targets and support investment, the European Banking Federation (EBF) said in a public statement Tuesday.

A Japanese corporate giant is seeking more partners to pioneer direct ocean capture (DOC), after announcing it was developing a pilot plant following two years of research by an institute in Finland.

Negotiators at the SB64 climate summit in Bonn are transitioning the Kyoto-era Adaptation Fund (AF) to Paris, with UN carbon markets historically contributing large sums to the fund – but financing from the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) is still on standby.

Forestry-based carbon projects that are government-led and factored into national accounting systems can achieve landscape-scale change, with credit prices trading at a premium, say experts.

A European aviation alliance has warned the European Commission against expanding the EU ETS beyond flights within the European Economic Area (EEA), arguing that such a move could hurt European carriers and airports without delivering clear climate gains.

A UK-headquartered carbon and energy trading outfit has opened a new office in Amsterdam, as it looks to expand its presence across France, the Benelux region, and continental Europe.

The UN’s Technical Expert Reviews (TERs) of Article 6.2 initial reports are fully within bounds, and are not erroneously applying Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) norms, a senior member of the UNFCCC has said.

Global data shows early signs that ecosystem restoration rates could exceed those of deforestation, according to the founding chair of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, who is optimistic this milestone could be reached within 30 years.

Zambia has signed a new agreement to advance jurisdictional climate action, formally integrating a major forest carbon project into its provincial framework.

A United Nations technical review has identified significant weaknesses in Malawi’s reporting and governance arrangements for participation in international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, raising concerns about transparency, accounting practices, and environmental integrity.

Carbon credit issuances and retirements bounced up in May year-on-year across the voluntary carbon market while benchmark CORSIA prices fell 22% to end the month around $10/tonne, their lowest level since June 2024.

Green cement - French low-carbon cement producer Hoffmann Green Cement said it has launched a new technology that enables clay to be processed at ambient temperatures for use in its zero-clinker cement products, avoiding energy-intensive calcination process traditionally used in cement production. The company said the technology allows a wider range of clay feedstocks to be incorporated into low-carbon cement formulations, reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions while expanding access to raw materials.

The Brazilian COP30 presidency’s deforestation roadmap, presented in an early form on Monday, has been well received by a coalition of the willing, while the endeavour to draft a fossil fuel transition plan has sparked some backlash, Carbon Pulse heard in Bonn.

Kenya has set a 10-million credit budget capping the volume of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) that can leave the country under Article 6 through to 2030, a senior official told a carbon markets side event at the SB64 UN climate talks.