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.

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.

Mexican carbon project developers are increasingly preparing for a future in which domestic climate goals and the country’s emissions trading system (ETS) take precedence over international carbon credit exports, following fresh signals from the government that authorisations for overseas use may not be a near-term priority.

An initiative aimed at supporting Tribal Nations in the US navigate the growing carbon removal (CDR) landscape launched on Tuesday three guides for ensuring decision-making around the sector reflects Tribal priorities and goals.

California’s proposed carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) and removal (CDR) regulations have drawn competing calls for broader project eligibility, tighter definitions, stronger community safeguards, and lighter-touch treatment of federally regulated geologic storage, according to public comments submitted to state regulator ARB.

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.

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.

Risks of 'hot air' credits - The first two projects - PoA 10471 and PoA 10415, both clean cookstove projects in Myanmar - approved for use under Article 6.4, the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) have been found to hugely overestimate their climate impact by Carbon Market Watch (CMW). This is despite efforts to rein in overcrediting, which didn't downsize the crediting sufficiently enough - leaving PoA 10471 likely over-credited by a factor of seven over the authorised monitoring period, the watchdog said. The project's original 1.1 mln credits received a 40% haircut in the adjustment, but a 92% haircut would have been needed to reflect the actual likely climate impact of the project, it said. Issues with over-crediting include the omission of 'stacking' - whereby beneficiaries use other more polluting cookstoves that aren't monitored by the project. CMW urges all countries  to hold off on approving or purchasing credits from CDM transition projects until they pass an independent quality check, and warns that allowing poor-quality CDM credits into the PACM will ultimately undermine the latter's credibility and efforts to reign in climate change.

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.

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".

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.

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 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.

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.

A US climate platform is seeking more than 100,000 carbon removals (CDR) and super pollutant mitigation credits, with a particular focus on projects in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and island nations, it announced.

Trading activity on Indonesia’s carbon exchange continued to weaken in May, with volumes and transaction values falling to a 10-month low as deals stayed confined to smaller spot transactions, exchange data showed.

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.