More than half of the world's largest companies now have net zero targets and nearly half plan to use carbon credits as part of their climate strategies, according to a report released Tuesday, highlighting the continued mainstreaming of voluntary carbon markets among major corporates.

Held to the fire – The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has sued burger chain Grill’d for alleged greenwashing over its Tree Day Tuesday campaign, it said on Tuesday. ACCC alleged that the burger chain misled customers over the campaign, which ran from Jan. 2021 to Apr. 2024, and its claim that it would donate A$1 (70 cents) from every burger sold on Tuesdays towards tree planting. Several conditions to eligibility meant that, of the 5 mln burgers sold on Tuesdays over the period, only 4% qualified for the donation. Grill’d said it had donated A$250,000 under the campaign, the Guardian reported. ACCC said it is seeking declarations, penalties, costs, and other orders from the court.

Rolling out the agreement - The first Joint Committee on Climate Change Cooperation held last week between officials from the governments of South Korea and Peru marks the long-awaited kick-off of an agreement signed in 2024, which entails an institutional framework for Article 6 collaboration, wrote in a social media post Rogelio Campos, technical specialist at the Ministry of Environment (MINAM). The meeting was first announced by MINAM's Director of Climate Change and Desertification, Jessica Moscoso, during the Peru Carbon Forum last month. The Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources at the time told Carbon Pulse last year that MINAM is in conversations with the Korean government to sign an Article 6.2 bilateral agreement, where procedures for project development and authorisation of international transfers are under evaluation. The official expected to sign an agreement in the first half of 2026.

Nearly a dozen major oil and gas companies are planning to increase their oil and gas output, exceeding the reductions needed to limit global warming and even to meet projected demand growth in the next few years, according to a study published on Thursday.

Political tensions around the issue of climate finance are seeping into and tainting progress in negotiations across other topics at annual mid-year UN climate talks in Bonn this week.

KAI PACT - Indonesia’s state railway operator, PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), has launched a decarbonisation roadmap aimed at achieving net zero emissions by 2060, with support from the UK government through the UK PACT programme. The plan targets a 25.8% emissions reduction by 2030 from a baseline of nearly 648,000 tonnes of CO2e, rising to 35.6% by 2035 and 78.2% by 2050 before reaching net zero in 2060. A key component is the electrification of around 1,039 km of rail infrastructure, including commuter rail services, the Jabodebek LRT and the Whoosh high-speed rail line. The roadmap also includes energy-efficiency measures, green building certification for stations and depots, expanded solar power deployment, and a shift from diesel fuel towards higher biodiesel blends, in line with Indonesia’s planned move from B40 to B50 biodiesel. KAI has already installed more than 3.4 MW of solar capacity across 66 sites and planted over 107,000 trees since 2021. Consultants involved in the project highlighted rail’s relatively small contribution to Indonesia’s transport emissions - around 1%, compared with roughly 89% from road transport - arguing that expanding and electrifying rail services could play a significant role in reducing overall transport-sector emissions by encouraging a shift away from private vehicles. The UK-backed initiative also includes studies on B50 biodiesel adoption, diesel-to-electric rail conversion, signalling upgrades, and financing mechanisms designed to help KAI access international climate finance, including sustainability bonds and other green investment instruments. (ecobiz.asia)

The status quo will be insufficient to reach a Belem pledge to quadruple the use of sustainable fuels by 2035, but the right policy signals and can help drive growth in the emerging sector, experts said during mid-year UN climate talks.

India and Japan have adopted the operational rules for their bilateral Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), making it India's first live framework for trading carbon credits under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.

"At least” 14 additional projects, but hopefully more, will receive host party approval (HPA) to transition to Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) by the deadline at the end of this month, a UN official said on Tuesday.

Global CO2 emissions need to reach net zero by 2045, followed by all GHG emissions around 2060, in order to limit warming to 1.5C in the long run, according to analysis published on Tuesday.

An Australian mineral carbonation company on Wednesday announced the launch of what it described as the world’s first carbon refinery, turning industrial CO2 streams into various materials.

New guidance published on Tuesday  by a carbon management advisory seeks to provide voluntary buyers of low-carbon fuels with a unified framework for assessing quality across a fragmented and rapidly evolving market.

Momentum behind the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement continues to build, according to the latest implementation status update from a partnership tracking the progress of UN carbon markets, with five new bilateral trade agreements inked in the past month.

Automotive industry associations in Brazil, Indonesia, and Colombia are adopting the messaging of major Japanese automakers on transport decarbonisation, advocating for the continued use of combustion-powered hybrid vehicles and alternative fuels over electric vehicles (EV), according to a think tank's analysis.

The developer of the first project to earn carbon credits under the UN's Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) defended a controversial Myanmar cookstove programme, while acknowledging that conflict and security concerns in the Southeast Asian country forced independent auditors to rely on remote verification.

Power generated by China's thermal power plants in May expanded 2.1% from a year ago, while momentum in the wind power sector slowed amid unfavourable wind conditions, according to government data released Tuesday.

A carbon project developer has pitched contracted durability mechanisms as a way to manage reversal risk, suggesting these buffer pool alternatives could equalise nature- and tech-based removal credits under the newly-introduced requirements of the Science-based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) latest Corporate Net-Zero Standard.

A project developer lobby group has thrown its weight behind a new stakeholder initiative that aims to boost the number of credits available for CORSIA to around 250 million by the spring of 2027.

Small islands and least developed countries accused some parties of attempting to weaken the role of science and sideline the 1.5C goal, warning that progress towards key climate finance commitments was faltering ahead of COP31 in Turkiye. 

Now open - The Australian government has officially opened its A$5 bln ($3.5 bln) Net Zero Fund for applicants, it announced. The design of the fund was finalised earlier this year, aiming to support large industrial firms to decarbonise energy-intensive parts of their operations and support investment in the scale-up of domestic manufacturing of low emissions technologies. Falling under the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF), the fund has a lower benchmark rate of return to enable it to invest in earlier-stage proposals, first-of-a-kind projects, or those with large upfront capital requirements and longer repayment periods compared to investments made under the NRF's General Fund.

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) issued some 1.74 million Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) in May, according to its latest update, as forward purchases of units are more frequently breaking past the A$38 ($26.85) price ceiling in recent weeks.

Under review - Malaysia's government is still refining the design and timing of its proposed carbon tax, taking into account industry readiness, Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup said on Tuesday, Edge Malaysia reported. Kurup said the tax would be implemented eventually, but said it was intended to encourage the adoption of green technologies and emissions reductions rather than punish industry. The Southeast Asian country had planned to introduce the tax this year for sectors such as steel, cement and construction, but is reviewing the timeline amid energy supply concerns and global geopolitical uncertainties. Its national climate change bill is expected to be tabled in parliament later this year.

At least four countries using the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 carbon markets mechanisms risk undermining, rather than strengthening, global climate action, according to an analysis published on Tuesday.

China has released a three-year action plan for emissions-intensive industries to help meet its energy conservation and carbon reduction targets for this decade.

The Australian government on Tuesday published guidance for companies to help them analyse and disclose climate risks.

Philippines - Sweden talks - The governments of the Philippines and Sweden held a courtesy meeting last week covering cooperation in energy transition, among other topics, a Department of Finance readout said. The Philippines Finance Secretary emphasised interest in attracting investments in renewable energy, while Trade Commissioner of Sweden to the Philippines mentioned hopes of seeing clean energy installation in the future. Employment opportunities and economic competitiveness were the focal point for the Philippines.

Southeast Asia’s energy system has been exposed as structurally vulnerable due to its reliance on imported fuels, a study said, as the Middle East conflict drives up costs and forces governments to put energy security at the centre of future policy.

Under scrutiny - South Korea should re-examine the quality standards and verification systems for international carbon credits used under its national ETS, as credits generated from a controversial cookstove project in Myanmar have been utilised by Korean companies for compliance, environmental group Plan 1.5 urged. Companies such as Korea Electric Power Corporation, SK Group, and Industrial Bank of Korea, have offset their emissions by purchasing credits generated by households literally in the firing line amidst the ongoing conflict in the Southeast Asian country, according to a new report by the non-profit.  

Battery boost - New South Wales' Energy Security Corporation (ESC) will commit A$100 mln ($70 mln) to rollout a battery platform across Sydney, Newcastle, and the Hunter Central Coast to strengthen electricity reliability as coal-fired power retires, it announced. The investment will support the construction of a battery network expected to reach up to 1 GW of capacity by 2031, the state government said, with the money to support the construction of four batteries. The ESC is designed to bring forward projects in parts of the grid where timing and location are critical for the energy transition, as the state's largest coal-fired power station, Origin Energy's Eraring, is set to retire by 2029.