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.

A group of Canadian nonprofits and advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking a judicial review of its alleged failure to bring the Emissions Reduction Plan for 2030 (ERP) into compliance, listing over 30 instances of environmental rollbacks as of June.

Washington state regulators adopted revisions to the US forest offset protocol under its cap-and-invest programme on Tuesday, finalising changes intended to make the crediting framework more applicable to the state's forests while responding to comments on permanence and Tribal land constraints.

A mangrove restoration project in western Senegal has been registered under Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community, and Biodiversity (CCB) standards, becoming the second globally under the body's flagship VM0033 blue carbon methodology, its developer announced this week.

Solar safeguard - Hawai'i Gov. Josh Green (D) signed an executive order preserving state solar tax credits for some projects already underway in 2026, after a new law reducing incentives for commercial-scale and rooftop solar systems raised concerns over more than $400 mln in existing project financing, E&E News reported. The law capped annual credit amounts and phases them out entirely by 2030, with changes written to apply retroactively from the start of 2026. Green’s order exempts projects completed by May 21, as well as projects whose developers can show they reasonably relied on the credits when arranging financing before that date, while leaving the broader 2030 phase-out unchanged.

A Rio de Janeiro-headquartered mining company has mapped nearly $2.5 billion in estimated decarbonisation-related spending and warned that carbon pricing mechanisms could cost the company up to $4 bln from 2030 onwards, according to an annual report.

Verra has put a large Zambian REDD+ project on hold, six years after project registration, according to the standard body's registry.

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)

A UN-backed restoration finance facility has partnered with a Peru-focused nature-based solutions developer to help advance a pipeline of community-led forest restoration and conservation projects targeting carbon, biodiversity, and sustainable land-use outcomes across Latin America.

IMF advice - The IMF has warned that the EU's CBAM poses a growing risk to Bosnia and Herzegovina's economy, identifying it as one of several factors that could weigh on exports and growth in coming years. According to a Mission Concluding Statement released Tuesday, the introduction of CBAM from 2026 will affect around 11% of the country's exports to the EU, particularly shipments of aluminium, cement, electricity, and iron and steel. The IMF said Bosnia and Herzegovina should prioritise the development of emissions monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems that meet EU standards, which could help exporters demonstrate lower emissions intensities and reduce their CBAM liabilities. Over the longer term, the country will need to accelerate industrial decarbonisation and investment in renewable energy to preserve competitiveness and maintain access to EU markets. The report also endorsed carbon pricing as part of the country's transition strategy. While it described the eventual adoption of an EU-aligned emissions trading system (ETS) as an important objective, the IMF suggested that a carbon tax could serve as an interim solution. It said revenues from such a tax could be used to help households and businesses manage the costs of the energy transition, while also supporting efforts to reduce emissions and limit future CBAM-related costs.

The UK government should incorporate project-level ratings assessments when they integrate domestic carbon removals into their Emissions Trading System (ETS), a ratings agency said Tuesday.

European carbon allowance prices fell away over the course of Tuesday morning before rallying strongly in the afternoon with UKAs, after Britain and EU confirmed a Jul. 22 date for a summit that's expected to include an agreement to link carbon markets, while energy markets continued to weaken amid expectations of steadily improving supply from the Middle East in the coming weeks.

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.

The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is finally delivering what industrial investments need most – a long-lasting, technology-neutral price signal for decarbonisation – and the upcoming reform needs to reinforce the market's core function, a northern European business coalition said on Tuesday.

A group of companies including Danone, Nestle, and Unilever, shared a set of recommendations on Tuesday which it says could accelerate a European agricultural transition under the bloc’s Carbon Removal Carbon Farming (CRCF) regulation.

"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.

New aviation fund - The UK government has announced a £219 mln Low Carbon Fuels Fund to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a cleaner alternative to conventional jet fuel. The initiative includes £93 mln available over the next two years for UK companies developing low-carbon fuel projects, prioritising those closest to commercial production. The fund aims to strengthen the UK’s position as a global hub for low-carbon fuels, potentially supporting 15,000 jobs and contributing £5 bln to the economy by 2050. Alongside the funding, the government launched a review of the SAF Mandate, which requires increasing proportions of sustainable fuel in UK aviation, while maintaining its long-term decarbonisation targets.

The European Commission will present in July a separate proposal with additional benchmarks for certain industries to increase their allocated free ETS allowances, alongside the revision of the bloc's carbon market, and will work with co-legislators for a swift adoption, it confirmed on Tuesday.

EU member states have agreed a partial negotiating position on the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), a flagship pillar of the bloc’s next long-term budget.

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.

Calling all free allocation requests - UK ETS participants have until June 30 to submit the second stage of their applications for free allowances, or will be ineligible for the period between 2027-30, the UK ETS Authority said on Tuesday. The submission window is relevant to installations for which operators have submitted a complete and verified baseline data report, for the first stage of the application between April and June last year.

A Helsinki-based carbon removal (CDR) registry has surpassed one million retired carbon credits, after retirements more than doubled in 2025, the company announced on Tuesday.

Europe’s governments face mounting fiscal risks from climate disasters as extreme weather becomes more frequent and severe, with public budgets increasingly filling the gap left by inadequate insurance coverage, a report warned 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.

Verra published its first framework to quantify emissions reductions in marine transport Tuesday in an effort to support alternative low-carbon fuels in shipping.

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.

Kenya's recent announcement that it will limit Article 6 transfers to 10 million Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) between 2026 and 2030 surprised many market participants, particularly given the scale of the country's existing carbon project pipeline, and may signal a fundamental shift for project developers relying on voluntary prices currently languishing in single-digit figures.

Italy is eyeing carbon market investments in Tanzania through Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, following a meeting between the two governments in Bonn, according to local media.

A voluntary carbon standard, a research non-profit, and an emirate in the UAE have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to foster carbon market engagement, including on the Paris Agreement’s Article 6, among other sustainable development objectives.

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.

Up to 60 European ports could be suitable for processing CO2 emissions for offshore storage by 2050, a new report has found, which examines how non-pipeline transport will play a key role in Europe's CO2 transport chain.

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 European Commission is preparing a major overhaul of the EU’s energy and climate governance rules, aiming to turn national planning from a reporting exercise into what officials described as “credible investment roadmaps” for the post-2030 energy transition.

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.

The cooling sector has great potential to generate Paris Agreement carbon credits – especially in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkiye (MENAT) – but projects must respect the boundaries set by other treaties, said the co-author of a recent report.

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.

Europe's largest steel and chemical companies have urged EU leaders to halt rising carbon costs they fear will result from an expected reform of the bloc’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) due to be presented in July.

A solid foundation - A letter written by impact VC fund Norrsken and co-signed by private companies and non-profits has called on the EU to become the world's first electro-continent, by setting a robust target to run over 50% of its economy on clean, domestic electricity by 2040. Running the economy on homegrown clean power is vital to energy security, with Europeans among the most exposed people on Earth to energy price shocks - having paid an extra €14 bln in fossil fuel imports in the first 30 days of the Iran war alone. Around 90% of Europe's economy can be electrified with existing tech, but less than a quarter runs on electricity today, so a key goal needs to be set, to give regulators, investors, and member states a shared destination to work towards, said the letter. Cheaper electricity will have multifold impacts, as it lays the basis for the next industrial era and attracts innovation, intelligence, and talent. Europe must be careful about relying too heavily on unstable supply chains for clean energy, though such materials are purchased once, while fossil fuel dependency is ongoing, at a price outside of the bloc's control. The letter urges the EU to become an 'electric union', stressing that every doubling of production drives down costs further and that over 90% of new renewable projects are cheaper than the fossil fuel alternative. Cheap energy is "the foundation on which everything else becomes possible", wrote Norrsken.

Green jobs in Africa - The continent's green transition could create up to 7.9 mln jobs by 2030, and 84 mln by 2050 – but labour protection policies and financing are needed to ensure that this growth does not exacerbate inequality, according to a report by the Nairobi-based development agency FSD Africa and the Shell Foundation. Some 86% of the expected jobs by 2030 are likely to be informal and excluded from labour protections. The lack of climate finance for the development of skills, currently around 1% of the total sums, is also creating a bottleneck. Africa's transition is expected to be decentralised and service-led, in areas such as clean cooking, off-grid solar, waste recycling, and electric mobility. These projects can create opportunities for youth, women, and low-income workers – with the right investments in training and workforce systems, as well as policies that provide formal labour protections, the report said.

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.

Sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are rising fast in Europe as drivers seek to benefit from increasingly affordable models, the chance to save on fuel use, and favourable climate policies, according to the European Commission.

A Swedish bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project developer has signed long-term agreements to supply permanent carbon removal (CDR) to two real estate companies, it announced Tuesday.

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.

EU consumer groups have lodged a greenwashing complaint with the European Commission and national consumer protection authorities against energy majors Engie, Eni Plenitude, Shell, and TotalEnergies over allegedly misleading marketing of “green” energy offers that still rely heavily on fossil gas.

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.

A coalition of agricultural, climate, and carbon market organisations has called on the European Commission to take urgent action to ensure demand for carbon farming credits, warning that the success of the EU's Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) regulation depends on creating a viable market for farmers.

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.

The EU could use performance-based reward funds for developing and emerging economies to cover the international component of its 2040 climate target at a cost of around €5 billion in 2040, according to a new policy paper.

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.

RGGI Allowance (RGA) futures largely settled above the $40 mark during the last week according to data on ICE, as traders expect relative price stagnancy in the absence of expected market interventions from Virginia's re-entry and affordability measures signalled by the administrator.

A US-based developer cancelled a biofuels project planned in central Louisiana, citing uncertainty in financing, regulatory, and carbon capture aspects of the projects, along with a “slower-than-expected market adoption” of sustainable marine fuels.