Emissions linked to privately owned assets are highly concentrated among the world's wealthiest individuals, found an analysis published this week, highlighting what researchers described as a blind spot in climate policy.

The first meeting of a new Brazil-spearheaded “floating” forum on climate-related trade issues saw surprisingly positive engagement amid the backdrop of wider tensions around unilateral trade measures, a diplomat from the country told Carbon Pulse on the sidelines of annual mid-year UN climate talks.

The Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), a UN-regulated carbon market grounded in Article 6.4 rules, is guiding national frameworks, voluntary market (VCM) standards, and even other UN schemes, experts and country delegates said on the sidelines of climate talks in Bonn.

Good Gwang - POSCO has launched full-scale production of low-carbon steel at its Gwangyang Steelworks by bringing online South Korea’s largest electric arc furnace (EAF), marking a significant step in the decarbonisation of the country’s steel sector. The new EAF has an annual production capacity of 2.5 Mt and uses electricity to melt scrap steel, rather than relying on coal-fired blast furnaces. According to POSCO, the technology can reduce carbon emissions by up to 75% compared with conventional steelmaking methods. The company began construction in early 2024 and has now completed what it describes as its first large-scale EAF capable of producing molten iron for mainstream steel production. The investment comes as South Korea’s steel industry faces growing pressure to cut emissions. Steelmaking accounts for around 14% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, while tightening climate policies – including the EU’s CBAM and South Korea’s goal of reducing emissions 53-61% below 2018 levels by 2035 – are increasing the economic incentive to lower the carbon intensity of steel production. Because EAFs rely on recycled scrap, they can face challenges in controlling impurities and producing the highest-grade steel products. To address this, POSCO has developed a hybrid production approach that combines molten iron from EAFs and traditional blast furnaces, with the aim of producing high-quality automotive and electrical steel products by 2030. The move is being viewed as a milestone for South Korea’s steel industry, with Hyundai Steel also restarting a 1 Mt/yr EAF that had been idle for more than five years. Internationally, major steelmakers are making similar investments, including Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation and Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, both of which have announced large-scale EAF expansion plans. However, cost remains a major concern. POSCO estimates that operating the Gwangyang EAF at full capacity will increase the steelworks’ electricity consumption by around 10%, while South Korea’s industrial electricity prices have risen 76% since late 2021. Industry representatives warn that without additional policy support, such as lower power costs or incentives for low-carbon industrial investments, the shift to cleaner steelmaking could undermine the competitiveness of domestic producers. (Chosun)

A major international financial markets lobby group has urged the European Commission to ensure that carbon prices paid in third countries under the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) encompass all recognised compliance instruments, including domestic and international credits, warning that proposed restrictions could undermine the bloc's objective of preventing double carbon pricing.

Retirements across the voluntary carbon market (VCM) were strong across the first five months of 2026  with volumes no longer concentrated at lower price points, according to new analysis, but removals purchases were down by 50% over the same period with questions over whether recent demand boosts will be enough to keep developers heads above water.

Nearly 60% of top financial institutions still lack any meaningful policy to combat deforestation, which could have consequences for the world's efforts to meet global biodiversity targets, according to a new report.

An ocean carbon removal research initiative on Wednesday unveiled plans to launch a $5 million funding round aimed at expanding a global research network for ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), as interest grows in marine CDR technologies but questions remain over their scalability, environmental impacts, and monitoring requirements.

Supply and demand hangs in the air for Phase 1 Corsia with the unknown of credit quantity rubbing against regulatory uncertainty, a webinar heard Wednesday.

Verra and S&P Global Energy have announced that their "next-generation" environmental registry platform will officially go live on July 27, which they say marks a major upgrade for global carbon market infrastructure.

Every dollar that a company invests in emissions reduction generates an average of $2.40 in return, and in some cases up to $7 over its lifetime, according to the latest report by an environmental disclosure non-profit.

An environmental commodities broker and an energy trader have launched a second carbon auction, offering 100,000 Article 6- and CORSIA-labelled credits.

Several countries sent reduced delegations to the SB64 UN climate talks in Bonn due to the effects of US- and Israel-led war in the Middle East, or were completely absent, according to parties and observers.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) opened a public consultation on Wednesday on a draft international standard for net zero transition planning.

Miners across Asia have broadly adopted environmental, social, and governance policies, but many are struggling to implement those commitments, according to a report published on Wednesday.

After more than a decade teaching smallholder farmers how to turn crop waste into biochar, the leaders of a climate tech firm said that beyond making the biochar itself, the real complexity lies in building the relationships and infrastructure needed to sell high‑durability carbon removal credits.

Malaysia and South Korea have agreed to cooperate on biogas development and carbon market initiatives, including potential Article 6 projects under the Paris Agreement, they announced this week.

Engaging India's sub-national governments is crucial for navigating the practical realities of Article 6.2 partnerships in the country, a conference heard Wednesday. 

A Singapore-based venture builder announced the launch of its second fund on Wednesday, with a target of $100 million to go towards climate startups.

India is wasting some of its renewable electricity because coal-fired power plants cannot wind down any further during periods of peak solar generation during daytime, making battery storage a necessity, according to a report published Wednesday.

New Zealand’s climate minister has promoted the government's efforts to build capacity and cooperation on carbon markets in the Asia Pacific, but said nothing regarding its likely need to purchase millions of overseas credits to meet its 2030 international climate target.

Price forecasting - Think tank Japan Research Institute announced it will begin offering a carbon price forecasting service based on GX-ETS pricing and the GX-surcharge carbon levy to be introduced in FY2028. Forecasts will include estimates of the carbon price per unit of emissions for seven industries, including electricity, steel, chemicals, and cement. The service aims to support corporate decision-making on decarbonisation measures by providing indicators against which internal carbon prices can be set.

Forming ties - Japan's Green Carbon said it signed a new agreement with the Department of Agriculture and Environment in Vietnam's An Giang province, which lies in the rice producing Mekong Delta, to develop carbon credits from methane reductions in rice cultivation using alternate wetting and drying (AWD) techniques. The company said it will launch a 100 ha pilot in 2025 and gradually expand implementation under Vietnam government's own one-mln-ha low-emissions rice programme. Green Carbon said it is targeting the generation of around 3.66 mln carbon credits by 2035 across its Vietnam AWD project portfolio, while An Giang is expected to become one of its largest project areas. It has signed cooperation agreements with authorities in 15 Vietnamese provinces since opening a local office in 2024.

New partnership -  The Carbon Removal India Alliance (CRIA), an industry body representing more than 25 CDR companies, has signed a partnership agreement with New Delhi-based advisory firm cKinetics to support the growth of India's durable CDR sector, it announced. The organisations said they will jointly develop research, stakeholder forums, and projects aimed at improving access to finance, market infrastructure, and positioning the South Asian country as a hub for high-integrity carbon removal solutions.

Milking it – New Zealand-headquartered dairy giant Fonterra has signed a long-term virtual power purchase agreement with NZ Clean Energy (NZCE), the latter announced on Wednesday. The agreement guarantees a price for output from NZCE’s 129-MW Darfield Solar and Energy Storage Project, enabling its development, while acting as a hedge against future power price volatility for the cooperative. It comes amid a push by Fonterra to meet its 2030 target to halve its Scope 1 and 2 emissions, compared to 2018 levels.

EU officials on Wednesday soothed nerves about growing compliance costs and regulatory hurdles for Asian countries from its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) by highlighting plans to explore international credit purchase to meet its 2040 climate targets.

Shoring up - China is stepping up development of ultra-deep shale gas reserves in the Sichuan Basin, with state-owned giants Sinopec and PetroChina targeting formations around 4,500-5,000 metres below ground in a bid to boost domestic gas output and reduce import dependence, Reuters reported. The newly tapped Cambrian-age Qiongzhusi formation could add 10-15 bcm of annual production by 2035, helping lift China's shale gas output by more than a third from current levels. The move comes as production growth from shallower shale fields slows due to depletion, leaving China well behind its target of producing 80-100 bcm of shale gas annually by 2030.

Japan is considering using the average trading price in the GX-ETS as a reference price in carbon capture and storage support measures.

India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), administrator of the country’s emerging carbon market, has launched a public consultation on draft rules governing Programmes of Activities (PoA) under the offset mechanism.

Project-based carbon credit markets are moving towards a more regulated, state-led model as voluntary standards remain unable to address weak oversight, fragmented rules, and uncertainty around credit use, a report published Wednesday said.

A California-headquartered carbon credit investment and project management firm has opened a regional office in Singapore amid its Asian expansion efforts.