Independent due diligence on jurisdictional claims will be increasingly necessary for generating buyer-facing confidence in jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD+) programmes, speakers said during an online event on Thursday.

Regulatory oversight should be viewed as an enabling condition to scale up carbon credit markets, according to new research.

Supply bottlenecks make international carbon credit procurement cumbersome, but host country processes need to hasten to stimulate investment, said a representative of Switzerland’s procurement entity, adding domestic political pressures beckon on its horizon.

Carbon standard Verra has reinstated the Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon Project after a community formally reaffirmed its participation through a process conducted in line with Kenyan law.

A late burst of selling pushed EUAs back to the €80 mark, leaving the benchmark contract only marginally higher for the day, as European equities fell late, while traders anticipated that exports would soon start to ramp up from Middle Eastern energy hubs.

A small batch of an anticipated 5 million European soil carbon credits from one developer have traded at an average of just over €50 a credit.

A Dutch nature-based (NbS) project developer has completed a two-year assessment of soil carbon opportunities across Eastern Europe and launched a full feasibility study in Ukraine that could lead to carbon credit issuance before 2030, it announced Thursday.

Banks’ own climate-impacting activities are more likely to create transition-risk exposure through investors, clients, policymakers, or litigation than to materially increase their own physical climate risks, according to a new working paper on double materiality.

Ukraine has adopted a two-year framework on Wednesday to test procedures for authorising, issuing, and transferring mitigation outcomes under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, alongside rules for a national carbon registry.

The European Parliament’s largest political group is weighing changes to the EU carbon market aimed at shielding industry and limiting price volatility, according to a draft internal document seen by Bloomberg.

China repeatedly criticises the European Union's carbon border tariff as a unilateral trade measure, but a more pragmatic response is forming behind the scenes, according to a new report that said Beijing is aligning its own carbon architecture with European standards to protect exporters.

UK forest project – A UK-based afforestation, reforestation and restoration (ARR) project has received a BeZero Carbon ex ante rating of AApre with low execution risk, its developer announced on Thursday. The project, based in Scotland, is the first AA-level rating awarded to a UK Woodland Carbon Code scheme, according to developer Oxygen Conservation. The Invergeldie Estate Woodland Creation seeks to generate over 350,000 carbon removal credits over an 100-year commitment period, based on its native woodland work in Perthshire.

Fertilisers, wasted – A new analysis by Zero Carbon Analytics found that European farms spent €16 bln on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser that never reached crops, between 2019-24. The excess has leaked into rivers and streams, leading to nitrate contamination of groundwater and excessive water pollution. Some €6.1 bln was spent on gas for fertiliser that generated no food. Expenditure surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, jumping from €0.4 bln in 2019 to €2.9 bln in 2022. The news comes just as member states agreed on emergency measures to help farmers cope with rising fertiliser prices, as part of the bloc’s response to mounting pressure on farm incomes linked to the Middle East crisis.

Blue carbon – A blue carbon accelerator, managed by Fair Carbon and Finance Earth, announced its first cohort on Thursday, backing two mangrove projects in West Africa. The Blue Catalyst Fund will provide early-stage finance to projects in The Gambia and Guinea, offering technical expertise to help them develop “investment-ready” blue carbon initiative, Fair Carbon said in a statement. The Gambia-based North Bank Ecosystem Restoration Trust will use the accelerator’s funding to conserve and restore 16,950 ha of mangroves while Guinea-based West Africa Blue will scale its mangrove initiative across 34,000 ha of the country’s Forecariah and Boffa prefectures. The Blue Catalyst Fund, endorsed as an Action of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, aims to support the conservation and restoration of 150,000 ha of coastal ecosystems.

The European Commission is “seriously considering” granting free CO2 permits to shipping companies that use clean fuels as part of the upcoming reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) due to be presented in July.

Greener shipping - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has signed new supply agreements in northern Europe and the Mediterranean to expand use of bio-LNG on MOL-operated LNG-fuelled car carriers. Titan (part of Molgas) will continue to supply the fuel in northwest Europe, while Axpo will take charge of supply in the Mediterranean, the company said in a release Thursday. Replacing one tonne of conventional heavy fuel oil with bio-LNG through the initiative is estimated to reduce about 4.5 tonnes of CO2e. MOL aims to increase its GHG reduction efforts by expanding the geographic reach, volume, and quality of its bio-LNG fuel usage, as well as other next-gen fuels, in line with the shipping sector goal to reach net zero.

A Kenyan biogas project has announced it has secured formal approval from the country's government, eyeing Article 6 trade, just days after a government minister said the number of credits allowed for international sale would be limited to around 10 million until 2030.

A coalition of European clean aviation technology firms has urged the European Commission to extend the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) to international flights, directly challenging an earlier push by major airlines and six EU governments to curb or delay higher carbon charges on the sector.

As promises to tackle emissions in the short term butt heads with the realities of rising energy demand and pricey, early-stage carbon removal technologies, companies are increasingly looking for faster, easier wins – and driving a new market for superpollutant credits.

European lawmakers on Wednesday exposed deep divisions over the European Commission’s upcoming Electrification Action Plan, clashing over the pace of the rollout, how to pay for it, and which technologies should count as clean.

The UK Carbon Markets Forum (CMF) has appointed a new chair from a major global consultancy, as it seeks to accelerate the growth of global credit markets and deepen engagement across the financial sector.

The EU’s 27 member states agreed their position on Wednesday on emergency measures to help farmers cope with rising fertiliser prices, as part of the bloc’s response to mounting pressure on farm incomes linked to the Middle East crisis.

Divergent rules for managing carbon reversal risks could weaken market integrity and encourage project developers to choose less demanding standards, according to a report released Thursday.

Greenhouse gas emissions across the EU have fallen by more than 17% over the past decade, even as the bloc's economy expanded, according to fresh data released by Eurostat.

Formula 1, the top tier of international motorsport, has reduced its carbon footprint by 35% from its 2018 baseline and remains on track to becoming a net zero sport by 2030, according to its latest sustainability report.

Green voyage -  Japanese shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has signed new agreements with Dutch LNG supplier Titan and Swiss energy trader Axpo to expand the supply of bio-LNG fuel for its car carriers across Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. The move extends MOL's bio-LNG bunkering network to Spanish ports, including Malaga and Barcelona, building on an existing Northwest Europe arrangement, it said. MOL estimated that replacing one tonne of conventional fuel oil with bio-LNG avoids around 4.5 tCO2.

A Qatar-based standard body said it will likely revive an independent carbon finance facility in 2026, pitching itself as the only Global South standard with a governance and digital‑heavy approach to carbon markets.

Small island developing states (SIDS) want the Bonn climate talks to move mitigation finance and Article 6 support beyond discussions and towards practical access to concessional capital, project preparation support, and implementation pathways needed to meet finance-dependent climate targets, experts told Carbon Pulse.

Saldanha SAF – Phelan Green Hydrogen has licensed technology from Johnson Matthey for a planned electro sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) facility in South Africa's Western Cape, it was announced this week. The Saldanha Bay project is designed to produce 35,000 t of eSAF annually in its first phase, for sale into the EU and UK markets, before scaling up to 140,000 t/yr once fully developed. Construction is set to begin later this year, backed by a R47 bln ($2.9 bln) investment as part of a wider Phelan Green Hydrogen Project.