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.

European Union leaders are expected to air ongoing “discontent” at a summit on Thursday over the European Commission’s handling of a major overhaul of the bloc’s carbon market, after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused Brussels of ignoring political guidance agreed at a March summit, an EU diplomat said.

EUAs ended the day flat as energy markets seesawed amid a tentative reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with participants pointing to rising European equities as offering an increasingly bullish signal.

Standing up for steel - The EU ETS isn't working for energy-intensive industry, argued Lakshmi Mittal, the executive chair of steelmaker ArcelorMittal, in an article for the FT. Reasons for this include that low-cost, low-emission energy sources for steel and other energy-intensive sectors remain elusive and that decarbonisation enablers such as competitive electricity prices, low-cost green hydrogen, carbon contracts for difference, premium for green steel, and CCS are not in place, he said. "No company can afford to invest without a credible path to competitiveness", and Europe is effectively alone in charging a significant cost for CO2 emissions, while its energy prices are far higher than elsewhere. Mittal expressed strong concern for the "rapid and large increase in planned ETS costs over the next five years", saying that by the early 2030s, the company expects the cost of EU-made steel to have increased by about 50%, directly due to additional ETS-imposed costs. In contrast, Mittal added that it remains unclear when steel-intensive imports will bear comparable costs, and nor has the Commission implemented a proposed rebate to remove these costs from exports of steel-intensive goods. The consequence will be higher costs passed down the value chain - leading to a potential 30-40% decline in EU manufacturing activity, impacting up to 5 mln jobs, under the ETS 'as is' scenario. Mittal called for a way of "incentivising decarbonisation without compromising competitiveness" and that reforming the ETS is essential to doing so. ETS revenues must also be used to decarbonise industry, and first movers should be incentivised and not penalised, he added.  

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.

A new legal interpretation of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature goal could give climate litigants a fresh basis to challenge weak domestic climate policies and high-emitting projects, by treating states as having a due diligence obligation not to defeat the treaty’s object and purpose, a legal scholar told Carbon Pulse.

Carbon removal (CDR) buyers club Frontier launched more than $900 million in a new advance market commitment (AMC) while onboarding two major AI and technology buyers.

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.

Proposed US carbon border mechanisms for aluminium expose a trade-off between rapid protection from high-carbon imports and a slower, more stable route to industrial decarbonisation, according to a new analysis.

A project developer operating in Brazil hopes that a new rating will help its Amazon project set a benchmark to restore the credibility of REDD+, a representative told Carbon Pulse.

NGOs and European industry associations are pushing back against the European Commission’s plan to allow international carbon credits to be deducted from importers’ Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) fees, in a statement released on Wednesday.

Power to the people - The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank Group (AFDB) have announced that their Mission 300 initiative has connected over 50 million people to electricity across 40 countries in Africa, marking a key milestone towards its goal of reaching 300 mln people by 2030. Its now delivery electricity at nearly double the speed recorded when the initiative began, having driven gains in both on-grid and off-grid access. In Tanzania, 7.5 mln people have gained access to electricity under Mission 300 — a five-fold increase in the average annual pace of electrification prior to when it began, led by increased financing and growing policy momentum, while in Ethiopia, 4.6 mln people have been connected, supported by reforms to improve grid connection affordability. To date, the AFDB and World Bank have committed nearly $15 bln in financing and attracted about $4.5 bln in co-financing for Mission 300-related projects, while additional development partners have pledged more than $7 bln in support of Africa’s energy sector. Mission 300 coordinates governments, partners, and private sector investors to drive faster results on electrification.

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.

The EU is falling short of its legally mandated goal to boost carbon capture and storage capacity within the decade – even if every planned project makes it to development, according to new analysis, commissioned by large oil and gas companies. 

Cameroon is positioning carbon markets as a key pillar of its climate strategy, with an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) that boosts its emissions reduction ambitions, citing the economic value of its vast forests and clean energy potential as possible Article 6 revenue streams.

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.

Slovak clean tech support – The European Commission on Wednesday cleared a €1 bln Slovak scheme to boost clean technology manufacturing, backing investments in equipment such as batteries, solar panels, wind turbines and heat pumps under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF). Bratislava will offer grants and corporate tax relief to small, medium and large companies that add cleantech manufacturing capacity, with aid available until end-2030.

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.

Irish fuel aid – The European Commission on Wednesday approved an €85 mln Irish state aid scheme to help farm businesses cope with surging fuel costs linked to the Middle East crisis. Ireland will channel the support to companies active in the primary production of agricultural products, compensating them for higher fuel prices during the peak usage months of March to July 2026. Aid will take the form of direct grants of up to €0.20 per litre, calculated on 2025 fuel consumption. The scheme will run until Dec. 31, 2026 and was cleared under the Middle East Crisis Temporary State Aid Framework.

Chemicals and construction companies are the biggest winners from the latest changes to benchmarks used to determine the number of free EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) allowances handed to industries, according to an analyst from a carbon investment consultancy.

Big European steel and petrochemical firms benefiting from free EU carbon allowances have channelled billions of euros into share buybacks since 2022 while scaling back green investments, according to data compiled for Carbon Pulse ahead of a crunch summit this week.

A UN technical review has flagged inconsistencies and lacking transparency in Zimbabwe's carbon market infrastructure, including its national carbon registry, rules for collecting revenues, and the country's first Article 6 project – although the government did clarify many of the issues.

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.

The emissions from oil and gas produced by EU-based companies since the 2015 Paris Agreement are set to cause an estimated €1.5 trillion in climate damages worldwide, with three oil majors alone responsible for over two-thirds of that total, according to analysis by an environmental campaign group.

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.

Call for feedback - A consultation on the UK's Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes (VETS) is expected later this year, informing the review of the scheme in 2027, according to a letter from the Scottish Parliament to Scotland's Transport Committee. The VETS is the UK's regulatory framework that enforces the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate and sets strict CO2 standards for new cars and vans. As a four nations joint policy between the UK govt, Scottish govt, Welsh govt, and Northern Ireland executive, it may be necessary to launch the consultation during summer, the letter stated. The UK may water down its EV target, with the govt reportedly now speaking to industry about the plans, which could undermine its longer term carbon goals, according to recent media reports.

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. 

Environmental activists are demanding answers about several agricultural carbon credit projects in Ukraine, arguing that insufficient transparency surrounding the initiatives raises concerns about the integrity of future carbon credits that could be generated under the voluntary carbon market.

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.

SAF supply deal - EcoCeres has extended its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply agreement with British Airways (BA) until the end of 2030, according to an announcement Wednesday. The deal terms state that the company's SAF is expected to help BA avoid around 198,000 tonnes of lifecycle carbon emissions compared with using the same volume of fossil jet fuel - equivalent to offsetting around 341,000 round-trip economy-class seats on direct flights between London and New York. EcoCeres's SAF is made from 100% waste-based feedstocks such as used cooking oil and can achieve lifecycle GHG emissions reductions of up to 94.4% compared to fossil jet fuel. The extended commitment reflects the importance of long-term partnership across the aviation supply chain to support the SAF market scale, said the release.

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.

A new satellite-based assessment has found that industrial logging concessions across Africa's Congo Basin emit around 87.5 million tonnes of CO2 annually, while widespread adoption of reduced-impact logging practices could cut those emissions by up to 58% and unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in carbon finance.

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.

Belgium and the UK have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under the London Protocol to enable the cross-border transport and permanent storage of Belgian industrial CO2 in UK offshore storage sites, in what industry body CCSA hailed as a major step toward a Europe‑wide carbon storage market.

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.

Blown away – The European Investment Bank has agreed an additional €150 mln loan to Lithuania’s Ignitis Group, bringing its financing for the Baltic’s largest wind farm to €250 mln. The 314-MW Kelme wind farm started operations in June 2025, the bank said in a Tuesday press release, and Ignitis is looking to expand its portfolio across the region. EIB added that the project contributes to the REPowerEU programme, to scale-up renewables across the EU. Wind power accounted for 43% of Lithuania’s electricity supply in 2024, according to the IEA.

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

Increasing research and development, building out infrastructure, creating durable markets, and strengthening standards and measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification could help tech-based carbon removals to scale in the US, according to a report from an NGO.

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.

Projects registered with the International Carbon Registry (ICR) will be required to include both a rating and a risk assessment – the first carbon registry to make such a move.

A Vienna-based climate tech startup has secured Austrian government support to establish what it describes as the world's first integrated laboratory dedicated to assessing the CO2 storage potential of mineral materials.

Oil and gas companies have spent over $273 million to bolster carbon credit use in California’s emissions trading scheme, as well as shape early governance of climate-related market risks at a US financial regulator, a report found.

A majority of nature-based solutions (NbS) projects implemented in Canada over the past 15 years have focused narrowly on biodiversity conservation despite possessing significant untapped potential to simultaneously address climate change, water security, and other societal challenges, according to new research.