National Australia Bank (NAB) has acquired approximately 150,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) from Arnhem Land Fire Abatement NT (ALFA NT) in a five-year agreement. The deal, announced on Wednesday, represents NAB's largest single purchase of Australian carbon credits and will cover a significant portion of its residual operational emissions through 2031. ALFA NT, a First Nations-owned organisation, generates these credits through planned early dry-season burning across Arnhem Land. This transaction provides NAB with long-term supply certainty and follows recent federal government reforms to the Safeguard Mechanism and new savanna fire methodologies introduced in April 2026. All revenue from credit sales is reinvested into land and cultural management, supporting over 300 Indigenous Rangers.
REDD Monitor has called on Verra to refrain from verifying the Kajiado Rangelands Carbon project in Kenya, citing concerns over its developer, Mark Ritchie. Ritchie, involved in the previously suspended Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon Project, is developing the 1.5 million-hectare Kajiado project through Soils for the Future and CarbonSolve. The article highlights Ritchie's promotion of 'climate positive beef' and his past association with Belcampo, a meat company that faced scandal over mislabelled products. These issues raise questions about the integrity and scientific basis of Ritchie's carbon accounting methodologies.
BeZero Carbon, a London-based carbon credit ratings agency, acquired New York AI startup Cedar in late June 2026. The acquisition integrates Cedar's team and AI-powered climate data automation technology into BeZero Carbon's platform. This move aims to address the VCM's fragmented data structures, enabling faster, more granular risk assessments for institutional investors and project developers. The combined entity plans to roll out automated risk-scoring capabilities across more project classifications within 12 to 18 months.
Carbonmark has released an API designed to integrate carbon credit retirement directly into e-commerce checkouts. The API allows online businesses to discover, price, and retire carbon credits on demand, with fractional retirement capabilities down to 0.001 tCO₂e per order. Retirements are recorded on a public blockchain, providing tamper-proof and independently verifiable records for each transaction. This development aims to streamline the process of offsetting residual e-commerce emissions, moving from quarterly procurement to per-order action.
The Government of Himachal Pradesh, in partnership with Dr. Y.S. Parmar University and ProClime Services, has established India’s first indigenous biochar production facilities at Neri and Jahu in Hamirpur district. This initiative aims to process problematic biomass, such as pine needles and lantana, into biochar, providing financial incentives to local communities at Rs. 2.50 per kilogram of feedstock. The programme targets extending climate-smart agriculture across 50,000 hectares, managing 13.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, and is projected to generate approximately 28,800 carbon credits over ten years. This model integrates local environmental remediation with market-based carbon finance, enhancing soil health and providing rural employment.
A new report by Boeing, GenZero, and Abatable indicates Southeast Asian nations could generate up to $8.5 billion over the next decade by supplying carbon credits to the aviation industry's CORSIA programme. The region currently supplies 7% of global CORSIA-eligible credits, but this could increase eightfold to 20.8 million units if governments authorise 54 existing projects. The $8.5 billion figure is based on a potential supply of 348 million CORSIA-eligible units priced at $23 each. The report urges governments to issue letters of authorisation for these projects, which are currently backlogged, to unlock this economic potential. This action would also allow ASEAN airlines to meet their first-phase CORSIA obligations domestically.
Sylvera has updated its Improved Forest Management (IFM) ratings framework, integrating its proprietary Biomass Atlas to independently verify project-reported carbon stock changes. The revised framework introduces a more robust additionality assessment, differentiating between avoided-logging and removals-only projects, and incorporates an Internal Rate of Return (IRR)-based financial additionality test. It also enhances permanence risk assessment by using Biomass Atlas data to cross-validate natural disturbance impacts and identify unreported carbon stock reversals. These changes aim to address long-standing integrity concerns in IFM projects, such as baseline inflation and weak additionality. IFM credit issuances have doubled since 2022, accounting for 61% of nature-based issuances in 2026, with North America leading in quality supply.
Biochar On Site and 3Degrees Group are hosting a webinar on 1 July to discuss integrating distributed biochar production into existing carbon credit frameworks. The event will focus on enabling small-scale, mobile biochar projects, which use methods like flame cap kilns and mobile carbonisers, to access carbon markets. These organisations aim to align low- and mid-tech biochar systems with methodologies from registries such as Verra and the Climate Action Reserve. This initiative seeks to create new revenue streams for small operators, making localised biochar projects economically viable and supporting wildfire risk reduction.
Verra released the second component of its quality control review (QCR) for the Kariba REDD+ Project, focusing on safeguards. The project's validation/verification bodies (VVBs) reassessed original audit evidence regarding trophy hunting, benefit sharing, and financial compliance. The VVBs found no evidence of a breach of Verra's rules in these areas at the time of their original assessments. However, the project proponent, Carbon Green Investments, withdrew the project from the Verra Registry during the QCR, preventing the VVBs from gathering new evidence. Verra noted that a project of this type seeking registration today would face a materially higher bar due to enhanced safeguards in the latest VCS Program.
Deep Sky has delivered the first certified direct air capture (DAC) credits in North America from its Deep Sky Alpha facility in Alberta, Canada. These credits, certified under Isometric's Direct Air Capture Protocol, are also the world's first Core Carbon Principles (CCP)-labelled DAC carbon removal credits. Microsoft and Royal Bank of Canada will receive these credits as part of a multi-year carbon dioxide removal purchase agreement extending through 2034. This marks Isometric's first issuance of DAC credits and demonstrates a rigorous certification pathway for DAC technology.
The European Commission has launched the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Buyers' Club website, a voluntary market platform to aggregate corporate demand for certified CRCF units, including biochar. Operating across the EU, the initiative aims to mobilise capital and accelerate the transition of high-integrity carbon removal technologies to commercial scale. The platform addresses fragmented demand and lack of commercial predictability by coordinating public and private funding, offering standardised contractual templates, and facilitating pooled buying capacity. This framework establishes a stable, price-setting venue, with initial buyers registering interest to execute the first certified offtake agreements by late 2026. This aggregated demand provides revenue certainty for large-scale biochar suppliers, supporting the EU's climate neutrality objectives.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has published its final Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0, which mandates that companies must neutralise long-lived greenhouse gas emissions with equally permanent carbon removals by their net-zero year. The new standard introduces a 'like-for-like' principle, meaning fossil CO2 emissions cannot be offset with short-lived carbon credits. It also establishes a voluntary Ongoing Emissions Responsibility (OER) programme with three tiers for pre-net-zero removal procurement, becoming mandatory for Category A companies from 2035. The final version removed language that would have barred companies from using credits also counted in host-country climate plans, allowing eligibility regardless of corresponding adjustments. This clarifies procurement timelines and reinforces the value of durable carbon removal for corporate climate strategies.
The Bangladesh government and ProClime, an international climate delegation, met in Dhaka to discuss expanding green cooperation, focusing on renewable energy, sustainable development, carbon markets, and biochar deployment. The partnership aims to establish frameworks for green capital deployment and environmental conservation across South Asia. This initiative seeks to attract large-scale, sustainable commercial investments into Bangladesh's green sector, particularly for emerging technologies like biochar infrastructure. By leveraging ProClime's expertise, the collaboration will direct green investments towards regional sustainable development projects and integrate state environmental priorities with private carbon asset mechanisms. The engagement is intended to enhance Bangladesh's visibility in global carbon credit networks and facilitate future commercial biochar facility deployments.
Ibero Massa Florestal's Avenal project in Portugal, commissioned in 2024, processes woody biomass using pyrolysis technology to produce 1,670 tonnes of biochar annually. This process is certified to permanently mitigate 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per year. The facility aims to mitigate wildfire risk by clearing forest residues and has secured formal certification for carbon removal applications. The company plans to triple its production capacity following this validation. This initiative links landscape conservation to international carbon markets, offering a scalable regional climate solution.
Siam Modern Green Energy (SMGE) inaugurated its biochar manufacturing plant in Surat Thani, Thailand, on 15 June 2026. The facility converts agricultural waste into biochar and certified carbon removal credits, establishing a biochar industrial chain in Southeast Asia. This initiative addresses inefficient agricultural waste disposal and aims to provide verifiable carbon removal assets for the voluntary carbon market. The plant integrates third-party verified Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) methodologies to issue high-integrity carbon removal certificates. It also creates employment and new revenue streams for local farmers.
Climeworks Solutions, a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) portfolio service, signed 14 new agreements in the first half of 2026, totalling 450,000 tonnes of CDR. These agreements involve major corporations including NTT DATA, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Tapestry, spanning sectors like banking, aviation, and healthcare. The service aggregates high-quality CDR pathways, combining Climeworks' Direct Air Capture expertise with diverse methodologies such as biochar, BECCS, ERW, and ARR. This initiative aims to streamline procurement and provide diversified risk profiles for corporate buyers seeking scalable carbon removal solutions.
RenewCred, an Indian climate-tech platform, has deployed an AI and blockchain-backed infrastructure to convert agricultural waste into verifiable carbon credits. Collaborating with local project developers like Shree Radharani Agrotech and JEET Agrotech, RenewCred enables smallholder farmers to monetise crop residue through biochar production. The platform anticipates generating approximately 100,000 carbon credits in the current fiscal year, mitigating 100,000 tonnes of CO2e. This initiative addresses the challenge of post-harvest crop residue management in India, aiming to reduce open-field stubble burning and provide additional income for farmers.
Amazon has launched a programme allowing Climate Pledge signatories and selected suppliers to purchase high-integrity carbon offsets from its pre-financed mitigation portfolio. Participants can buy credits in tranches as small as 100 units from three foundational projects: a 1PointFive direct air capture facility, an Indian agricultural methane reduction initiative, and a South African landscape restoration project. This initiative enables smaller entities to access premium removal assets without long-term offtake commitments, addressing a supply deficit for high-integrity credits. Amazon aims to facilitate supply chain decarbonisation and accelerate the deployment of technological removals by acting as a market aggregator.
The draft ISO 14060 net-zero standard requires companies to begin purchasing carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits within five years of setting a net-zero target, scaling up to full counterbalancing of residual emissions. This contrasts with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) 2.0 standard, which only mandates CDR purchases from 2035, starting at 1% of emissions. Both standards specify durable, high-quality removals for residual emissions, with ISO requiring at least 100 years of storage and SBTi specifying 'long-lived' removals. The ISO standard integrates CDR procurement into transition plans from the outset, unlike SBTi's later-stage approach.
Peru's government has approved four additional Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) methodologies for use in its National Registry of Mitigation Measures (RENAMI). This allows projects certified under the VCS Programme using these methodologies to be registered in RENAMI. The newly approved methodologies are VM0038 for Electric Vehicle Charging Systems, VM0042 for Improved Agricultural Land Management, VM0044 for Biochar Utilization, and VMR0014 for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles. This decision expands the types of VCS projects eligible for RENAMI, which tracks Peru's progress towards its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
BeZero Carbon announced on 25 June 2024 its acquisition of Cedar, a platform specialising in automating sustainability workflows. The acquisition aims to integrate Cedar's technology into BeZero Carbon Markets, expanding its self-service data and analytical tools for subscribers. Cedar's founding team, including CEO Farouq Ghandour, will join BeZero Carbon. This move is intended to provide users with more sophisticated due diligence tools and enhance access to insights and data for investment decisions.
The European Commission launched the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Buyers’ Club website, establishing a voluntary market platform to aggregate demand for permanent carbon removals, including biochar, DACCS, and BioCCS. This initiative aims to mobilise public and private capital and facilitate initial purchases of permanent carbon removals by December 2026. The platform addresses a financing gap and fragmented corporate demand that previously hindered pilot projects from reaching a Final Investment Decision. It will provide revenue certainty for suppliers and lower transaction costs by coordinating private investment and offering standardised tools. The Buyers' Club seeks to accelerate market uptake and deployment of these technologies across the EU.
A new study published in Nature Climate Change by researchers from Nanyang Technological University and the World Bank found that most forest carbon projects have 'mixed, negligible or negative impacts' on ecological integrity. Evaluating 133 projects against matched controls, the study used five ecological-integrity indicators. Only nine of 116 projects (8%) showed positive effects across all five indicators, while 19 projects (16%) exhibited 'poorer ecological conditions than the surrounding unprotected forests'. The findings suggest fundamental shortcomings in these climate solutions, often due to a carbon-centric design that prioritises carbon storage over ecological integrity.
KARBNZ Global is developing a natural capital platform across over 1.1 million hectares in Brazil, integrating afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) carbon credits, biomass production, and biochar carbon removal. This approach aims to create diversified revenue streams from a single operational footprint, addressing historical vulnerabilities of nature-based investments. The company will convert forestry residues and agricultural waste into biochar, valued at $300-$600 per tonne, and produce certified biomass pellets for energy markets. This strategy seeks to establish predictable operational revenue before ARR credits are finalised, enhancing project resilience and attracting institutional investment. The initiative aims to demonstrate that landscape-scale climate interventions can function as resilient, institutional-grade operating assets.
The Bonn climate conference saw proponents advocate for a 'learning by doing' approach to Article 6 carbon markets ahead of COP31. Carbon Market Watch criticised this approach, stating it poses risks for climate and society. While funding arrangements for Article 6 were the only official negotiation item, the broader discussion focused on implementing the mechanisms despite unresolved issues.
Groundwork BioAg has issued 19,568 net Verified Carbon Units from its Rootella Carbon programme, independently verified by SCS Global under Verra's Verified Carbon Standard. This marks the first issuance of credits from a mycorrhizal fungi-driven soil carbon dioxide removal (CDR) programme at commercial scale under a third-party registry framework in the US. The programme, which has expanded from 9,000 acres in 2023 to over 700,000 acres across the US Midwest and Canadian prairies, allows farmers to generate soil CO2 credits from agricultural activities using mycorrhizal inoculants. Verra CEO Mandy Rambharos noted that the issuance demonstrates methodology VM0042 'working as intended on the ground' for agricultural land management.
Kristjan Luha, co-founder of eAgronom, argues that satellite data alone is insufficient for credible carbon markets in agriculture, as it cannot capture crucial management decisions driving emissions and removals. While satellites provide valuable insights into land use, they do not show details like fertiliser application, tillage depth, or crop rotation, which are primary drivers of greenhouse gas outcomes. Luha asserts that primary data, sourced directly from farms and detailing practices such as fertiliser use, tillage, and soil characteristics, is essential for credible measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV). This primary data must be traceable, auditable, and linked to robust methodologies to demonstrate measurable change at the farm level. The complexity of farming systems necessitates layered datasets, as no single sensor or data source can provide a complete picture for accurate carbon accounting.
Gold Standard, ClimatePartner, and Pinwheel released a report introducing the 'Ongoing Emissions Responsibility' (OER) framework, which could mobilise up to $17 billion annually for climate finance if companies link ongoing emissions to climate action. The framework, an evolution of Beyond Value Chain Mitigation, is incorporated into the Science Based Targets initiative's Corporate Net-Zero Standard 2.0. OER differentiates from traditional offsetting by treating financial contributions as support for global climate goals, with carbon credits as one tool among others. The $17 billion figure is based on EU and US companies applying SBTi's advanced OER benchmark of a $20 per tonne contribution to 10% of economy-wide emissions.
Verra announced a multi-year partnership with ServiceNow and Docusign, valued at over $1 million, to integrate AI and overhaul its customer service and contract infrastructure. The initiative aims to streamline interactions with project developers and accelerate the verification and issuance of carbon credits. This digital transformation seeks to address administrative bottlenecks and improve efficiency within the voluntary carbon market. The project will deploy a ServiceNow-powered customer service management platform integrated with Docusign's Intelligent Agreement Management, with implementation led by The Process Play and LeverX.
IETA has partnered with Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB), the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC), and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) to host its annual Asia Climate Summit (ACS) from 7-9 July in Hong Kong. The summit will address the fragmentation of Asia Pacific's carbon markets, which currently account for over 50% of global emissions. Discussions will focus on Article 6 implementation, CORSIA, carbon pricing, and market integrity to drive decarbonisation across the region. This collaboration aims to position Asia as a strategic hub for carbon market development, bringing together regulatory, financial, and market infrastructure expertise.
Bio360 Africa 2026, in partnership with the Southern African Biogas Industry Association (SABIA), convened stakeholders in Johannesburg to address challenges in scaling Africa's biochar sector. Discussions highlighted widespread data fragmentation and a lack of producer trust as key barriers to biochar technology adoption and carbon market integration among South African farmers. Industry leaders proposed deploying high-integrity measuring platforms and localised corporate partnerships, alongside transparent tracking programmes like Carbon Crop Rewards, to demystify compliance. These initiatives aim to provide verified quantification metrics meeting international standards, such as Puro.earth, to enhance financial sustainability and climate resilience for agribusinesses. The goal is to overcome operational uncertainty and facilitate the monetisation of high-integrity carbon removal credits.
A Nuffield Australia report, supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation, indicates Australia risks falling behind in the global biochar market due to a lack of coordinated domestic incentives. The study identifies three farmer-led business models—medium-scale centralised systems, small-scale mobile units, and medium-scale cooperative frameworks—to overcome structural and financial barriers for Australian producers. Financial modelling suggests a medium-scale facility producing 1,000 tonnes of biochar annually could generate over AU$550,000 from carbon credits alone. The report advocates for integrating biochar into Australia's formal carbon credit frameworks to secure economic returns. This move aims to position Australian agriculture competitively against international investments in biochar.
The Government of Singapore, via the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), and the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) signed a Cooperation Agreement on 24 June 2026. This agreement aims to strengthen collaboration on developing credible, interoperable, and high-integrity carbon markets. The partnership will advance the work of the Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets and promote high-integrity carbon market development in Asia through joint initiatives, capacity-building, and knowledge-sharing. This move reflects increasing international efforts to build interconnected carbon markets and enhance confidence in high-integrity carbon credits.
Novo Nordisk has signed a 20-year partnership with re.green to restore 500 hectares of native forest in Paragominas, Pará, Brazil. This project aims to generate 87,000 carbon removal credits over its duration, with the first issuance expected in November 2031. The initiative will focus on natural regeneration and active planting, with periodic verifications every three years through 2045. Credits generated will be certified using ICVCM science-based methodologies.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has released a draft of its Corporate Net-Zero Standard (CNZS) 2.0, which proposes allowing environmental attribute certificates, including carbon credits, for scope 3 abatement up to 5% of a company's total emissions. This marks a shift from previous SBTi guidance that largely excluded carbon credits from abatement targets. The draft also introduces a 'beyond value chain mitigation' category, permitting carbon credit use for neutralising residual emissions and financing climate action. This development could significantly influence corporate climate strategies and the voluntary carbon market by providing a clearer, albeit limited, role for carbon credits in meeting net-zero targets.
Verra reinstated the Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon project, run by Northern Rangelands Trust, last week, despite a 2025 court ruling that two of the project's conservancies were unconstitutionally established. The project, which has sold over 6 million carbon credits, faced a previous suspension in 2023 and again in 2025. Indigenous Peoples accuse Northern Rangelands Trust of 'tricks and dishonest dealings' and coercion regarding land use agreements, stating the project lacks their free, prior, and informed consent. One of the legally challenged conservancies, Biliqo Bulesa, contributes approximately 20% of the project's carbon credits. Companies like Meta and Netflix have purchased credits from this project, which has generated an estimated US$42 million to US$90 million.
Climeworks Solutions, a subsidiary of Climeworks, secured 14 new carbon dioxide removal agreements in the first half of 2026, totalling approximately 450,000 tonnes of carbon removal. These multi-year contracts involve global corporations including Tapestry, NTT DATA, and TD Bank. The agreements utilise Climeworks' diversified carbon dioxide removal portfolio service, which combines direct air capture with external high-permanence methodologies like biochar, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and enhanced rock weathering. This aggregated procurement framework aims to address market fragmentation and provide predictable capital for early-stage removal technologies. The deals expand Climeworks Solutions' client base to over 200 multinational companies.
Carbonmark, a blockchain-powered carbon credit marketplace, announced a partnership with Satellites on Fire, a climate tech company specialising in early wildfire detection. This collaboration aims to integrate Satellites on Fire's real-time monitoring capabilities, using satellite data, tower cameras, and AI, into Carbonmark's infrastructure. The partnership seeks to enhance the integrity and permanence of forestry-based carbon projects by providing continuous, data-backed visibility into project conditions and enabling faster responses to wildfire risks. This initiative supports a shift towards more dynamic, data-informed carbon markets, where integrity is maintained throughout a project's lifecycle.
A new H1 2026 report from AlliedOffsets indicates a 4% year-on-year increase in carbon credit retirements to 104 million credits, despite a 44% decline in global issuances to 108.2 million credits. Biochar has emerged as the dominant carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathway, accounting for 57% of all-time CDR issuances and 53% of permanent retirements. Cumulative CDR offtake agreements total 48.5 million tonnes, significantly outpacing the 2.65 million tonnes of actual credits issued since 2022. Corporate buyers are increasingly prioritising high-integrity removal pathways, with biochar delivering 1.58 million of the 2.75 million total CDR issuances to date. The market is also seeing a 64% year-on-year increase in Core Carbon Principles-approved credit issuances, reflecting a shift towards verified quality.
Frontier, an advance market commitment for carbon removal, has approved Puro.earth's Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) methodology for certifying carbon credits. This marks the second Puro.earth methodology recognised by Frontier, following the approval of its Geologically Stored Carbon methodology in 2024. The ERW 2025 methodology, developed with academic and industry experts, introduces updated requirements including two independent measurement methods and improved accounting for CO2 losses. This approval enables suppliers to use the framework for ERW credits within Frontier's commitment to purchase $1.8 billion of permanent carbon dioxide removal by 2040.