The ICAR–Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CCARI) and Core CarbonX Solutions Pvt. Ltd. launched 'Carbon Pathshala' in Old Goa, India, to train approximately 100 farmers in generating biochar-based carbon credits. The workshop, part of an ongoing research project, demonstrated converting agricultural residues into biochar using a portable pyrolysis unit. This initiative aims to provide smallholder farmers with additional income through verified carbon credits and enhance soil health. It establishes a framework for connecting coastal agroforestry residue management to voluntary carbon trading platforms.
The Carbon Exposure podcast concluded its fourth season with a debate on whether carbon credits function more as a commodity or a bond. Moderated by Daniel Lee of the Carbon Markets Academy of Singapore at NTU, the discussion featured Rene Velasquez, who argued for the commodity case, and Tommy Ricketts, CEO of BeZero Carbon, who presented the risk-based bond case. The debate explored how differing perspectives on carbon credit nature influence market structure, pricing, and liquidity. Key topics included the role of ratings as a quality proxy and the implications of standardisation versus inherent probabilistic complexity for market scalability.
The Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Programme, led by the Center for Conservation Innovations Philippines Inc. (CCIPH), aims to conserve over 40,000 hectares of ancestral Iraya Mangyan forest from 2020 to 2049. The programme combines Indigenous patrols, ancestral-domain support, carbon monitoring, and livelihood projects under REDD+, supporting approximately 2,500 households. While local officials report reduced timber poaching and mining, the programme awaits independent verification, a finalised benefit-sharing agreement, and carbon revenue, expected no earlier than 2029. The long-term success hinges on transparent revenue-sharing and sustained community involvement during this waiting period.
Green Carbon Inc., Mitsubishi UFJ Research & Consulting Co. Ltd., and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation jointly hosted an online seminar on carbon credit opportunities and decarbonisation in Vietnam. The event focused on navigating regulatory frameworks, the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), and pathways for credit generation, particularly from agricultural methane reduction. Mitsubishi UFJ Research & Consulting detailed Article 6 and JCM policy, while Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking covered transaction operations. Green Carbon presented its project development work and the 'Agreen' platform for streamlining project registration and asset monetisation. The initiative aims to accelerate corporate investment and facilitate high-integrity nature-based credit generation in Vietnam.
Rich Gilmore, CEO of Carbon Growth Partners, stated that for most communities involved in blue carbon projects, the climate outcome is less important than other benefits. He argued that local communities protect mangroves for reasons such as food security, hurricane protection, and fishery support. Gilmore described the carbon market as a financing mechanism for these co-benefits, rather than the primary motivation for community engagement. He cited the BlueMX project in Mexico, where mangrove restoration led to a tripling of shrimp and crab catch rates, improving local livelihoods.
Carbonmark and Klima Protocol introduced an x402 endpoint, enabling AI agents and HTTP clients to discover live carbon market data, obtain credit quotes, and retire carbon credits on the Base public blockchain. This development facilitates 'agentic transactions,' where software autonomously initiates and completes payments or market actions within operator-defined limits. The initiative addresses the historical friction of human-centric internet commerce in VCM, offering machine-readable terms, native payment, and verifiable outcomes via blockchain infrastructure. This aims to increase transaction cadence and granularity, potentially scaling carbon markets by allowing machines to participate efficiently.
Juan Turrion, Head of Strategic Research at Invica Industries, presented research on waste-to-biochar conversion at the Institution of Agricultural Engineers in the UK. The presentation detailed how large-scale pyrolysis plants convert biomass waste into stable soil amendments. This process integrates permanent carbon removal with agronomic benefits, addressing soil degradation and enhancing agricultural sustainability. The work aims to combine carbon finance mechanisms with practical agricultural systems to secure high-integrity voluntary carbon removal credits. It demonstrates a viable circular economy model, enhancing soil structure and crop productivity while sequestering atmospheric carbon.
Rich Gilmore, CEO of Carbon Growth Partners, stated that solving the climate crisis requires stopping deforestation and burning. He outlined mitigation through emissions reduction and nature protection, financed by carbon markets, and adaptation via natural infrastructure. Gilmore emphasised that carbon markets should redirect finance from those causing climate change to those solving it, primarily in the 'majority world'. He noted that the mechanisms exist, but willingness to pay and shifting who pays are currently lacking.
Carbonmark published a buyer's guide for nature-based carbon projects, detailing afforestation, reforestation, REDD+, and mangrove restoration. The guide distinguishes between avoidance projects like REDD+ and removal projects such as afforestation and mangrove restoration. It highlights co-benefits as a key value driver, noting that credits with demonstrable social and economic outcomes have sustained demand better. The guide also provides a due diligence framework for evaluating nature-based projects.
Regreener, a carbon credit trader, published a guide distinguishing between carbon credit traders, brokers, and platforms for corporate buyers. The guide defines a trader as a firm that sources, curates, and procures credits, taking an active role in quality assessment and portfolio construction. It characterises brokers as facilitators of transactions between buyers and sellers, while platforms are described as digital marketplaces for direct credit purchases. This distinction aims to help EU mid-market and enterprise companies choose a carbon credit partner based on their internal expertise and compliance needs.
Biochar, a carbon-rich material derived from biomass decomposition, offers a sustainable alternative to traditional peat in soil amendments. Its incorporation into soil blends improves water retention, helping plants withstand heat and drought, and enhances nutrient availability, leading to increased crop yields. This diversion of biomass waste from landfills also creates opportunities for revenue through voluntary carbon credit markets, as biochar sequesters atmospheric carbon for centuries. The material's ability to maintain structural integrity and foster microbial activity further reduces the need for synthetic chemical inputs and frequent irrigation. Growers and soil manufacturers can benefit financially from utilising biochar.
Sylvera outlined the five-stage lifecycle of a carbon credit, beginning with project development where developers design projects against registry-published methodologies. The process continues with validation and verification by accredited third-party auditors, confirming project design and auditing results before registries issue credits. Once issued, each credit represents one metric tonne of CO2e and carries a vintage year, becoming a serialized, tradable unit in the market. This framework enables companies to finance emissions reduction projects to compensate for unavoidable operational emissions.
Sylvera detailed the primary channels companies use to purchase carbon credits, including direct engagement with project developers, brokers, and exchanges. The company emphasised that carbon credits allow organisations to fund climate action beyond their direct operations, compensating for unavoidable emissions. Sylvera also highlighted the strategic importance of early procurement, treating credits as assets, and adhering to the mitigation hierarchy to avoid greenwashing accusations. The article distinguished between carbon neutrality and net-zero strategies, noting that the chosen goal influences credit purchasing decisions, particularly regarding removal versus avoidance credits.
Sylvera, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation and Meta, launched an open carbon data initiative for Brazil's Atlantic Forest. This project aims to standardise and make accessible high-quality carbon market data to improve transparency and decision-making in nature-based climate solutions. The initiative seeks to address data gaps and opaque monitoring frameworks that have limited investment in forest protection and restoration. By providing verifiable insights into forest carbon dynamics, the project intends to enhance market trust and accelerate capital deployment into conservation projects. This effort combines advanced analytics and remote sensing with standardised climate intelligence to support biodiversity preservation and sustainable economic development.
Sylvera has launched the Open Carbon Data Project, an initiative to generate open-access forest carbon data for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The Rockefeller Foundation and Meta provided a combined $900,000 in funding for the project. Sylvera partnered with the State University of Santa Cruz, World Resources Institute, and the Symbiosis Coalition to create a benchmark-grade forest carbon dataset. This data aims to improve measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) for forest carbon, lowering market participation barriers for smallholders and increasing investor confidence. The data will be released later this year under a CC BY 4.0 open license.
Dr Ma Jun, Chairman of the China Green Finance Committee, urged the Malaysian state of Sabah to convert agricultural and forestry waste into industrial biochar for export. Speaking at the Sabah Asia-Pacific Impact Investing for Sustainable Development Summit 2026, Dr Ma highlighted Sabah's unmonetised natural resources and overreliance on volatile carbon credit markets. He recommended adopting Chinese biochar processing technologies and leveraging China's green finance ecosystem, including Green Panda Bonds, to fund capital expenditure. This initiative aims to establish a high-revenue export industry, generating billions of ringgit by producing high-value substitutes for coking coal and chemical fertilisers.
Sylvera has launched the Open Carbon Data Project, an initiative to generate high-resolution, open-access forest carbon data across the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, Meta, and others, the project aims to provide scientifically rigorous data for measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) in carbon markets. This dataset will improve the accuracy of forest carbon stock measurements and validate satellite-based monitoring models. The data will be released later this year under an open licence, accessible to developers, registries, policymakers, and researchers globally, aiming to lower barriers for smallholder projects and increase investor confidence.
A recent commentary explores how carbon markets can achieve success while simultaneously benefiting communities in the Global South. The article suggests that the foundational premise of carbon markets, which involves directing private finance to at-risk forests and rewarding protectors, remains valid. It highlights the role of forests in providing essential ecosystem services and capturing carbon. The piece argues that these markets can help companies address their emissions responsibilities.
Carbonmark has launched an AI agent capable of autonomously discovering, pricing, and retiring carbon credits on the Base blockchain using the x402 endpoint. This agentic commerce system allows for machine-to-machine transactions, providing continuous price discovery and secure settlement in seconds. As of July 2026, the endpoint lists approximately 329,000 tonnes of on-chain liquidity, with prices ranging from $0.09 to $1,268 per tonne. This development aims to increase transparency, improve price discovery, and lower market entry barriers for carbon offsetting.
Sylvera has expanded its Market Gateway platform, which has facilitated over $1 billion in annual carbon credit quoting, to include a broader range of lower-carbon commodities. The new Commodity Market Gateway aims to connect producers and buyers of Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs), Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The free platform seeks to address market opacity and fragmentation by providing a centralised space for structured discovery, transparent pricing, and direct transactions. This expansion builds on three years of connecting over 250 carbon project developers with buyers.
Regreener has identified five high-integrity cookstove carbon credit projects for corporate buyers in 2026, with prices ranging from $15 to $39 per tonne CO₂e. These projects include BURN Manufacturing (ICVCM CCP Label), EcoSafi (BeZero 'A' rating), Envirofit International (first Africa Article 6.2 deal), Toyola Energy (Gold Standard veteran), and DelAgua Rwanda (VCS VM0050 with TotalEnergies). The selection criteria prioritise projects with metered monitoring, conservative baselines, and independent A-grade ratings, following scrutiny of the sector. Clean cookstove projects aim to reduce 3.2 million premature deaths and CO₂ emissions equivalent to global aviation.
A Carbonfuture article outlines five strategies for professional services firms to lead in durable carbon removal (CDR). The strategies include embedding CDR into client advisory, procuring CDR to offset operational emissions, launching employee engagement campaigns, supporting industry standards, and acting as multipliers through client channels. The article highlights that while these firms often have small carbon footprints, their influence can significantly accelerate CDR adoption across industries. Integrating CDR is presented as a way to future-proof client strategies, enhance ESG credibility, and attract talent.
KriSHE Carbon, co-founded by Anjali Rose, has engaged thousands of smallholder farmers in India to produce biochar from agricultural residues. This initiative transforms waste into a carbon removal solution, generating verified carbon removal credits and providing additional income for rural communities. The programme focuses on decentralised biochar production through village-level 'Climapreneurs', linking climate action with livelihood creation. KriSHE Carbon aims to address stubble burning, improve soil health, and sequester carbon for over a thousand years.
Carbonmark has launched an API and Checkout Service designed to integrate carbon credit retirement directly into e-commerce platforms. The API allows businesses to discover, price, and retire carbon credits on demand, facilitating fractional retirement as small as 0.001 tCO₂e per order. All retirements are recorded on a public blockchain, providing tamper-proof and verifiable proof of climate action. This initiative aims to streamline the process of offsetting residual e-commerce emissions, moving from quarterly procurement to real-time, per-order compensation.
The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) has partnered with Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB), the Securities and Futures Commission (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 aims to address the fragmented nature of Asia's carbon markets, despite the region accounting for over 50% of global emissions. Discussions will focus on market harmonisation, Article 6 implementation, and carbon pricing to unlock the region's carbon market potential. This collaboration seeks to position Asia as a strategic hub for carbon market development.
Fred Teo, CEO of Singaporean climate investment platform GenZero, discussed the need to move beyond 'false choices' in climate finance, such as nature versus technology or offsets versus decarbonisation. In a podcast ahead of Singapore's Ecosperity Week, Teo argued that solving climate change requires pragmatic solutions to mobilise capital at scale. He positioned carbon markets as financing infrastructure for projects that would otherwise not occur, rather than solely as offset mechanisms. Teo also highlighted nature-based solutions as one of the lowest-cost climate solutions available.
Ingo Puhl, co-founder of South Pole, discussed the evolution and future structure of carbon markets in a podcast interview. He highlighted lessons from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the increasing desire for sovereignty over carbon assets by developing countries. Puhl also addressed the need for new infrastructure, evolving standards, registries, and verification models to scale environmental markets globally. The discussion covered the role of ratings agencies, satellite data, and technology in enhancing market integrity and efficiency.
Carbonmark published guidance on reducing and offsetting carbon footprints within the events industry, focusing on high-impact areas such as attendee travel and food. The article recommends strategies like regional event hubs, 'rail-first' policies, and sustainable aviation fuel for travel emissions. For catering, it suggests 'default veg' menus and zero-waste planning, alongside circular production methods and careful venue selection to minimise environmental impact. This guidance aims to move event sustainability beyond symbolic gestures towards substantive emissions reductions and high-integrity offsetting.
The construction industry contributes 12 billion tonnes of CO2 per year, representing 34-39% of global annual emissions, making it a critical sector for decarbonisation efforts. Emissions arise from organisational activities, project-level construction, and the production of materials like cement and steel. The sector's carbon footprint is categorised into embodied carbon, from materials and construction processes, and operational carbon, from building use. Historically, decarbonisation has focused on operational emissions, but embodied carbon, locked in early design and procurement stages, requires increased attention.
Xworks has issued its first batch of carbon credits, termed MSR-X credits, through Carbonmark Direct, a new on-chain issuance framework. Each credit represents one tonne of CO₂e avoided by displacing virgin materials with recycled plastics. This pilot project in the Netherlands marks the first use of Carbonmark Direct for issuing credits from novel methodologies or small-scale projects directly onto public blockchain infrastructure. The credits are verified by Control Union and recorded on-chain, with Xworks utilising a digital Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (dMRV) platform to track material flow.
Carbonfuture has published guidance for Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) on integrating durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) into their financial strategies. The article outlines five key insights, emphasising CDR's role in safeguarding net-zero commitments, acting as a flexible financial tool, and offering an unprecedented growth opportunity. It suggests that early investment in CDR can hedge against future price increases and compliance risks, with the market projected to reach $1.2 trillion over 25 years. Carbonfuture advises CFOs to consider CDR as a means to secure long-term business value and mitigate financial exposure.
Carbonfuture has published a guide detailing five essential steps for carbon removal suppliers to develop market-ready projects. The guide emphasises designing projects for the full carbon removal lifecycle, building transparent financial models, and selecting robust certification and MRV strategies. It also advises preparing for buyer due diligence from the outset and establishing a clear go-to-market strategy for credit sales. This guidance aims to help suppliers secure financing, certification, and offtake agreements by structuring projects for credibility and scalability.
The International Carbon Registry (ICR) launched a pilot biodiversity programme on 20 June 2024, aiming to integrate biodiversity conservation and restoration into global sustainability efforts. This programme will provide a framework for area-based biodiversity projects, aligning with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and Biodiversity Net Gain principles. Projects will be registered and issue biodiversity credits publicly on CarbonRegistry.com, with independent third-party validation and verification. Alvaro Vallejo, formerly of Cercarbono, joined ICR as the Biodiversity Program Lead, bringing 34 years of experience in forest and biodiversity management. The initiative seeks to mobilise finance for biodiversity conservation through the establishment of biodiversity credit markets.
The International Carbon Registry (ICR) published an article discussing the role of carbon markets in achieving Net-Zero targets and a Just Transition. The piece highlights the recent SBTi announcement on including 'offsetting' for Scope 3 emissions under its Net-Zero guidelines. It argues that the Paris Agreement encourages global collaboration beyond internal emission reductions, particularly noting the differentiated responsibilities of developed and developing nations. The ICR advocates for broadening the focus beyond Net-Zero to include sustainable development and a Just Transition, urging nations and companies to consider their contributions to these goals, including the implications of corresponding adjustments.