Clean Air Task Force sets out recommendations for the EU’s mid-2026 ETS review, urging cautious integration of permanent carbon removals, greater ambition on aviation and maritime emissions, and robust environmental safeguards.
Market Insights Brief: Carbon Deal Dynamics, June 2026
Ecosystem Marketplace and Carbon Capital Lab surveyed 48 VCM project developers and intermediaries on deal timelines and friction; relationship capital, buyer readiness, and price emerge as dominant factors.
Enabling conditions to unlock private sector demand in carbon markets: Policy considerations for host jurisdictions
Published by Beyond, Emergent and the Symbiosis Coalition, this briefing paper outlines nine policy enabling conditions host countries can set to unlock private sector demand in voluntary carbon markets, covering corresponding adjustment guidance, domestic governance and registries, benefit sharing, carbon rights/FPIC, and REDD+ nesting. It shows how clear, stable frameworks de-risk investment, reduce delays, and support high-integrity credit supply aligned with national climate and development priorities.
State of finance for nature 2026: Nature in the red
Published by UNEP, this report tracks global finance flows for nature and highlights implications for the voluntary carbon market, including declining investment in nature-based credits amid heightened scrutiny of integrity and credit quality.
Debt-for-carbon: Using carbon credits for debt relief
Published by EDF and Perspectives Climate Research, this paper explores how voluntary carbon market and Article 6 credits could be integrated into debt-for-climate swaps, linking sovereign debt relief to verified emissions reductions through robust MRV systems.
The state of quality and pricing in the VCM: 2026
Published by Calyx Global and ClearBlue Markets, this report analyses pricing and quality trends in the voluntary carbon market, showing widening price differentials between high- and low-integrity credits and outlining steps buyers can take to strengthen market integrity.
The state of carbon credits 2025
Sylvera’s 2025 market review shows falling issuance and retirements alongside rising spot-market value, as buyers pay higher prices for higher-quality credits. The report highlights widening price differentials by rating, persistent oversupply of unrated credits, and growing convergence between voluntary and compliance markets.
Voluntary carbon markets: Surveying current and future corporate participants
Based on a survey of 225 large global companies, this report examines current and future participation in voluntary carbon markets. It provides insights into expected demand, purchasing motivations, perceived risks and how companies are approaching credit quality and portfolio strategies.
Carbon markets: five things to look for in 2026
Wood Mackenzie examines five trends likely to influence carbon markets in 2026, from the rollout of new compliance regimes and the start of CBAM financial obligations to slower progress under Article 6. It assesses how changes to corporate claims, reporting and net-zero guidance could affect voluntary carbon market demand, and how integrity tools such as quality labels, ratings and advance purchase agreements may support VCM project finance.
Article 6 explainer: Updated with COP30 decisions
The Nature Conservancy’s explainer clarifies how Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is being operationalised, outlining rules on authorisation, corresponding adjustments and credit transfers, and why these decisions matter for integrity and confidence in voluntary carbon markets.