Today the most "actually delivered" carbon credits in the world — the kind that truly pull carbon out of the air and bury it permanently — don't come from expensive high-tech air-sucking machines. They come from plain stuff like wood scraps and rice straw — burned without oxygen until it becomes "char" that stays buried in the soil for centuries. This is the story of two ways of using plants as carbon-pulling machines: biochar, which dominates today's real-delivery market, and BECCS, which the giants are pre-booking by the millions of tons.
Alfa Laval to Supply Heat Transfer Technology for Stockholm Exergi BECCS Project
Alfa Laval has been selected by Saipem, the EPC contractor for Stockholm Exergi's BECCS project, to supply heat transfer equipment for one of Europe's largest bioenergy carbon capture facilities. The project is expected to begin operations in 2028 and will capture, liquify, and permanently store up to 800,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, representing approximately one to two percent of today's total global carbon capture capacity. Stockholm Exergi's first-of-its-kind large-scale BECCS initiative will run at Europe's largest biomass-based combined heat and power plant in Stockholm, capturing and storing CO2 from the combustion of biogenic fuels. Alfa Laval will supply its Ziepack gas-gas interchanger alongside multiple process plate-and-frame heat exchangers as part of Saipem's EPC contract for the facility. Thomas Møller, President of the Energy Division at Alfa Laval, said carbon capture at this scale is one of the most demanding thermal engineering challenges in the energy transition, while Egil Nybakk, Director BECCS at Stockholm Exergi, said the Ziepack heat exchangers will allow the plant to reclaim energy used in capture and liquification for its existing district heating system.
Google and Mitti Labs Sign Five-Year Rice Methane Carbon Credit Deal
Mitti Labs has announced a five-year carbon credit agreement with Google to scale climate-smart agriculture across 100,000 hectares of smallholder rice farms in India, delivering one million high-integrity credits to Google by 2030 in what the company calls the largest rice methane offtake to date. The partnership will transition over 70,000 farmers to water and methane-savings irrigation practices, aiming to eliminate 3M tons of near-term warming impact, measured as GWP20 and equivalent to 1M tons of GWP100 impact, while conserving billions of gallons of water across critical regional basins. Rice paddies continuously flooded under traditional practices account for more than 10% of global methane emissions, and Mitti Labs says its model cuts up to 50% of methane emissions from rice fields and reduces irrigation volumes by close to 40% while maintaining rice yields. The partnership is projected to deliver billions of liters of water savings across India, equivalent to Bengaluru's annual supply for three years, and Mitti Labs will use Google's support to expand its NASA-supported GeoAI platform, which fuses satellite radar data with field-collected ground truth at the resolution of individual smallholder plots. Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Google, said the company is committed to finding solutions that neutralize warming across both the near and long term, while Mitti Labs co-founder Xavier Laguarta called the partnership a powerful accelerator of its mission to reduce emissions, save water, and strengthen the livelihoods of the 150 million smallholder farmers who grow rice.
PTT Unveils Solution to Turn Vacant Land into Carbon Assets
PTT Public Company Limited has introduced its "Reforestation & Carbon Management Solution," a comprehensive service for forest restoration and carbon management designed to help businesses transform vacant land into "carbon assets" that generate real value, amid mounting pressure from carbon tax measures and increasingly stringent ESG criteria. One rai of restored forest can absorb an average of 0.95 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, and the project has been certified under the T-VER standard by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO). With over 40 years of experience serving industrial clients and more than 30 years of expertise in ecosystem restoration, PTT is also a pioneer in Thailand's forest carbon credit projects, currently operating 22 T-VER forestry projects that generate 14,729 tCO2eq of registered carbon credits annually. In collaboration with the government, PTT has planted forests on over 175,043 rai of land. The preliminary requirements are a minimum plot size of 10 rai with proper land title documents. Consulting fees range from 150,000 to 300,000 baht, and the expert team offers a free initial potential assessment.
REX American Resources Corp. reported record second-quarter earnings, with diluted EPS of $1.06 versus $0.22 in the prior-year period, driven by stronger crush margins and increased 45Z production tax credit income. Gross profit surged to $53.3 million from $14.3 million, and gross margin expanded to 31.6% from 9.0%. The company recognized $18.4 million in 45Z credits during the quarter, up from $7.5 million sequentially, bringing first-half credits to $26.0 million. The EPA issued draft Class VI permits for three injection wells with combined storage capacity of approximately 90 million tons, advancing the carbon capture and sequestration project at One Earth. One Earth remains on track for construction completion by year-end 2026, with production expected to step toward approximately 175 million gallons and then approximately 200 million gallons by early to mid-2027. REX ended the quarter with $379.5 million in cash and no bank debt, and management expects third-quarter results to exceed the prior-year period.
Thailand accelerates Net Zero to 2050, invests 2 trillion baht, sets carbon tax
The Thai government, together with major energy and industrial players such as PTT, SCG, and Thai Airways, is accelerating its carbon neutrality (Net Zero) target to 2050, earlier than the original 2065. It is also moving forward with the draft Climate Change Act, which will impose a carbon tax on upstream products and establish an emissions trading system (ETS), expected to take effect in the third quarter of 2027. Thailand needs at least 2 trillion baht in funding to support climate investments, while the World Bank warns that delays could cause Thailand's GDP to contract by 7-14% by 2050. Meanwhile, PTT plans to invest at least 5 billion US dollars in the iSPARK and CCS Hub projects in the Map Ta Phut area, aiming to reduce carbon emissions by at least 9 million tonnes per year by 2035 and create over 10,000 new jobs.
UN Warns World Risks Entering Era of Global Warming Exceeding 1.5°C
A major United Nations report states that the global average temperature is likely to rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius within the next few years, and could reach 1.8 degrees Celsius in the best-case scenario, or 2.6 degrees Celsius if current policies remain. Currently, temperatures have already increased by 1.4 degrees Celsius. This report marks the end of the previous era and indicates that the world may not be able to avoid overshooting the threshold, so the goal must shift to bringing temperatures back below 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Debra Roberts, one of the co-authors from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, stated that the level of commitment from countries will determine whether the overshoot lasts for decades or millennia. Reducing temperatures requires accelerating the reduction of greenhouse gases and removing carbon from the atmosphere, both naturally and through technology, including making net emissions negative. At the same time, communities must be helped to adapt to irreversible impacts, such as rising sea levels.
Mercer International secures C$20M Canadian government support; shares surge
Mercer International has secured C$20 million, approximately US$14 million, in financial support from the Canadian government for its Mercer Peace River Pulp subsidiary. The funding includes C$1 million non-repayable and C$19 million repayable, with repayment beginning in 2031. The capital will support productivity improvements and modernization at the Peace River mill in northern Alberta, including preparing the facility for expanded bio-energy production and carbon capture and storage. This builds on the mill's existing CO₂ capture demonstration project. Mercer International shares surged 53% in post-market trading.
Thryve.Earth secures first corporate offtake commitments for 635,000 tonnes of carbon removal
Thryve.Earth has secured its first corporate offtake commitments totaling 635,000 tonnes of carbon removal to restore 6,000 hectares of degraded land in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Symbiosis Coalition members Google and McKinsey committed to over 335,000 tonnes over 10 years, marking Symbiosis' first agroforestry offtake, while Tencent committed to 300,000 tonnes, its first offtake agreement outside China. The project will use a layered agroforestry system with fruit and timber trees to sequester carbon and provide lasting income for local communities. Thryve.Earth's model builds on decades of field-tested work by the Masarang Foundation, with long-term offtake commitments enabling the upfront financing needed to clear invasive grasses and establish new trees at scale.
Gevo Appoints Former ADM Chief Science Officer Todd Werpy to Its Board
Gevo has appointed Todd Werpy, a veteran scientist and former Chief Science Officer at Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, to its Board as a Class II director effective August 20, 2026, with a term running through the 2027 annual stockholders' meeting. Werpy brings deep expertise in commercializing bio-based technologies, carbon-efficient processes, and biomass-derived chemicals, aligning with Gevo's low-carbon fuels and carbon abatement ambitions. The appointment reinforces Gevo's technical depth but does not materially alter the near-term focus on monetizing carbon credits and clean fuel tax credits, nor the policy and financing risks tied to those revenue streams. Gevo's narrative projects $230.1 million in revenue and $20.8 million in earnings by 2029, requiring 9.7% annual revenue growth and a $54.6 million earnings improvement from a current loss of $33.8 million. The company recently expanded into the $12 billion carbon removal market through its BECCS-focused gevocarbon.com platform, concentrating attention on its ability to certify, sell, and price carbon dioxide removal credits.
Sustainable Green Team Announces Strategic Partnership to Scale Carbon-Market Verification Platform
Sustainable Green Team, Ltd. has announced a strategic partnership with a Florida-based capital group to scale its carbon-market verification platform. The partner is committing capital toward production infrastructure and operations, alongside a multi-year purchase agreement for SGTM's product, and the parties are pursuing a master license for SGTM's verification technology. The partner will also originate and market carbon credits generated through the platform. The partnership comes amid surging demand for verified carbon credits, with independent analysts projecting global demand could climb toward 2 billion metric tons annually by 2030. SGTM's platform produces independently verifiable environmental credit certificates and is built on 180 pending patents spanning 12 institutional domains, with carbon markets being the first domain brought to a partner at this scale.
Tencent Signs 300,000 Carbon Credit Deal in Landmark Overseas Move
Tencent Holdings has signed a 10-year agreement to buy 300,000 carbon removal credits from Singapore-based carbon developer Thryve.Earth, marking Tencent's first carbon removal credit deal outside China. The credits will come from an agroforestry project on Sulawesi in Indonesia, where degraded land is expected to be restored through a mixed crop farming system that sequesters carbon, improves soil quality, increases biodiversity, and provides income for local farmers. Tencent said carbon removal will play an important role in its goal to reach carbon neutrality across its own operations and supply chain by 2030, while emphasizing that reducing emissions remains its main priority. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has also entered a separate 10-year offtake agreement for 260,000 credits from the same Sulawesi project, while McKinsey & Co. agreed to buy 75,000 credits. For Google, the agreement represents its largest carbon removal offtake deal to date and follows its participation in a new $915 million commitment for carbon dioxide removal technologies.
Amazon to Buy 1.95 Million Carbon Credits From South Africa's Bacon Tree Project
Amazon.com Inc. will purchase 1.95 million carbon credits from a project restoring degraded land in South Africa's Eastern Cape province by planting Spekboom, a succulent plant that sequesters carbon dioxide. The credits, representing just under half of the project's total generation, will be bought at a fixed price over more than a decade and resold through Amazon's Sustainability Exchange to its business units, suppliers, and other companies with net zero targets for 2050 or before. The commitment helped the World Bank secure investor support for a $120 million bond, with part of the proceeds going to Imperative, the company running the initiative. The project spans 50,000 hectares and is expected to create 11,000 jobs by planting 180 million shrubs by the end of 2028. Amazon has also purchased credits from reforestation projects in Ghana and Ivory Coast and from initiatives reducing refrigerant and methane emissions.
Tencent Awards Nearly US$30 Million to 16 CarbonX 2.0 Climate Tech Winners
Tencent has announced the 16 winners of its CarbonX 2.0 global climate initiative, who will share nearly US$30 million in catalytic funding. The winners were selected from 660 applications across 54 countries and regions, with ten teams spanning carbon dioxide removal, carbon capture for steel, carbon utilization, and long-duration energy storage, while six others receive tailored support including measurement and verification and carbon-credit procurement. The announcement was made at the London Science Museum during London Climate Action Week 2026. Tencent also reported progress on its own 2030 climate goals, with renewable energy use at self-owned data centers rising from 49.8% in 2024 to 83% in 2025, and Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduced by nearly 2.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2025.
Gevo expands carbon business and launches digital platform to accelerate market access
Gevo announced an expanded focus on the $12 billion carbon removal market and launched a new digital platform, gevocarbon.com, to broaden access to its carbon credits. The company recently ranked among the top five suppliers of carbon removal credits by delivery volume, according to CDR.fyi, and has set records for credits issued. Gevo's carbon removal sales in the first half of 2026 have already surpassed 2025 totals, with over 580,000 tonnes of carbon stored in four years from its operational bioenergy with carbon capture and storage project in North Dakota. Chief Carbon Officer Alex Clayton said the carbon business could exceed $30 million from existing operations as demand grows, and the company is positioning carbon as a core growth engine. The announcement coincides with Climate Week London, where Gevo will participate in a roundtable on carbon removal industry standards.