A roundup of the carbon-market stories ESG Minute covered in August 2026. Each item keeps the key points of the original brief and links to the reporting it came from.
Brazil Regulates SAF, Carbon Capture and Hydrogen After Two-Year Wait
2026-08-13
- President Lula signed decrees setting guidelines for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), carbon capture and hydrogen projects.
- The regulations follow a two-year wait since the Future Fuel Law and other legislation approved in 2024.
- The decrees establish the regulatory framework that sectors needed to move forward with projects in these three areas.
Original coverage: Reset
Fleet decarbonisation: electric, ethanol or biomethane?
2026-08-13
- Electric: the deepest cut per kilometre in Brazil, because the grid is clean; needs charging investment
- Ethanol: a meaningful cut without replacing the fleet, since most light vehicles are flex-fuel
- Biomethane: the heavy and agri route, where there is organic waste to digest
Context Labs Buys Carbon Data Platform Kinertic From Trafigura
2026-08-15
- Context Labs acquired Kinertic, a commodity-focused carbon data platform, from trading company Trafigura
- The deal integrates carbon intelligence tools with commodity trading infrastructure
- Context Labs says the acquisition supports compliance with emissions regulations including the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
Original coverage: ESG Today
Investment Firm Buys 29,000-Acre Oregon Forest for Carbon and Timber
2026-08-15
- EFM Investments & Advisory acquired 11,735 hectares (about 29,000 acres) of coastal rainforest in northern Oregon in a deal worth more than $100 million
- The acquisition puts carbon storage alongside timber production as a core value driver for the forest
- The deal reflects growing corporate demand for nature-based carbon credits feeding into forest investment strategies
Original coverage: Carbon Credits
Brazilian Airlines Push Back Against Bearing SAF Costs Without Tax Incentives
2026-08-15
- Brazil’s decree regulating sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) did not include any tax incentives or relief on consumption of the biofuel.
- Airlines expected the decree to bring tax breaks ahead of the start of mandatory SAF blending targets.
- The sector argues it is being forced to absorb the higher cost of SAF without government support.
Original coverage: Reset
Senken and Carbonsate Sign Europe’s Largest Biomass Carbon Removal Deal
2026-08-19
- Senken, a Berlin-based carbon credit procurement platform, and Carbonsate, a Berlin-based CO2 removal technology company, signed a multi-year deal for 50,000 tonnes of permanent carbon removal
- It is described as the largest biomass storage deal signed in Europe to date, and the second-largest buyer commitment in biomass geological storage globally
- The credits come from burying waste wood in sealed underground chambers in Namibia, a method that avoids the energy-intensive steps of direct air capture, with deliveries running 2026 through 2028
Original coverage: ESG Today
Costa Rica’s Forests Pass UN Review With 10.3 Million Tonnes of Verified Removals
2026-08-19
- A UN technical review found Costa Rica’s forest carbon data “consistent, complete and accurate,” validating its methodology against UNFCCC requirements
- The country reported 10.28 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in net removals from 2020 to 2023, through its REDD+ program of reduced deforestation, less forest degradation and higher carbon stocks
- Annual removals actually declined 22% over the period, from 2.89 million tonnes in 2020 to 2.27 million tonnes in 2023, and the UN flagged gaps Costa Rica still needs to close, including better ways to separate human-caused from natural forest change
Original coverage: Carbon Credits
Germany Revokes 2.1 Million Carbon Credits Linked to ExxonMobil
2026-08-28
- German authorities revoked credits from 30 Chinese upstream emissions reduction (UER) projects, out of 45 under investigation, totaling 2.1 million tonnes of claimed CO2 reductions
- The investigation found legal and technical inconsistencies, projects that started too early, and allegations that Chinese company Beijing Karbon created “the appearance of legitimacy” through deception
- A Belgian ExxonMobil unit backed one of the revoked projects, claiming nearly 96,000 tonnes of reductions valued at about €4.2 million
Original coverage: Carbon Credits
Alberta Carbon Price Barely Raises Oil Sands Costs, Study Finds
2026-08-28
- A C.D. Howe Institute study by economist G. Kent Fellows measured the impact of Alberta’s TIER (Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction) system on oil sands production costs
- Carbon pricing added an average of C$0.70 per barrel to marginal production costs in 2023; on a production-weighted basis, the effect drops to just C$0.34 per barrel
- Some major projects actually saw a net benefit from the system, with the range across facilities spanning from a C$1.09 cost reduction to a C$4.05 increase per barrel
Original coverage: Carbon Credits
ClimeCo and Marsoft Launch First Gold Standard Carbon Credit for Shipping Fleets
2026-08-31
- Over 350 ships (bulk carriers and chemical tankers) are enrolled in the program, which analyzed more than 200 ship-years of real operational data
- The program expects to generate over 2.3 million tonnes of CO2 reductions at participating vessels’ next scheduled docking
- The methodology (developed with the MIT Sea Grant Design Laboratory) measures fuel and emissions savings from efficiency retrofits and converts them into Gold Standard credits, one credit per tonne of greenhouse gas reduced
Original coverage: Carbon Credits
Japan Advances Maritime CCS Hub to Ship 3.43M Tonnes of CO2 a Year
2026-08-31
- The hub, at the Mizushima Industrial Complex (Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture), will capture, liquefy and ship up to 3.43 million tonnes of CO2 a year by vessel — the largest volume among Japanese CCS clusters currently in development
- Six companies (Sumitomo Corporation, Asahi Kasei, ENEOS, JFE Steel, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and Mitsubishi Chemical) are working together on the project’s design, backed by state agency JOGMEC
- The project is currently in engineering design, targeting commercial operations by 2030, shipping captured CO2 by specialized vessel to storage sites in Japan or overseas
Original coverage: Carbon Credits
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