The Carbon Market Brief is our monthly round-up of what changed in carbon markets and why it matters if you buy carbon credits. Each brief takes about five minutes to read.
What each brief covers
- Rule changes. New laws, regulator guidance and standards decisions that affect what you can buy and what you can claim. The first brief, for example, covers the EU rules on offset-based product claims that member states apply from 27 September 2026Source 1.
- Quality decisions. Methodology approvals and rejections from standards bodies and integrity initiatives, which change which credits carry quality labels.
- Prices. A pointer to our latest carbon credit price snapshot, with the sources behind it.
- Worth reading. Research and official reports that help you buy better.
How we choose and check items
We only include developments we can confirm on the publisher’s own website: a regulator, a government, a UN body or a standards organisation. Every item carries a date and a link to the primary source. We don’t report rumours, and we don’t rely on articles behind paywalls.
Items are written for buyers, so each one ends with what it means for you: whether it changes which credits to look for, what to check before you pay or what you can say afterwards.
What the brief is not
The brief isn’t investment advice and doesn’t recommend buying or selling any credit, allowance or fund. Where an item concerns compliance markets such as emissions trading systems, we include it for context: those markets shape prices and rules, but you can’t usually buy their allowances to offset your own footprint. If a development turns out to be wrong or is later reversed, we correct the brief and say what changed.
Get the brief by email
Sign up below to get each brief when it is published. For the background behind the news, start with what the carbon market is, our guide to claims and rules and how to buy carbon offsets.