6th Week CCM 2026. Article 6.4 methodologies; KOKO collapse in Kenya; multi-million dollar bond in Ghana; public sector & climate; UK reconsiders TCFD; ISSB studies nature; Land Sector Removals; Korea
- Art Dam
- 5 hours ago
- 7 min read
Monday, 09 February 2026.
5th week Carbon Credit Markets 2026. The Methodological Panel (MEP) advanced the update of methodologies, technical tools, and standards of the Credit Mechanism, recommending new CDM tools and opening public consultations on risks and biomass; in parallel, the Government of Kenya blocked the LoA of KOKO Networks, precipitating the collapse of a major clean cooking project and exposing systemic risks; meanwhile, an innovative US$ 200 million bond from Standard Chartered, structured by the IBRD, is boosting carbon credits and clean cooking in Ghana, combining impact finance, climate mitigation, and the purchase of ITMOs.
The SRS 1 was launched, the first public climate‑disclosure standard, strengthening transparency, accountability, and government decision‑making, while the United Kingdom opened a consultation to replace TCFD with the new UK SRS aligned with the ISSB, making climate disclosure (S2) mandatory and keeping Scope 3 and S1 under a comply or explain regime; in parallel, the ISSB signals the creation of a future global nature standard focused on biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services.
The GHG Protocol introduced the Land Sector and Removals Standard, filling a critical gap in agricultural sectors and emerging technologies such as direct air capture; in parallel, South Korea is advancing an ambitious decarbonization agenda, with a commitment to achieving net zero by 2050.
Events, including Carbon Forums in Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru. More details below.
🏆Interested in our Carbon Credit Markets Yearbook 2025 and didn’t receive our newsletter?
Send an email from your primary address to contact@damasceno.org with the subject “Carbon Credit Markets Yearbook 2025”, and we’ll send you all the details. And don’t forget to sign up at www.carboncreditmarkets.com.
Carbon Credits
Methodological Panel Advances Credit Mechanism Standards and Opens Public Consultations
The Methodological Expert Panel (MEP) met from 26 to 30 January 2026 to advance the development of methodologies, technical tools, and standards for the Paris Agreement Credit Mechanism, reviewing progress in areas such as CDM tool updates, methodological harmonization, risk assessment, and the analysis of new methodology proposals. The meeting resulted in the recommendation to adopt two revised CDM tools — electricity emissions and technical lifetime of equipment — and in the launch of public consultations on the draft tools for lock‑in risk analysis and the fraction of non‑renewable biomass, with deadlines in February 2026. The MEP also advanced the harmonization of methodologies for grid‑connected renewable energy, clean cooking, and sampling and survey standards, in addition to developing the reversal risk assessment instrument, a concept note on paragraph 62 of the removals standard, and revisions to the additionality demonstration standard. The panel further reviewed methodology proposals for low‑carbon ammonia, fertilizers with renewable ammonia, N₂O abatement, clean cooking transitions, and savanna fire management. The results will guide technical work throughout 2026, with new consultations and meetings planned, including the next session from 9 to 13 March 2026.
Kenyan Government Blocks Authorization and Triggers Collapse of Popular Clean‑Cooking Carbon Credit Project
The collapse of KOKO Networks Limited became official when the Government of Kenya denied the Letter of Authorisation (LoA) — a document indispensable for exporting carbon credits under Article 6 — a decision grounded in the Climate Change (Carbon Markets) Regulations (2024). Without the LoA, the company lost access to the international market and entered an operational crisis, leading to the intervention of an international audit firm, which assumed administration to conduct the restructuring, as reported by Business Daily Africa. The scandal has been widely discussed, including by Kenya Insights and Richard Kitheka Mbindyo on LinkedIn.
The KOKO project distributed efficient bioethanol stoves and supplied around 1.5 million households through KOKOpoints, significantly reducing the use of non‑renewable woody biomass. Its credits — approximately 15 million issued, with less than 2% retired — were certified by the Gold Standard under clean‑cooking methodologies, enabling participation in the voluntary market before the regulatory crisis.
The failure exposes systemic risks faced by developers dependent on government authorizations and threatens the supply of CORSIA‑eligible credits ahead of the critical 2027–2028 compliance deadlines.
Innovative Bond Boosts Carbon Credits and Clean Cooking in Ghana
Standard Chartered – an international bank headquartered in London, UK, known for operating primarily in emerging markets across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East – announced the closing of the US$ 200 million Clean Cooking Outcome Bond, structured by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) – the World Bank arm that raises funds in global markets to finance sustainable development in low‑ and middle‑income countries. The bond will release US$ 30.5 million for clean‑cooking projects in Ghana, with payments linked to verifiable outcomes, including emission reductions and the generation of carbon credits.
The model combines impact finance, climate mitigation, and social benefits, demonstrating how results‑based instruments can expand access to clean technologies while strengthening high‑integrity carbon markets. Switzerlandplays a central role in the operation through the KliK Foundation, which will purchase the ITMOs (credits traded under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement). These credits undergo a mandatory deduction called OMGE (Overall Mitigation in Global Emissions) — a mechanism requiring that part of the credits be permanently canceled, ensuring that carbon markets deliver net global emission reductions, not just offsets. After this deduction, the remaining credits will be recorded in the Swiss Emissions Trading Registry to support Switzerland’s compliance under its CO₂ Act.
Read the Standard Chartered press release here and the IBRD press release here.
Other Highlights
IPSASB Releases First Public Standard for Climate‑Related Disclosures
The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has published IPSASB SRS 1 – Climate‑related Disclosures, the first climate‑reporting standard for the public sector, created to strengthen transparency, accountability, and government decision‑making in the face of growing climate risks and extreme events. Developed with support from the World Bank, the new standard fills the gap in clear guidance for public entities to disclose consistent, comparable, and IFRS S2‑aligned information on climate‑related risks and opportunities, also facilitating access to resilience‑focused financing. The IPSASB emphasizes that governments play a central role in climate action, and that adoption of SRS 1 — applicable from 2028, with early adoption permitted — represents an unprecedented opportunity to improve the quality of climate information available to the public, supported by capacity‑building initiatives such as the global webinar announced for February 2026. Here is the IPSASB press release, noting that similar situations are unfolding in other countries, as we recently reported in “Global audit of 70 supreme audit institutions reveals that countries plan but do not deliver climate adaptation.”
United Kingdom Opens Consultation to Replace TCFD with New Sustainability Standard Aligned with the ISSB
The chapter summarizes the public consultation launched by the UK regulator on updating sustainability disclosure rules for listed companies, replacing the current TCFD‑aligned model — now discontinued — with requirements based on the new UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS), derived from the ISSB standards. The proposal maintains a focus on financially material information, makes climate disclosure under UK SRS S2 mandatory, keeps Scope 3 emissions and non‑climate sustainability topics (S1) under a “comply or explain” regime, requires transparency on transition plans and independent assurance, adopts a flexible approach for international issuers, and seeks to balance comparability, information quality, and adaptation time, with final rules expected in autumn 2026following market consultation. The 115‑page public consultation can be accessed here, on the IFRS Foundation webpage that compiles the public consultations countries around the world are conducting to adopt or adapt the ISSB sustainability disclosure standards.
ISSB Lays Groundwork for New Global Nature Standard Focused on Ecosystems, and Critical Metrics
The ISSB is advancing the creation of a future nature‑related standard by detailing, in a staff paper released a few months ago, the plan and scope for developing disclosures on biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services. The document highlights information gaps, the need for location‑specific data, integration with IFRS S1/S2, and strong alignment with the TNFD.
Shorts & Opportunities
Land Sector and Removals Standard (LSR) was presented on 30 January by the GHG Protocol. It is the first global reference enabling companies to account for emissions and CO₂ removals from land use in agricultural activities and emerging technologies such as direct air capture. Although the land‑use sector accounts for nearly one‑quarter of global emissions, companies have historically lacked a reliable and comparable method to report these impacts. The new standard fills this critical gap, strengthening the accuracy of corporate GHG inventories and raising the quality of climate metrics across the private sector. Below is a webinar scheduled for 12 February 2026.
South Korea has embarked on an ambitious decarbonization pathway, with a national commitment to achieve net‑zero emissions by 2050. Read the 21 January publication by King & Wood Mallesons, a major international commercial law firm with origins in the Asia‑Pacific region.
Events
🖥️ February 12, Land Sector and Removals Standard Launch WRI Webinar
🇩🇪 February 16 - 20, Supervisory Body's 20th meeting (SBM 020), Bonn, Germany
🇧🇴 March 5, Bolivia Carbon Forum, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
🇵🇾 March 25 & 26, Paraguay Carbon Forum, Asunción, Paraguay
🇨🇴🇳🇱April 28 - 29, First International Conference on Phasing Out Fossil Fuels, by the Governments of Colombia and the Netherlands. In the city of Santa Marta, Colombia.
🇵🇪 May 27 & 28, Peru Carbon Forum 2026, 3ra edición, ESAN, Lima, Peru
Between COP30 and COP31, when governments, financial leaders and implementers stop negotiating text and start building the concrete mechanisms that actually deliver results.
🇰🇷🇺🇳April 21 - 25, Climate Week 1, Yeosu, Republic of Korea.
🇦🇿🇺🇳 October 5 - 9, Climate Week 2, Baku, Azerbaijan
Carbon Credit Markets is an educational channel and leading media outlet in the carbon markets, member of the coalition COP Experience, with a strong digital presence and a global audience in over 100 countries. It is the number 1 website in Brazil and the 16th most influential in the world, according to FeedSpot.
