South Pole considers the implications that long and short-term carbon market trends will likely have on credit buyers. Published in February 2025, this guidance document predicts there will be greater standardisation of carbon credit quality criteria in the coming year. It is also expected that 2025 will be a new era for carbon markets as Article 6 of the Paris Agreement becomes operational and CORSIA gets underway. Furthermore, the guidance outlines eight 'megatrends', including the rise of nature- and tech-based removal credits, that will likely shape the buyer landscape.

Abatable and the Clean Cooking Alliance have collaborated to produce a guide to help potential buyers identify high-quality cookstove credits. Released in February 2025, it covers the foundational concepts of cookstove credits, explaining emissions reductions and the social benefits they bring, especially for women. It advises potential buyers to set a clear procurement strategy, define criteria for project eligibility, assess credit quality and keep claims credible and transparent.

Sylvera and CDR.fyi predict that tech-based removal credits will increasingly make up a larger proportion of the CDR market. This report, based on a market-participant survey in February 2025, expects the ratio of nature-based and tech-based credits to switch from 6:1 to 1.2:1 by 2030. Respondents predict that the price for tech-based credits will fall over the next two decades and that decisions from the key net-zero standards setters will be extremely influential.

This report, published by the World Resources Institute in February 2025, considers the potential of nature-based solutions to deliver for Sub-Saharan Africa. It considers different funding strategies to scale up investments in nature-based solutions, including voluntary carbon markets, debt-for-nature swaps and risk-sharing instruments.

This report, released in February 2025 by the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, explores scaling up carbon dioxide removals (CDR) in the EU. It outlines governance, policy, and funding needs for long-term CO₂ removal and storage. It is sceptical how big a role voluntary carbon markets will play in the scaling of CDR but acknowledges the markets have, so far, been the main source of funding for the removal sector. It also discusses EU climate neutrality targets, extended emitter responsibility and NDCs.

Published in January 2025 by UNEP, the Annual Report 2024 outlines key environmental efforts, including developments in the voluntary carbon market. At COP29, nations agreed on international carbon market standards, boosting transparency and credibility. UNEP also supported forest-based carbon trading under UN-REDD, aiding countries in accessing finance. The report covers nature conservation, NDCs, plastics, gender, and plastic pollution, emphasising global collaboration for sustainability.

In January 2025, Verra announced that it's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program is eligible for the first phase of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) that will run until 2026. This means that more verified carbon credits will get CORSIA labels and this guidance documents explains how the supplies of eligible credits can apply. The guidance advices on double counting avoidance, stating that credits with 2021 vintages onwards will need an Article 6 authorisation and to meet other criteria to be eligble.

Nature-based solutions produce better outcomes than tech-based solutions in the livestock sector, a report by FAIRR has found. Published in January 2025, this study compares the effectiveness of 22 nature and tech climate solutions that are commonly used to mitigate the impacts of livestock farming across the nine planetary boundaries within which humans can live safely. The study found nature-based solutions had more of a positive impact on six of the boundaries, including GHG reductions and removals, biodiversity and freshwater use. Tech-based solutions performed better on only three.

In January 2025, BirdLife International released a report considering the carbon storage potential of Europe's ecosystems. If these ecosystems were fully restored, they could collectively restore 13.22 billion tonnes of carbon. It explains how the successful restoration of Europe's natural carbon sinks could allow the bloc to meet its 2030 sequestration target.