Greetings NCEC members, 

Monthly Feature: Distant Imagery Solutions:

Our monthly feature is Distant Imagery Solutions. Please see the attachment or click HERE to read: Distant Imagery Solutions: Can Community owned Technology Redefine the Future of Blue Carbon?  Communities in the Global South protect 80% of the world's biodiversity and can mitigate one-third of global emissions. Yet the carbon market has long treated them as beneficiaries rather than leaders. Distant Imagery Solutions, a UAE-based climate technology company, is engineering a different future. Through self-built modular drones, an AI-powered monitoring platform, and a community ownership model it calls the Guardian Partnership, DIS is putting the tools of large-scale ecosystem restoration and blue carbon verification directly into the hands of frontline communities across Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia, Tonga, Madagascar, and Tanzania. Special thanks to Jane Glavan, Co-Founder and CEO for the interview.

NCEC Updates ANNUAL MEETING:

Join us virtually for the NCEC 2026 Annual Meeting! It will be held on 4-6 November in TRT time zone. 

Register for virtual attendance HERE. 

Invitation

The Parliamentarians' Global Guide to Climate Change and Climate Solutions 2026 will be launched by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Govt of Türkiye on Monday Nov 16 in the Green Zone. If you will be at COP31 and would like an invitation, please let us know. Huge thanks to NCEC Advisory Board member Jennifer McFarlane and member Carbon Click for collaborating on the Carbon markets content for the 2026 guide. 

External Network Updates:

• Ocean Visions just launched a free, public knowledge platform for marine CDR: Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Knowledge Platform, for stakeholders to better understand the rapidly evolving field of mCDR. 

• RMI maps where breakthroughs could cut the cost of carbon removal. RMI’s New Frontiers Report looks across 14 carbon removal approaches specifically on technological and process breakthroughs could cut costs and expand scale.

• ASU Center for Negative Carbon Emissions: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Management Summit: From Research to Deployment 4-5 February 2027. Call for abstracts open until 20 November. 

News: 

UN Warning: Ocean Carbon Sink Weakening Ahead of COP31

A United Nations report released ahead of the COP31 climate conference warned that climate change has reduced the ocean's carbon absorption capacity by approximately 6%. The ocean currently absorbs roughly 30% of human-caused CO₂ emissions. The finding raises significant concerns for carbon removal strategies that depend on natural ocean-based sinks and has direct implications for how CDR targets are calculated in national climate plans.

Source: United Nations, October 2026

IPCC Opens Expert Review of 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal and CCUS

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced in October 2026 that it is inviting experts to participate in the formal expert review of its forthcoming 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CDRT-CCUS). The report is expected to receive final government approval at the end of 2027 and will be a critical reference for all countries preparing post-2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Source: IPCC, October 30, 2026

WRI: What Is at Stake at COP31 for Climate and Carbon

The World Resources Institute (WRI) published a detailed assessment of what is at stake at COP31 for the global climate agenda. WRI highlighted that the central challenge is no longer making pledges but delivering on them. On climate finance, developing countries are pressing for accessible public finance following the $300 billion per year commitment made at COP29, with calls to triple adaptation finance by 2035. COP31 is expected to advance decisions on energy transition, adaptation funding, and ocean action.

Source: World Resources Institute (WRI), October 2026

Google and McKinsey Back 320,000-Tonne Brazil Silvopasture Carbon Removal Deal

Google, McKinsey, and Working Trees signed 10-year offtake agreements for 320,000 tonnes of carbon removal from Brazilian silvopasture restoration through the Symbiosis Coalition. The deal is one of the largest nature-based CDR purchases of 2026 and demonstrates growing corporate commitment to long-duration, land-based carbon removal in South America.

Source: Here

Valency International Issues $60 Million Green Bond for West Africa Biochar Project

Valency International secured a $60 million green bond to finance a project in Cote d'Ivoire converting cashew agricultural waste into biochar, biofuels, and renewable energy. The project is estimated to remove 880,000 tonnes of CO₂e and is one of the largest biochar-focused structured finance transactions in sub-Saharan Africa to date.

Source: Here