The five industry groups behind the Asean Common Carbon Framework (ACCF) renewed their pact for two more years at the COP31 climate talks on Friday. Their announcement made no mention of the pilot projects they had planned to launch at COP30 last November, a year into the framework’s first two-year term.
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean) carbon markets remain fragmented along national lines, according to an April report by RHB Investment Bank, which limits the pool of buyers a project developer in any one country can reach. The framework seeks to align those markets so that credits issued in one country can be sold in another. It was signed by carbon market associations rather than governments, so it binds no Asean member state unless their governments take up its work.
The signatories are the Asean Alliance on Carbon Markets, the Indonesia Carbon Trade Association, the Malaysia Carbon Market Association (MCMA), the Singapore Sustainable Finance Association (SSFA) and the Thailand Carbon Markets Club.
Aboitiz Foundation, the corporate foundation of the Philippine conglomerate Aboitiz Group, joined as an observer. It is the framework’s first participant from the Philippines, which chairs Asean this year.
SSFA took over as chair from MCMA in the second half of 2026. Its strategy to 2028 also commits the groups to widening their membership, bringing the region’s carbon markets closer to global standards and feeding Asean views into international initiatives.
The groups plan to seek clarity on how the law treats a verified carbon credit, and to look for ways to lower barriers to trading credits across borders. They are also drawing up guidance for companies on using carbon credits, and a due diligence framework for lenders financing carbon projects.
All five signatories now support the Shared Principles of the Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets, a government-led group co-chaired by Kenya, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The principles were launched at COP30 in November 2025 and set out how companies should use carbon credits alongside cutting their own emissions.
“As chair, SSFA will work closely with the Singapore government, which takes on the Asean Chairmanship in 2027, to complement its market-building efforts from the private sector side,” said Oi-Yee Choo, the framework’s Co-Chair and Chief Executive of the carbon credit exchange Climate Impact X.
“The next two years must be about moving beyond dialogue towards tangible outcomes,” said Renard Siew, President of MCMA, which chaired the framework for its first 18 months.
“Cooperation between governments and businesses can build on the region’s carbon market development, strengthening credit quality and interoperability while respecting national priorities,” said Gloyta Nathalang, Chair of the Thailand Carbon Markets Club.
The framework grew out of a Malaysian push. Malaysia’s natural resources minister first proposed a regional standard for carbon projects in July 2024. Four months later, the five associations signed the original memorandum at COP29 in Baku.
The groups had planned to launch pilot projects at COP30 last year, according to a review of their 2025 work published by the Asean alliance. The candidate projects covered peatland, forest conservation, blue carbon and carbon capture. At COP30, the groups described designing pilot transactions as a next step, and in May they said pilots remained a priority. Friday’s statement did not mention them.
The milestones the groups have reported are references to the framework in a joint media statement by Asean economic ministers and in Asean’s joint statement on climate change to COP30, as well as a regional database of carbon project methodologies.
SSFA was unable to respond to queries before publication, according to its public relations agency.
Asean governments are also building cross-border carbon trading links of their own, through bilateral agreements under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. These set out legally binding terms for one country to transfer carbon credits to another.
Singapore signed its first such agreement with an Asean country, Thailand, in August 2025. By June 2026, it had 11 agreements, including with the Philippines and Vietnam. Singapore and Thailand opened applications for carbon credit projects under their agreement in March.
Companies can use credits transferred under these agreements to offset up to 5 per cent of their taxable emissions under Singapore’s carbon tax.
At the regional level, Asean has set itself the same goal as the framework. The Asean Economic Community Strategic Plan 2026–2030, the bloc’s economic blueprint adopted last year, commits members to promoting common recognition and interoperability among the region’s carbon markets.
Asean foreign ministers backed the aim in July. In their joint communiqué, they called for interoperability among carbon markets and, where appropriate, mutual recognition of high-quality carbon credits across the region.
Singapore takes over the Asean chairmanship from the Philippines on 1 January. It has named carbon markets as one of three areas it is looking at for its year in the chair, according to a speech in May by Ambassador for Climate Action Ravi Menon.
