Carbon Capture, Offsets, Removal & Pricing
Index
Notable Business News
Carbon Removal (direct air capture and other tech)
Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Progress on Carbon Market Standards
Research & Tools
The State of the Carbon Market
Carbon Removal Solutions & Analysis
Carbon Trading, Verification, and Insurance
Project Sourcing and Screening
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Collaboration
Accelerating Carbon Market Funding, Demand, & Innovation
Carbon Market Policy Engagement & Advocacy
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Notable News
MICROSOFT — Entered into a new 25-year agreement with Chestnut Carbon to deliver over 7 million tons of high-quality nature-based carbon removal credits from its afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation project in the Southern U.S. The agreement is estimated to restore 60,000 acres of land by planting over 35 million native, biodiverse trees. This builds on their 2023 agreement to deliver 362,000 tons of credits over 15 years. (Feb 2025)
MICROSOFT / RE.GREEN — Signed a second carbon offtake agreement for nearly 3.5 million metric tons, bringing the total purchased by Microsoft to 6.5 million tons. This expands the area of Amazon and Atlantic Forests re.green will restore by 17,500 hectares to a total of 33,000 hectares. The first agreement, signed in May 2024, has so far resulted in the planting of over 4.4 million native species seedlings over 11,000 hectares of degraded or abandoned pasture lands. (Jan 2025)
GOOGLE — Signed two carbon removal offtake agreements, one with carbon removal startup Charm Industrial and one with Indian carbon removal firm Varaha. The first will use biochar (produced along with bio-oil from pyrolysis) to sequester 100,000 tons of CO2 through 2030. The second will also sequester 100,000 tons through 2030 with biochar, by adding biochar to soils via smallholder farmer projects in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Kenya. (Jan 2025)
TERRADOT / FRONTIER / GOOGLE — Brazil-based enhanced rock weathering (ERW) startup Terradot signed two carbon offtake agreements. The first was facilitated by Frontier, with Frontier buyers paying $27 million to remove 90,000 tons of CO2 between 2025 and 2029. The second is with Google, which will purchase 200,000 tons of carbon removal credits, with credits being delivered by the early 2030s. Google’s agreement is the largest ERW deal to date. (Dec 2024)
GENZERO / TRAFIGURA — Announced a commitment for GenZero to invest over $100 million in Trafigura’s expansion of the Brújula Verde landscape restoration project in Colombia’s Orinoco River Basin. This afforestation and reforestation project involves planting over 24 million mixed-species trees on degraded lands, with the first issuance of carbon credits anticipated in late 2025. (Nov 2024)
MICROSOFT — Purchased over 234,000 Rainforest Restoration Carbon Removal Credits from Toronto, a nature-based solutions projects developer in Mexico. The project, located in Southeastern Mexico, will focus on ecosystem restoration alongside the landowners living in the project area, while sequestering carbon. (Sept 2024)
STANDARD CHARTERED —
Announced the completion of a global first transaction to provide finance for UNDO, a carbon removal (CDR) project developer specializing in rock weathering. The transaction, in cooperation with British Airways, CUR8, CFC, and WTW,
provides debt financing for UNDO, helping UNDO to scale up its activities, and providing carbon removal offtakes to British Airways and others. It also
separates the cost of a project from the sale of its credits, giving the project developer financial flexibility and reducing delivery risks, and, by lowering the barriers for buyers, potentially provides a new way to scale CDR projects. (Sept 2024)
FRONTIER — Facilitated offtake agreements with CarbonRun, a company that uses river de-acidification (river liming) for carbon removal. Frontier buyers will pay $25.4 million to permanently remove 55,442 tons of CO2 between 2025 and 2029. This is the first carbon removal offtake via river liming (a process that also helps reduce river ecosystem damage from acid rain). (Sept 2024)
FRONTIER — Facilitated $4.5 million of carbon removal pre-purchases from nine early-stage carbon removal startup companies. For five of these, this is their first corporate funding (all nine will receive $500,000 each). Carbon removal pathways range from field weathering and mineralization to ocean alkalinity enhancement and direct air capture. (Sept 2024)
META — Signed a long-term contract with Brazil-based BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group for the delivery of 1.3 million nature-based carbon removal credits, with options for an additional 2.6 million credits through 2038. The credits will come from the conservation, restoration, and planting of deforested and selected regions in Latin America, including the Cerrado biome in Brazil. (Sept 2024)
MICROSOFT — Announced the largest CO2 removal credit transaction to date, purchasing 8 million nature-based carbon removal credits through 2043 from BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG). The credits will be generated from TIG’s reforestation and restoration strategy in Latin America. Microsoft also announced it has agreed to purchase 40,000 agricultural soil-based carbon credits from Indigo Ag. (June 2024)
MICROSOFT / ANEW CLIMATE — Announced a new nature-based carbon removal purchase agreement, with Anew delivering more than 970,000 tons of carbon removal credits generated from improved forest management (IFM) projects across North America. (June 2024)
ENGIE / CATONA — Engie announced it has pre-ordered five million metric tons of nature-based carbon removals (for 2030-2039) from climate finance company Catona. (June 2024)
MICROSOFT / CARBON STREAMING / RUBICON / PONTERRA — Announced a new carbon removal project in Panama, the Azuro Reforestation Project, which will be developed by Ponterra and funded by Microsoft, Carbon Streaming, and Rubicon. It is expected to restore 10,000 hectares of degraded tropical forest and generate 3.24 million carbon removal credits through 2052. (May 2024)
MICROSOFT / RE.GREEN — Finalized a carbon removal (CDR) project for 3 million tons of carbon removal credits over a 15-year period through the reforestation of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil using only native species. Re.green will plant at least 10.7 million seedlings, supported by data-driven technologies, including monitoring via satellites and drones. (May 2024)
FRONTIER — Has facilitated offtake agreements with Vaulted Deep, a carbon removal company that injects carbon-rich organic waste deep underground for permanent storage. Frontier will pay $58.3 million to permanently remove 152,480 tons of CO2 between 2024 and 2027. (May 2024)
MICROSOFT / AKER CARBON CAPTURE / CO280 — Launched a new collaboration aiming to scale up the full value chain of carbon removal. Under the agreement, the companies will explore developing new biogenic carbon capture projects; standardizing lifecycle assessment and measurement, verification, and reporting systems; and developing a screening process to evaluate the feasibility of carbon capture on pulp and paper mills, with subsequent deployment of carbon capture plants at mills. (April 2024)
MICROSOFT — Signed a 6-year offtake agreement with carbon removal company The Next 150 to purchase 95,000 tons of CO2 removal credits generated by The Next 150’s biochar production facility in Mexico. (April 2024)
NESTLÉ — Launched two projects with Cargill and ETG | Beyond Beans to reduce and remove carbon emissions from its supply chains. These five-year projects will provide shade trees to cocoa farmers to help improve water management, enhance biodiversity, and sequester carbon. They aim to plant over two million trees on land managed by almost 20,000 farmers in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. (March 2024)
APPLE — Welcomed two manufacturing partners, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Murata Manufacturing, as new investors in the Restore Fund, which is designed to scale nature-based carbon removal while protecting critical ecosystems. TSMC will invest $50 million, and Murata will invest $30 million, bringing total commitments from $200 million to $280 million. Apple also announced the partners in the Restore Fund’s initial phase, including forest management company Symbiosis, and detailed its efforts to create sustainably certified working forests on degraded pasture and agricultural lands in South America’s Atlantic Forest (expected to exceed the goal of removing 1 million metric tons of CO2 from the air by 2025). (March 2024)
Carbon removal startup Equatic unveiled plans for an ocean-based carbon removal plant in Singapore. The demonstration plant will remove CO2 from the air (via electrolyzed seawater) while also producing hydrogen. It will be commissioned in mid-2024, and is expected to remove about 3,650 metric tons of CO2 and generate 110 tons of hydrogen per year when its first module comes online. (March 2024)
MICROSOFT / CATONA CLIMATE — Microsoft signed a six-year offtake agreement with Catona Climate to purchase 350,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits. The credits will come from an agroforestry project in Kenya, which partners with 15,000 smallholder farmers to develop forest gardens. (Feb 2024)
MICROSOFT — Signed a 15-year offtake agreement with nature-based carbon removal developer Chestnut Carbon. The project, based in the U.S., will deliver 362,000 tons of projected carbon removal during Phase I and up to 2.7 million tons in subsequent phases. This is the largest Gold Standard-Registered afforestation project certified to date. (Jan 2024)
MICROSOFT / CARBONFUTURE — Microsoft signed an agreement with Carbonfuture to purchase more than 32,000 metric tons of biochar-based carbon removal credits by June 2024, making this one of the largest biochar carbon removal (BCR) purchase agreements to date. The credits will come from the Exomad Green Concepción project in Bolivia, which transforms forestry waste that would have been burned into biochar. (Dec 2023)
MICROSOFT — Signed an agreement to purchase as many as 1.5 million carbon removal credits through 2032 from Brazilian startup Mombak Gestora de Recursos. Mombak is planting at least 30 million trees of more than 100 native species on deforested farmland in the Amazon. (Dec 2023)
FRONTIER — Will pay Lithos Carbon $57 million to remove 154,000 tons of atmospheric CO2 between 2024 and 2028. Lithos sequesters CO2 using enhanced rock weathering (ERW), a technique that involves spreading ground-up rock across large areas to chemically absorb CO2 from rainwater. (Dec 2023)
BEZERO CARBON — Issued a public rating of a carbon credit project yet to issue any credits, an industry first. This “ex ante” rating assesses the likelihood that the credits remove or avoid a ton of CO2 equivalent, while also assessing the risks of executing the project, in this case for an Improved Forest Management project in South East Asia. (Oct 2023)
IBERDROLA — Launched Carbon2Nature (C2N) to develop high-impact nature-based solutions projects that can reduce the global carbon footprint and improve biodiversity. The company aims to capture and store in natural sinks over 61 million metric tons of CO2, through ecosystem conservation and restoration projects in more than 100,000 hectares (primarily forests, as well as coastal ecosystems and agricultural soils). Latin America will host 80% of its projects. (Aug 2023)
EQUATIC — This carbon removal company announced a pre-purchase option agreement with Boeing for the removal of 62,000 metric tons of CO2 along with the delivery of 2,100 metric tons of “carbon-negative” hydrogen to Boeing. The company, which emerged out of UCLA, electrolyzes seawater (producing hydrogen) and passes atmospheric CO2 through the processed seawater to trap CO2 in solid materials. (June 2023)
FRONTIER — Facilitated a set of offtake agreements with Charm Industrial. This $53 million deal will sequester 112,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere between 2024 and 2030, storing it underground. Charm collects waste biomass from agriculture or forest management and, through pyrolysis, converts it into a bio-oil that will be injected permanently into regulated wells. The amount contracted is about ten times the amount of permanent atmospheric removal worldwide thus far and about 18 times more than Charm has sequestered to date via pilot processes. (May 2023)
Announced a major expansion of its Restore Fund, doubling Apple’s total commitment to advancing high-quality, nature-based carbon removal projects. Established in 2021 with an initial commitment of up to $200 million, the Restore Fund will add an additional fund of $200 million and add a new portfolio of carbon removal projects. The new portfolio aims to remove one million metric tons of CO2 per year from the atmosphere at its peak, while generating financial returns for investors. (April 2023)
FRONTIER — This carbon removal tech fund facilitated $3.5 million of carbon removal purchases and $7.5 million in commitments (contingent on reaching agreed upon technical milestones) from seven companies on behalf of Stripe and Shopify. The projects include biomass carbon removal and storage, direct ocean capture, and mineralization and weathering efforts. (Dec 2022)
INDIGO AGRICULTURE — Announced a landmark release of 20,000 agriculturally-produced carbon credits into the voluntary carbon market. They are the first agricultural credits to be verified and issued by California’s Climate Action Reserve registry, the largest state-level carbon market in the United States. Indigo secured buyer purchase commitments at $40/credit, doubling the 2020 rate. Participating farmers, who adopted climate-friendly practices such cover cropping and tillage strategies, will receive about 75% of the sale price. (July 2022)
FRONTIER — Carbon removal funding venture Frontier has announced its initial spend of $2.4 million, facilitated on behalf of funding partner Stripe, to be allocated among six carbon removal startups. The Frontier Fund, with a current total of $924 million from Alphabet, CEF members Meta and McKinsey & Co., Shopify, and Stripe, was established as an advance market commitment (AMC) guaranteeing future sales for companies working to develop carbon removal technologies and scale operations. Frontier is the first customer for each of the six companies selected, and another round of funding to additional recipients is planned for the fall. (July 2022)
Tropical Forest Credit Integrity Guide for Companies (Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations in the Amazon Basin, Conservation International, Environmental Defense Fund, IPAM Amazônia, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Resources Institute, WWF. Funded by the Bezos Earth Fund) — Provides guidance to companies planning to purchase tropical forest carbon credits to offset a portion of their GHG emissions. The authoring organizations are broadly in agreement that the tropical forest credit market can be beneficial not only to carbon sequestration but to the preservation of forests and the biodiversity they contain. Optimizing the impact of the market, they argue, relies on recommendations that buyers should (June 2022):
- Have a robust plan to reduce, rather than just offset, emissions.
- Undertake due diligence to ensure that credits considered for purchase meet their full sequestration promise and support the well-being of forest communities in alignment with the UN Cancun Safeguards.
- Align demand with jurisdictional-scale programs so as to contribute to integrated, systemic preservation.
- Align reporting with the Paris Agreement's Transparency and Accounting requirements.
- Prioritize the purchase of credits from programs and projects that reduce threats to standing tropical forests.
LOWERCARBON CAPITAL — The venture capital firm launched a $350 million fund dedicated to carbon removal startups embracing a wide range of approaches and potential solutions. Stripe is one of many participating investors. (April 2022)
SALESFORCE — Announced a goal to purchase 1 million tons of high-quality blue carbon credits (carbon captured by ocean and coastal ecosystems), equivalent to over $10 million, over the next four years “to help develop the emerging blue carbon market.” It also joined the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action, Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA), a multi-stakeholder collaboration seeking to drive at least $500 million of investment into coastal projects by 2030. (April 2022)
List of Carbon Removal (Nature-Based): Business Action & Goals, 2021-2020 (PDF)
UNITED AIRLINES VENTURES SUSTAINABLE FLIGHT FUND — Entered into an agreement with Heirloom for the right to purchase up to 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) or for permanent storage underground. The Fund also made an equity investment in Heirloom, its first in a direct air capture (DAC) technology. (March 2025)
FRONTIER — Announced it will pay carbon capture startup Phlair $30.6 million to remove 47,000 tons of CO2 between 2027 and 2030, using an electrochemical direct air capture (DAC) approach. Phlair will use a technique that does not require heating the capture material (i.e. thermochemical), making it more energy efficient. It will also use on-site solar to reduce costs further. (March 2025)
FRONTIER — Facilitated $80 million in carbon offtake agreements with CO280 and CREW, two companies integrating carbon removal technology into existing industrial processes. CO280 develops biomass carbon removal and storage projects at pulp and paper facilities, and CREW removes CO2 from the wastewater treatment process (both concentrate CO2, reducing costs, and offer significant potential to scale up). Frontier buyers will pay CO280 $48 million to remove 224,500 tons of CO2 between 2028 and 2030, and CREW $32.1 million to remove 71,878 tons between 2025 and 2030. (Dec 2024)
MICROSOFT / ROYAL BANK OF CANADA — Agreed to purchase 10,000 tons of CO2 removal credits over 10 years from Deep Sky Labs, Canada’s first commercial direct air capture (DAC) facility. Deep Sky will use eight different DAC technologies with the aim of measuring and optimizing their performance year-round (accounting for the Canadian climate). The technologies will be powered by renewable energy and CO2 will be stored in permanent carbon storage. (Nov 2024)
MORGAN STANLEY / CLIMEWORKS — Signed an agreement (lasting until 2037) to permanently remove 40,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. This is Morgan Stanley’s first purchase of Direct Air Capture credits. (Oct 2024)
GOOGLE — Signed a first-of-its-kind deal to purchase carbon removal credits from direct air capture (DAC) provider Holocene. Google will purchase credits for 100,000 tons of CO2 at $100/ton, the lowest price on record for a DAC project. It will provide financial support upfront, with delivery of credits in the early 2030s. (Sept 2024)
CARBONCAPTURE — Announced it would pause Project Bison, a 5-megaton Direct Air Capture (DAC) carbon removal project, due to growing competition for renewable energy from data centers. It is working to relocate the project to another state, where affordable clean energy is more available. (Sept 2024)
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SWISS WORLDCARGO — Launched a new carbon removal offer to help customers reduce their Scope 3 emissions. This “Aviation Tech Pioneer” premium option combines 20% CO2 removal through direct air capture (through Climeworks) with 80% reduction through the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). (July 2024)
MICROSOFT / 1POINTFIVE — Signed an agreement for Microsoft to purchase 500,000 metric tons of CO2 removal (CDR) credits from 1PointFive, via its industrial-scale direct air capture (DAC) facility, STRATOS (currently under construction). This is the largest ever single purchase of CDR credits enabled by DAC to date. (July 2024)
OCCIDENTAL LOW CARBON VENTURES / TAE TECHNOLOGIES — Signed an agreement to explore commercial opportunities to use TAE’s fusion technology to provide emissions-free power and heat for Direct Air Capture (DAC) facilities. (June 2024)
FRONTIER — Has facilitated $48.6 million in offtake agreements with Stockholm Exergi to enable a carbon removal retrofit on a biomass-based district heating facility. This retrofit will remove 800,000 tons of CO2 per year starting in 2028. The volume purchased and price per ton will be announced pending the outcomes of a reverse auction by the Swedish government. (June 2024)
MICROSOFT / ØRSTED — Announced Ørsted will sell an additional one million metric tons of carbon removal over a 10-year period to Microsoft, building on its already existing agreement of 2.67 million tons. Ørsted will establish carbon capture at two bioenergy-fired combined heat and power plants, and store the CO2 in a reservoir under the North Sea, with a projected start in 2026. (May 2024)
MICROSOFT / STOCKHOLM EXERGI — Signed a contract for 3.3 million metric tons of permanent carbon removal certificates. Stockholm Exergi will use bio-energy and carbon capture and storage, with deliveries starting in 2028 and continuing for 10 years. (May 2024)
CLIMEWORKS — Announced it has started operations at “Mammoth,” its second (and largest) commercial Direct Air Capture and Storage facility. It is ten times bigger than its earlier plant, Orca, and will have a capacity of 36,000 tons of CO2 per year once fully operational. (May 2024)
AT&T / 1POINTFIVE — Signed a direct air capture (DAC) carbon removal agreement, in which AT&T will purchase CO2 removal credits from 1PointFive’s DAC facility currently under construction. 1PointFive also joined AT&T’s Connected Climate Initiative (CCI), a collaborative effort to pursue connectivity-based solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one gigaton by 2035. (March 2024)
CLIMEWORKS / LUFTHANSA GROUP — Direct Air Capture carbon removal company Climeworks announced a long-term agreement with Lufthansa Group. Between now and 2030, Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss International Airlines will pursue science-based emissions reductions, and will support this with carbon removal from Climeworks for its hard-to-abate emissions. (March 2024)
CUR8/ UNDO / BRITISH AIRWAYS / STANDARD CHARTERED — Launched a financing pilot to help scale the carbon removals market. Carbon removals company CUR8 will procure high quality carbon removal credits, as will CO2 removal project developer UNDO. British Airways is committing to purchase over 4,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits, while Standard Chartered is aiming to serve as banking partner. (Jan 2024)
BCG / CLIMEWORKS — Signed a 15-year partnership agreement for BCG to purchase 80,000 metric tons of CO2 removal from Direct Air Capture company Climeworks. This is the second partnership agreement of the two companies and the largest of Climeworks’s corporate purchases to date. (Dec 2023)
Climate Orders (Stripe) — Enables businesses to pre-order carbon removal tons via Frontier (an advance market commitment to accelerate carbon removal). Businesses can use Stripe Dashboard to purchase these or use Stripe’s API to build their own climate offering (for sale to their customers). (Dec 2023)
Frontier— This collaboration to advance the carbon removal market bought its first set of direct air capture (DAC) offtakes from CarbonCapture and Heirloom. Frontier buyers will pay CarbonCapture $20 million to permanently remove 45,500 tons of CO2 by 2028 and Heirloom $26.6 million to remove 26,900 tons of CO2 by 2030. The companies use sorbents and limestone respectively to capture CO2 from the air before heating these to release and capture the CO2. (Nov 2023)
Equatic and Deep Sky, two carbon removal project developers, have partnered to create a Direct Air Capture demonstration unit, pulling CO2 from the air via seawater and sequestering it in the ocean, producing hydrogen as well. Equatic will build an electrolyzer unit (which uses renewable energy) at Deep Sky’s pilot facility in Quebec in 2024 that will remove 365 tons of CO2 per year, demonstrating the potential for larger-scale deployments (100,000+ tons per year). (Nov 2023)
BLACKROCK / OCCIDENTAL — BlackRock signed an agreement to form a joint venture with Occidental through its subsidiary 1PointFive to invest $550 million in the development of the STRATOS Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility in Texas. STRATOS is the largest planned DAC project in the world, designed to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of CO2/year, and is expected to be commercially operational in mid-2025. (Nov 2023)
TD BANK GROUP — Announced it will purchase 27,500 metric tons of CO2 removal credits from 1PointFive’s direct air capture plant in Texas (currently under construction). TD intends to use some credits to offset its operational emissions as well as expand its carbon trading capabilities. (Nov 2023)
AMAZON — Announced it will purchase carbon dioxide removal of 250,000 metric tons over ten years, its first investment in direct air capture (DAC), from the carbon capture firm 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum. (Sept 2023)
MICROSOFT — Agreed to buy credits from carbon capture startup Heirloom Carbon for the removal of up to 315,000 metric tons of CO2 over 10 years, making this one of the largest ever purchases of carbon-removal credits, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. The effort will use the limestone as a mechanism to capture CO2. (Sept 2023)
Ebb Carbon announced deployment of its ocean carbon dioxide removal (CDR) system at the U.S. Department of Energy’s only marine lab. The system processes seawater, passing it through a series of membranes to remove acid from the water. The water can then absorb additional CO2 from the air and store it as bicarbonate, according to the company. Ebb is currently running experiments to measure and model how much CO2 is removed from the air from this process. (Aug 2023)
OCCIDENTAL — Announced the acquisition of Carbon Engineering for $1.1 billion, a direct air capture (DAC) startup that Occidental has been working with since 2019. This is “the largest corporate transaction in the young history of DAC,” according to Axios, and comes soon after the U.S. Department of Energy announced $1.2 billion for creating two commercial-scale DAC hubs, one of which was led by Occidental in partnership with Carbon Engineering. (Aug 2023)
BCG / CARBONCAPTURE — Boston Consulting Group (BCG) announced a partnership with direct air capture (DAC) company CarbonCapture to both purchase 40,000 tons of carbon removal over five years and to support CarbonCapture’s business strategy with consulting services. This is the second largest publicly announced DAC offtake deal by volume to date. (June 2023)
ØRSTED — Announced the Danish Energy Agency has awarded the company a 20-year contract for its carbon capture and storage project, the Ørsted Kalundborg Hub. The project will capture 430,000 metric tons of biogenic CO2 from two biomass power stations per year, and store it in the Northern Lights storage reservoir in the North Sea. Microsoft has agreed to purchase 2.76 million metric tons of carbon removal over 11 years from this project, part of its efforts to become carbon negative by 2030. (May 2023)
3M / SVANTE — Announced a joint development agreement to develop and produce Direct Air Capture (DAC) products for the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) industry. Svante has developed a process for coating solid sorbents onto sheets to make DAC filters for industrial plants that can be applied to 85% of the total carbon and capture removal sector. This agreement comes after 3M’s venture capital arm took part in Svante’s Series E fundraising round in December. (May 2023)
MITSUBISHI / SOUTH POLE — Announced an advanced purchase of 200,000 tons of carbon removal credits (CDRs) from three projects through a new joint venture, “NextGen CDR Facility.” Backed by foundational buyers BCG, Swiss Re, UBS, and others, NextGen is targeting the advanced purchase of one million CDRs by 2025 to help scale the market for high-quality carbon removals. (May 2023)
CARBONCURE TECHNOLOGIES — Announced the availability of CarbonCure verified carbon units (VCUs), the first technology-based VCUs registered by Verra. CarbonCure creates VCUs by injecting CO2 into concrete during manufacture, mineralizing the CO2 and removing it from the atmosphere. Injected CO2 also increases concrete’s compressive strength, enabling reductions of carbon-intensive cement used in each mix and reducing emissions in the global concrete industry. CarbonCure says its process provides a quantifiable and transparent carbon credit that will build confidence in carbon markets. (April 2023)
HOLCIM — Announced an upgraded target to reduce Scope 1 emissions per ton of cementitious material by 22% by 2030, in line with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) 1.5°C framework. Holcim said its efforts have reduced CO2 per net sales by 21% in 2022, and that it commits to additional reductions of more than 10% in 2023. The company also announced it would invest $2.2 billion in carbon capture technologies by 2030 and would capture more than 5 million metric tons of CO2 per year. (April 2023)
TRAFIGURA — Commodity trading company Trafigura committed to purchasing at least 50,000 tons of CO2 removal credits by the end of 2030, generated through advanced carbon dioxide removal technologies. The commitment was made through the First Movers Coalition to support the development of the CO2 removal market and technologies. (Jan 2023)
CLIMEWORKS — Announced that it has provided third-party certified CO2 removal (CDR) services to its first corporate customers: Microsoft, Shopify, and Stripe. Climeworks CDR Services were certified by quality assurance leader DNV, based on a Direct Air Capture & Storage (DAC+S) methodology co-developed by Climeworks and Carbfix, a partner in providing Climeworks’ CDR services. (Jan 2023)
GULF COAST SEQUESTRATION (GCS)/ CLIMEWORKS — Carbon sequestration solutions provider GCS and direct air capture (DAC) company Climeworks signed an MOU to develop the first DAC and storage hub on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana. The partnership will aim to enable the permanent removal of one million tons of CO2 from the air annually by 2030, with the capability of expanding to a multi-million ton capacity in future years. (Nov 2022)
CARBONCAPTURE / FRONTIER CARBON SOLUTIONS — CarbonCapture, a U.S. climate tech company that develops direct air capture (DAC) systems, and carbon storage developer Frontier Carbon Solutions announced an exclusive partnership to remove five million tons of atmospheric CO2 annually in the U.S. by 2030 using DAC. This joint project will be located in Wyoming, utilizing renewable energy and permanently storing the CO2 in Class VI injection wells. (Sept 2022)
AIRBUS — Signed a letter of intent to pre-purchase 400,000 tons of atmospheric carbon removal from direct air capture (DAC) company 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum’s Low Carbon Ventures business. The removal is slated take place over four years, following the planned 2024 opening of 1PointFive’s first megaton-capacity DAC facility in Texas, to offset a portion of Airbus’s carbon emissions. Air Canada, Air France-KLM, EasyJet, International Airlines Group, LATAM Airlines Group, Lufthansa Group, and Virgin Atlantic have also signed letters committing to negotiate "the possible pre-purchase of verified and durable carbon removal credits starting in 2025." (July 2022)
MICROSOFT / CLIMEWORKS — signed a 10-year carbon offtake agreement, where CEF member Microsoft will purchase the removal of 10,000 metric tons of atmospheric CO2 via direct air capture (DAC) from Climeworks. The agreement, and DAC in general, is a key component of Microsoft’s commitment to be carbon negative by 2030 and remove its historic CO2 emissions by 2050. The long-term commitment helps ensure financial stability for Climeworks as it develops its removal capacity to gigaton scale, and increases market signal in for the nascent carbon removal industry. (July 2022)
1POINTFIVE / CARBON ENGINEERING — Announced a new system of Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant construction that has the potential to accelerate scaling of the early-stage but critical technology. The companies outlined a new plant design that is modular and therefore relatively easy to mass produce and deploy. Carbon Engineering will provide the DAC technology and 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental’s Low Carbon Ventures business, will build the plant modules and deploy them on site with the help of a network of trained vendors. The two companies expect the first plant to be operational in 2024 and project between 70 and 135 plants—each capable of removing a million tons of CO2 per year—in operation by 2035. (June 2022)
CLIMEWORKS — Swiss direct air capture (DAC) startup, Climeworks, has secured $650 million of investment capital—the largest influx to date for a carbon removal company. The funds will be used to build a new facility designed to remove 40,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually—roughly ten times the capacity of the current largest facility (also owned by Climeworks). The company is targeting a million tons of CO2 removal annually by 2030.
SHOPIFY — Increased its total carbon removal purchase commitment to $32 million with the announcement of support for nine new, tech-based carbon removal companies through its Shopify Sustainability Fund. The move is intended, in part, to send market signal to drive support for carbon removal technology from others. “We're calling on other companies to join us and help scale carbon removal. Without a greater demand signal, the nascent long-term carbon removal market could collapse,” says Stacy Kauk, Shopify's Head of Sustainability. (April 2022)
Direct air capture (DAC) company Heirloom has raised $53 million of funding for the first deployment of its DAC technology, which “has the lowest peer-reviewed, at-scale cost of any direct air capture technology on the market.” The funding round, “one of the largest private financings in direct air capture to date,” was co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Carbon Direct Capital Management, and Ahren Innovation Capital, with Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund as an additional participant. (March 2022)
1PointFive — Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) platform 1PointFive announced the sale to Airbus of 400,000 tons of carbon-removal credits over four years. The credits will come from 1PointFive’s planned first direct air capture (DAC) facility, slated for construction beginning in late 2022 and expected to be the largest in the world. (March 2022)
List of Carbon Removal (Direct Air Capture & Other Tech)-- Business Action & Goals, 2021-2020 (PDF)
Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) — Has approved three methodologies for Core Carbon Principles (CCP) labelled inclusion under REDD+ (Reducing Emissions for Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries). With the approved methodologies due to start issuing credits soon, CCP-labelled REDD+ credits are expected to be available from early 2025. Over 323 million credits are potentially to be verified under these methodologies during the first crediting period. (Nov 2024)
The American Forest Foundation’s Family Forest Carbon Program unveiled a new approach to supporting nature-based climate solutions: a new kind of carbon contract that balances risk between buyers, developers, and landowners through milestone-based prepayments for a portion of the contracted carbon credits. In conjunction with this, the Foundation also launched the American Forest Foundation Carbon Auction, for about 1.5 million credits to be issued between 2032 and 2036, in which buyers will have access to data about projects to enable due diligence. Together, these aim to reduce upfront costs for buyers and increase confidence of continuing resources for landowners. To learn more about and register for the auction (scheduled for February 2025), visit here. (Oct 2024)
VERRA — Canceled five million Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) issued through cookstove projects developed by C-Quest Capital (CQC), after quality control reviews of 22 of the 26 projects found that these VCUs were issued in excess of the correct amount. Verra determined that CQC must compensate for these excess issuances and the VCUs have been canceled. (Oct 2024)
LEAF Coalition — Signed a $180 million deal to support the Brazilian state of Pará’s efforts to reduce deforestation. The state government will use the funds to preserve forests and support sustainable economic development and traditional peoples' ways of life. The agreement provides up to 12 million high-integrity forest carbon credits from reductions in deforestation from 2023 to 2026. (Sept 2024)
TOTAL ENERGIES — Signed a $100 million agreement with Anew Climate and Aurora Sustainable Lands to reduce timber harvesting across 300,000 hectares in 10 U.S. states. The investment will support 20 improved forest management (IFM) projects that will generate carbon credits to be retired beyond 2030. (Sept 2024)
SWISS RE / CARBONFUTURE — Swiss Re will purchase a minimum of 70,000 metric tons of biochar carbon removal credits from Carbonfuture over 7 years. The biochar will be produced in Bolivia from sustainable forestry residues and donated to Indigenous communities and mid-sized farms to improve soil health. (June 2024)
ACEN CORPORATION / THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION — Are developing the first Coal to Clean Credit Initiative (CCCI) pilot project, which would close a coal plant in the Philippines ten years ahead of its scheduled retirement (2030 instead of 2040), replace the energy with renewables and battery storage, and sell the credits for the up to 19 million tons of CO2 emissions avoided. The project aims to finalize buyer discussions and reach a financial close by 2025. (June 2024)
INTERFACE — Announced that starting in 2025, it will no longer invest in carbon offsets, and will instead invest those resources into company initiatives that will reduce the carbon footprint of products, or redesign products to be more biobased, circular, or store more carbon. (April 2024)
SOUTH POLE — Carbon offset developer South Pole terminated its contract with Carbon Green Investments (CGI), the owner and developer of the Kariba REDD+ project in Zimbabwe (one of the largest sources of credits in the carbon market with 36 million credits issued). South Pole is “not confident that the project meets the high standards” it expects from its partners. This comes after media reports cast doubt over Kariba’s forest preservation claims. (Oct 2023)
LENOVO / KUEHNE+NAGEL — Computer manufacturer Lenovo and global logistics company Kuehne+Nagel announced a new partnership to offer a logistics service to help customers reduce their carbon footprints. Through a purchase add-on, customers will be able to buy credits to fund the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), and claim a reduction in Scope 3.1 emissions for purchased goods and services. (Jan 2023)
SMBC AVIATION CAPITAL (SMBC) — The aircraft leasing company SMBC announced it will start offering its airline customers carbon credits aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in leasing contracts. SMBC is initially investing $53.3 million in energy efficient cookstove projects in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, which are certified by Verra and Gold Standard. (Sept 2022)
MARSH — Announced that U.S. clients will now have the option to pay their insurance broking and risk advisory fees in voluntary carbon offset credits or renewable energy certificates (RECs), a first-of-its kind in the financial services industry. This will allow companies, which may have purchased too many credits, to transfer these. (Sept 2022)
CHEVRON / EXXONMOBIL / JERA / OSAKA GAS / SHELL / TOKYO GAS —
The
partners of the
Gorgon liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia, which is operated by Chevron Australia, have
committed to buy carbon credits likely to cost over $180 million as a
government penalty for failing to meet a five-year CCS target. (Nov 2021)
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CHEVRON —
Committed to
investing approximately $29.3 million in "lower carbon projects" in Western Australia and
fulfilling its “regulatory obligations” to the
Gorgon liquefied natural gas project (a joint venture that Chevron Australia operates)
“through the acquisition and surrender of 5.23 million greenhouse gas offsets.”
The investment is part of Chevron’s efforts to address a government penalty for the Gorgon project not meeting a five-year CCS target. (Nov 2021)
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CHEVRON — Committed to investing over $10 billion by 2028 to reduce its carbon footprint—triple its previous investment—including $2 billion to reduce the carbon intensity of its operations. The company also set new 2030 targets (Sept 2021):
- Increase hydrogen production to 150,000 tons per year
- Increase renewable fuels production capacity to 100,000 barrels per day, including 40,000 MMBtu of natural gas production
- Increase carbon capture and offsets to 25 million tons per year by partnering with others to develop regional hubs
LATAM AIRLINES GROUP — The Latin American airline committed to achieving zero waste to landfill by 2027 and carbon neutrality by 2050. It plans to eliminate single-use plastics by 2023 and collaborate with The Nature Conservancy to identify conservation projects to offset 50% of its emissions from domestic operations by 2030. (May 2021)
CLIMATECARE/NATURAL CAPITAL PARTNERS — The two carbon offset providers announced plans to merge. The group has over 500 clients across 6 continents, with access to an estimated 600 carbon reduction projects across 56 countries. (May 2021)
CHEVRON — Announced new emissions intensity cuts and plans to invest over $3 billion through 2028 to advance its energy transition strategy. The company will invest $750 million for investments in renewables and offsets and an additional $300 million (totaling $500 million) for its low-carbon fund. New 2028 emission reduction goals (benchmarked against 2016 levels) include: reducing CO2 emissions from oil production 40% by 2028; reducing CO2 intensity from gas production by 26%; reducing methane emissions by 53%. The company also plans to end routine methane flaring by 2030. (March 2021)
Schneider Electric has created a new "Climate Change Advisory Service" to support business’ sustainability challenges and climate actions. Their new service line spans various fields, including energy management, resource efficiency, renewable energy procurement, carbon offsetting, value chain decarbonization, and AI-driven data collection and disclosure. (February 2021)
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) pledged to become carbon positive by 2024 and set a target to reduce its direct and indirect GHG emissions by 45% by 2030. The IOC plans to offset more than 100% of its remaining carbon emissions, largely through the Great Green Wall initiative. (January 2021)
United Airlines has pledged to reduce its GHG emissions by 100% by 2050. To achieve this, the company will make a “multimillion-dollar” investment in atmospheric carbon capture technology and continue to invest in sustainable aviation fuel. (December 2020)
KPMG announced its intention to become a net-zero organization by 2030, with the use of accredited voluntary carbon offsets. As a result, the organization set targets to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2022 and cut its direct and indirect emissions 50% by 2030. (November 2020)
UPS will match the carbon offsets of all packages shipped via its carbon neutral program during the month of June. (June 2020)
German multinational company Bosch has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020. The company plans to achieve its target through energy efficiency measures, purchasing green power, and carbon offsets. (2019)
EXXONMOBIL — Has acquired state leases for over 271,000 acres in Texas state waters for an offshore carbon capture and storage operation. This is the largest offshore CO2 storage lease in the U.S. to date. (Oct 2024)
MARSH — Launched a first-of-its-kind insurance solution designed for the transportation and storage of CO2. The solution will add a new non-damage trigger for the geological leakage of CO2, offering compensation for expenses related to corrective actions, business interruptions, and purchase of carbon credits to offset the leakage. It will be available globally to projects across the supply chain. (Aug 2024)
CF INDUSTRIES / EXXONMOBIL — Signed an agreement in which ExxonMobil will transport and store up to 500,000 metric tons of captured CO2 per year from CF Industries’ ammonia production facility in Mississippi. This is expected to start in 2028 and reduce the site’s CO2 emissions by up to 50%. (July 2024)
ArcelorMittal announced it has started operating a pilot carbon capture unit on the blast furnace at its steel plant in Gent, Belgium. The pilot, which utilizes Mitsubishi Heavy Industry’s carbon capture technology, will run 1-2 years, capturing and separating CO2 from off-gases, and test the feasibility of full-scale deployment of the technology. (May 2024)
EXXONMOBIL — Agreed to acquire Denbury Inc., an experienced developer of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCS) and enhanced oil recovery, for $4.9 billion. The acquisition will provide ExxonMobil the largest CO2 pipeline network in the U.S. (1,300 miles) and 10 onshore sequestration sites, expanding its Low Carbon Solutions business. The acquisition also includes oil and natural gas operations consisting of proven reserves of over 200 million barrels of oil equivalent. (July 2023)
GE / SVANTE — GE and carbon capture and removal solutions provider Svante announced a joint development agreement to develop, evaluate, and commercialize solid sorbent-based carbon capture technology for decarbonizing natural gas-fired turbines. This collaboration will build off Svante’s carbon capture filters, which can be used for capturing CO2 in refineries, cement, steel, aluminum, boilers and more. (March 2023)
WINTERSHALL DEA — Natural gas and oil company Wintershall Dea announced Project Greensand, the first CCS project in the Danish North Sea. This will incorporate the full CCS value chain (capture, transport, and storage) across borders, making it the first CCS project in the EU to do so. During the demonstration phase this April, 15,000 metric tons of CO2 will be captured from a Belgian industrial plant and stored in a depleted oil field in the Danish North Sea. By 2025/26, annual CO2 storage could grow to 1.5 million tons, and to 8 million tons by 2030. (March 2023)
CHEVRON — Announced it will expand its Bayou Bend carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project along the Texas Gulf Coast to 140,000 acres (56,656 hectares), up from 40,000 acres, making this one of the largest CCS projects in the U.S. Bayou Bend, a joint venture between Chevron, Talos Energy, and Carbonvert, will hold a gross capacity of more than one billion metric tons. (March 2023)
BP / CARBONFREE — BP and carbon capture company CarbonFree Chemicals Holdings announced an agreement to collaborate on the development of carbon capture and utilization projects using CarbonFree’s SkyCycle technology. This technology captures CO2 emissions directly from industrial emitters and converts these into specialty chemicals, including precipitated calcium carbonate. BP has been an investor in CarbonFree for nearly 10 years. (Feb 2023)
LINDE — Industrial gases company Linde announced it will invest $1.8 billion to supply blue hydrogen to OCI’s blue ammonia plant in Texas (along with additional customers in the U.S. Gulf Coast via pipeline). Linde will build, own, and operate an on-site complex at the plant that will produce blue hydrogen from natural gas and sequester more than 1.7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. The project is expected to start in 2025. (Feb 2023)
OCCIDENTAL / KING RANCH — The energy company Occidental and privately-held agricultural production and resource management company, King Ranch, announced a lease agreement of 106,000 acres to accommodate up to 3 billion metric tons of CO2 (up to 30 million metric tons per year) in geologic reservoirs to support carbon sequestration.The land is located in Texas, near industrial emitters in the Gulf Coast region. (Nov 2022)
ARCELORMITTAL / MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES ENGINEERING (MHIENG) — Are collaborating on a multi-year trial of MHIENG’s carbon capture technology to be implemented at an ArcelorMittal’s steel plant in Gent, Belgium and a second plant in North America. The companies will also conduct a feasibility and design study to support progress to full scale deployment. BHP and Mitsubishi Development will fund the trial. (Oct 2022)
EXXONMOBIL / CF INDUSTRIES — Exxon has signed an agreement with the world’s largest ammonia producer, CF Industries, for its first commercial carbon storage deal. Exxon will transport and store underground 2 million metric tons of CO2 per year starting in 2025 when CF Industries opens a CO2 compression facility in Louisiana to process emissions from its ammonia production. As part of the project, Exxon has signed an agreement to use EnLink Midstream’s pipelines to transport the CO2. (Oct 2022)
BROOKFIELD / LANZATECH — Announced a funding partnership in which investor Brookfield Renewable will co-develop and build new commercial-scale production plants using LanzaTech’s Carbon Capture and Transformation technology to convert CO2 into fuels and chemicals. The partnership commits $500 million in initial investment, with an additional $500 million possible if additional projects are available. (Oct 2022)
NORTHERN LIGHTS / YARA — Northern Lights, a joint CCUS venture between TotalEnergies, Shell, and Equinor, has signed a deal with Yara Sluiskil, an ammonia and fertilizer plant in the Netherlands, to capture, compress, liquefy, transport and store 800,000 tons of CO2 per year under the seabed off the coast of Norway. According to the companies, this is the “world’s first commercial agreement on cross border CO2 transportation and storage.” It is also the first commercial partner of Northern Lights, which has the goal of storing 40 million tons of CO2 over 25 years. (Sept 2022)
U.S. STEEL / EQUINOR / SHELL — Entered into a non-exclusive cooperation agreement to “advance a collaborative clean energy hub in the Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania region” with a focus on carbon capture, utilization and storage and hydrogen production and utilization. (Aug 2022)
CHEVRON — Disclosed that its Gorgon carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Australia is working at only half its planned annual capacity of 4.1 million metric tons. Gorgon, currently the world’s largest CCS project, has been operating for three years and was slated to be running at full capacity by 2021. Chevron has no timeframe for delivering on its unmet targets, though it claims the CO2 injection systems are working reliably. Until Gorgon reaches its planned capacity, Chevron is working with the Western Australian government to cover shortfalls with purchased carbon offsets. (May 2022)
BP / LINDE — Announced plans to partner on a new carbon capture and storage (CCS) venture intended to trap CO2 from Linde’s Houston-area hydrogen production plants and other industrial facilities along the Texas Gulf Coast. BP and Linde estimate that the project will be capable of burying up to 15 million metric tons of CO2 per year across multiple sites and could start up as soon as 2026. BP will develop and permit the geological storage sites, while Linde will provide the gas compression technology to the venture. (May 2022)
Six startups offering technology innovations that can help decarbonize the cement industry will receive backing from the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) as part of the first Innovandi ‘Open Challenge’ in the race to ‘net zero’ by 2050—a key effort underpinning the cement industry’s net zero commitment. The companies are CarbonOrO, MOF Technologies and Saipem, which develop the technology and implementation for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), Carbon Upcycling Technologies and Fortera, which use captured CO2 to produce low-carbon cement, and Coomtech, which has developed a low-cost drying technology using kinetic energy created by managed, turbulent air. The startups will partner with member companies and join formal consortia to further test, develop and deploy their technologies. (May 2022)
SUMMIT CARBON SOLUTIONS — Announced completion of equity fundraising efforts to support the development of its proposed carbon capture and storage project in the Upper Midwestern United States. The company has raised more than $1 billion, with $300 million coming from TPG Rise Climate, the climate investing arm of CEF member TPG Capital. The project, slated to be running in 2024, would capture waste greenhouse gases from ethanol and fertilizer plants in the Upper Midwest and transport them via pipeline to an underground injection site in North Dakota for permanent storage. Concurrently, Summit has been developing several carbon storage sites in North, Dakota, including an agreement with Minnkota Power Cooperative for access to their already-permitted 100-million-ton capacity storage site near Center, ND—the largest in the U.S. (May 2022)
CHEVRON / TALOS / CARBONVERT — Announced an MOU for an expanded joint venture to develop the Bayou Bend CCS offshore carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) hub in Texas coastal waters. The Bayou Bend CCS lease, won by a joint venture between Talos and Carbonvert in 2021, is the first and only offshore lease in the U.S. dedicated to CO2 sequestration, with an estimated capacity of 225 to 275 million metric tons of CO2. Under the terms of the MOU, Chevron would support the project with a cash contribution and carry capital costs through the final investment decision (FID). In return, Chevron would take a 50% equity interest in the joint venture. Talos would remain the project’s operator. (May 2022)
CARBONCURE TECHNOLOGIES —Carbon removal (CR) and utilization technology startup CarbonCure Technologies signed a $30 million carbon credit purchase agreement with CR investor Invert and crypto solutions company Ripple to permanently store CO2 through CarbonCure’s carbon mineralization process (injecting captured carbon into fresh concrete). The deal represents the largest investment to date in carbon mineralization and storage. (April 2022)
EXXONMOBIL — Will invest an estimated $400 million to expand carbon capture and storage (CCS) at its facility in LaBarge, Wyoming, with operations possibly starting in 2025. The expansion will capture up to an additional 1.2 million metric tons of carbon annually, beyond the 6-7 million metric tons LaBarge already captures annually. (March 2022)
CONTINENTAL RESOURCES — Petroleum and natural gas company Continental Resources committed to investing $250 million in Summit Carbon Solutions over the next two years to help fund the development and construction of “the largest carbon capture and sequestration project of its kind.” The project will primarily capture carbon from ethanol plants and other industrial sources in the Midwest. (March 2022)
ARCELORMITTAL — Committed to investing $1.9 billion by 2030 to build new, sustainable facilities at two steelmaking sites, which will gradually replace three out of five ArcelorMittal blast furnaces in France and reduce the company’s French carbon emissions by nearly 40% by 2030. It also committed to capturing residual carbon for storage or usage, and producing steel with up to 25% recycled steel per kilo. The facilities will be operational starting in 2027. (Feb 2022)
Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital are investing $80 million in Verdox to develop and deploy the company’s electrochemical carbon capture technology. The technology has the potential to capture carbon from any industrial source or the air, and offers up to 70% relative energy savings. (Feb 2022)
ADM / WOLF CARBON SOLUTIONS — ADM will work with Wolf Carbon Solutions US to construct a pipeline that allows carbon produced at ADM’s ethanol and cogeneration facilities in Iowa to be captured, compressed, transported, and permanently stored underground at an ADM carbon-sequestration site. The pipeline would be able to transport 12 million tons of CO2 per year and would have extra capacity for third-party customers. (Jan 2022)
List of
Industrial Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS)-- Business Action & Goals, 2021-2020 (PDF)
Flue2Chem Project (Unilever, Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), and others) — Fifteen businesses, universities, and NGOs, spearheaded by Unilever and SCI, have started a two year, £5.4 million ($6.5 million) project in the UK aimed at converting industrial CO2 emissions into sustainable materials for use in consumer products. Along with producing a more sustainable feedstock for products, such as household cleaning materials, the project aims to demonstrate how the UK could reduce 15-20 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, through the reduction of imports of carbon containing feedstocks. The partners include businesses across the supply chain, and include CEF members Unilever, BASF, and Procter & Gamble. (Feb 2023)
Sustainable fuels startup Air Company announced the launch of its Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) made from captured CO2, named AIRMADE SAF. Global aviation partners, including JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic have made commitments to purchase over one billion gallons of the fuel. The U.S. Air Force has already completed an unmanned flight using the fuel. (Sept 2022)
COCA-COLA EUROPACIFIC PARTNERS (CCEP) — Announced a new investment through CCEP Ventures, with the University of California, Berkeley to support the Peidong Yang Research Group at Berkeley to develop scalable methods of converting captured CO2 into sugar, with a goal of reducing both CCEP emissions and agricultural land usage. The research group will work on foundational research to enable the production of sugar from CO2, with future investments focusing on bringing this to a pilot phase. This technology is also being explored as a way to convert CO2 into PET plastic, reducing the need for oil feedstocks. (Aug 2022)
LanzaTech, with the support of food and beverage brand Danone, has made a breakthrough in the production of sustainable PET plastics. The carbon capture and transformation company successfully turned captured carbon emissions directly into monoethylene glycol (MEG), one of the main components of PET. The proprietary technology uses an engineered bacterium to convert carbon emissions directly into MEG through fermentation, which significantly simplifies the MEG supply chain. (May 2022)
OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM — Announced an agreement with SK Trading International for 200,000 barrels a year of “net-zero oil” created from captured atmospheric CO2. SK Trading International “may purchase up to 200,000 barrels of net-zero oil per year for five years to develop net-zero products, such as lower-carbon aviation fuel.” Occidental will create the oil “using environmental attributes generated from carbon dioxide (CO2) removed from the atmosphere by 1PointFive’s planned large-scale Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility,” expected to be online in late 2024. (March 2022)
LANZATECH —
The biotech startup has
partnered with apparel company lululemon athletica to create the world’s first fabric and yarn made from captured carbon emissions.
(July 2021)
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TIDE (P&G)— Announced a set of sustainability goals as part of its “2030 Ambition” to decarbonize the laundry value chain, and launched a multi-year partnership with HanesBrands featuring a “wash in cold” call-to-action to consumers. 2030 goals include (March 2021):
- Reducing GHG emissions in half at direct manufacturing plants.
- Reducing water usage at plants by 40%.
- Achieving 100% recyclable packaging for all products by 2030 and reducing the use of virgin plastic in packaging by half (2020 baseline).
- Having 3 out of 4 loads of laundry in the United States and Canada be washed in cold water (potential to reduce GHG emissions by a cumulative 27 million metric tons over the decade). It’s launching a North American “turn to cold water” educational campaign this Spring.
- Expanding its Tide Loads of Hope program 10x to provide clean clothes to millions of people, with a focus on communities most impacted by climate change.
- Incorporating CO2 MadeTM ingredients in the manufacturing of Tide products through a pilot project with carbon capture and utilization company Opus12.
Circular Carbon Network Company Index and Deal Hub (NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE) is a database of more than 250 companies working to transform excess CO2 into a range of products and materials that benefit society.
The Change Climate Project launched The Climate Label, which replaces its Climate Neutral Certified label. The Climate Label will certify companies that actively fund carbon-reducing projects based on an internalized carbon fee of at least $15 per ton of unabated carbon emissions. So far, more than 15 brands, including REI and Allbirds, have pledged to participate, according to reporting by Trellis. Fees will go toward abatement activities both within and beyond brands’ value chains. (Jan 2025)
PANASONIC — Will implement an Internal Carbon Pricing (ICP) system on a trial basis starting in FY2024. The system will assign a price of 20,000 yen per ton of CO2 ($141/ton), investing this in businesses that contribute to decarbonization and a circular economy. It will pilot the ICP system at the Living Appliances and Solutions Company and expand the system for company-wide deployment in FY2025. (June 2023)
Widespread adoption of direct air capture carbon removal technologies requires that its cost drop from $600 to $1,000 per metric ton of CO2 today to below $200 per ton and ideally closer to $100 per ton by 2050 or earlier, says a new report from Boston Consulting Group. This scale of effort is similar to the cost reduction seen in solar energy over the past 40 years and in line with the costs of other waste disposal costs in high-income countries. To achieve this could require overcoming obstacles including (June 2023):
- Risks to early entrants because of high costs and uncertain demand;
- Weak policy support compared to the need;
- Siloed development of technologies among firms, which leads to missed opportunities for collaborative learning and standardization; and
- Net-zero accounting standards that limit companies’ ability to count CO2 removed using DAC against their Scope 3 targets.
CBL Core Global Emissions Offset™ (C-GEO™) futures (CME Group, CBL) — A new futures contract to deliver standardized benchmarks to voluntary carbon markets. The contract (set to launch on March 7) “will allow the physical delivery of energy, renewables and other technology-based voluntary carbon offset credits” that align with the IC-VCM’s Core Carbon Principles. (Feb 2022)
VOLVO —
Announced it is
introducing an internal carbon pricing mechanism across its entire operations and is the first carmaker to do so. Carbon will cost about $115 per ton of emissions—a “significantly higher”
price than what organizations have recommended—and
every new car project will undergo a "sustainability sense-check" to ensure it would still be profitable under sustainability-related decisions. (Nov 2021)
MORE »
UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance — Alliance members, who manage $6.6 trillion of assets,
called for the transformation of global carbon-pricing mechanisms to align with the Paris Agreement 1.5° Celsius trajectory. The members—including
Allianz, Prudential,
and
Unilever—say nations should collaborate on a pricing floor and ceiling to incentivize a shift to low-carbon technologies, and that nations and regions without an EU Emissions Trading System should launch one and align it with legally binding net-zero targets and milestones. (July 2021)
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Swiss Re will introduce an internal carbon levy of $100 per metric ton in 2021, with plans to gradually increase it to $200 per metric ton by 2030. (September 2020)
Progress on Carbon Market Standards
Return to Top Index
The Carbon Removal Standards Initiative (CRSI) launched. This new NGO aims to provide technical assistance to NGOs and policymakers to develop and implement carbon dioxide removal (CDR) policies, with a focus on quantification standards. CRSI also released a Quantification Resources Database that aims to organize CDR standards and serves as the “technical backbone” to its work. (Aug 2024)
ICVCM — The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) announced that carbon credits issued under existing renewable energy methodologies (which account for 32% of the voluntary carbon market) will not be able to use its high-integrity Core Carbon Principles (CCP) label. The governing board decided that eight methodologies used to design and implement renewable energy projects fail to meet CCP assessment requirements on additionality (lacking in rigor on assessing whether the projects would have moved forward without carbon credit revenue). ICVCM has also established a series of “Continuous Improvement Work Programmes,” including a new one to study how to assess whether renewable energy projects are genuinely additional. In total, the number of unretired credits approved to use the CCP label add to 27 million, 3.6% of the market. In coming months, assessments of the most popular carbon credits (REDD+, JREDD, and clean cookstoves) will also be completed. (Aug 2024)
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) released four technical publications as it considers a more effective approach to Scope 3 emissions, an early step in the process of revising its Corporate Net-Zero Standard. These include:
- Scope 3 Discussion Paper: This sets out SBTi’s initial thinking on potential changes around Scope 3 target setting, including principles and concepts.
- Evidence received on the effectiveness of Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs):This includes all 438 pieces of evidence submitted during the open call (from September to November 2023), without SBTi assessment.
- Synthesis report on the effectiveness of EACs in corporate climate targets: This first part examines Carbon Credits (with two more parts on other EACs to be published in the future). It draws on 71 relevant pieces of evidence submitted, along three themes: the extent carbon credits deliver their intended mitigation outcomes, corporate use cases for carbon credits; and credibility of claims. As the report notes, the evidence “suggests that various types of carbon credits are ineffective in delivering their intended mitigation outcomes” and “does not identify characteristics or operating conditions associated with effective carbon credits and projects.”
- Findings of independent systematic review on the effectiveness of carbon credits in corporate climate targets: This 2-page statement concludes that not enough academic journal articles were identified to make the systematic review commissioned by the SBTi.
Stakeholders are invited to share feedback on the Scope 3 Discussion paper via this form. (Aug 2024)
ICVCM — The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) announced the first carbon-crediting methodologies that meet its high-integrity Core Carbon Principles (CCPs). These include three methodologies for projects that destroy stockpiles of Ozone Depleting Substances and four methodologies for Landfill Gas projects, opening the CCP label for an estimated 27 million carbon credits issued by these types of projects. Another 27 categories, representing over 50% of the market, remain under active assessment. (June 2024)
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) — Announced that Verra’s Verified Carbon Standards, and Winrock International’s Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) have met the Core Carbon Principles (CCP). These programs join three others as CCP-Eligible Programs and together, these five make up 98% of the voluntary carbon market. ICVCM is now in the process of assessing and approving the methodologies used (totaling over 100), which is required for labeling credits with CCP. (May 2024)
Guidelines for High Integrity Use of Carbon Credits (IETA) — Sets out “unambiguous and robust” guidance on how corporate buyers should consider their use of carbon credits to progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement. It outlines how carbon credits should be deployed by companies, specifically in conjunction with internal abatement activities to reduce absolute emissions. IETA maps out six guidelines including: demonstrating support for the Paris Agreement goals; quantifying and publicly disclosing emissions; establishing a net zero pathway and near-term targets; using carbon credits in line with the mitigation hierarchy; ensuring only high-quality carbon credits are used; and transparently disclosing use of carbon credits. (April 2024)
Playbook for Carbon Crediting — Singapore’s National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) and independent carbon crediting programs Gold Standard and Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program announced a collaboration to help countries better leverage and utilize carbon crediting programs to achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Together, these three will develop a playbook outlining consistent and streamlined standard operating procedures that countries can use to increase their use of existing carbon crediting programs to achieve and exceed their NDCs. The organizations will seek feedback from other countries and independent carbon crediting programs, with the aim of completing the playbook by mid-2024. (Dec 2023)
An integrity collaboration of independent carbon crediting programmes — Six CORSIA-approved carbon crediting programs (ACR, ART, Climate Action Reserve, Global Carbon Council, Gold Standards and Verra) are collaborating to establish consistent standards on quantification, verification, and permanence, and support the independent assurance of programs by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM). The programs will also pursue measures that extend the durability of carbon stocks; encourage the provision of information on credit use to enable credible voluntary claims and compliance; and expand the enabling of financial flows to support developing countries. (Dec 2023)
Claims Code of Practice (Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI)) — VCMI released additional guidance for its Claims Code to enable companies to make claims about their use of high-quality carbon credits. The guidance includes 1) a Monitoring, Reporting and Assurance (MRA) Framework detailing how companies can make Silver, Gold, or Platinum Claims; 2) Brand guidelines and an associated mark for making ‘Carbon Integrity’ Claims; and 3) a Beta version of an additional claim, the Scope 3 Flexibility Claim, which helps companies use credits to close the gap between their Scope 3 emissions targets and actual emissions (up to 50%), as long as they are taking steps reduce current emissions. (Dec 2023)
Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) — VCMI has launched a new Early Adopters Program (EAP) to accelerate the uptake of its Claims Code of Practice to guide companies on credible use of high-quality carbon credits. The EAP will give participating companies support (including Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Natura among others) to help understand the Claims Code, facilitate peer exchange, and provide tools to aid communications about climate action claims. EAP will run until December and help shape the Claims Code. (Nov 2023)
The Core Carbon Principles Assessment Framework (The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM)) — After extensive consultation, ICVCM has published its global benchmark for high-integrity carbon credits to maximize “the ability of the voluntary carbon market to support delivery of global climate targets.” Carbon-crediting programs can now apply for assessment by submitting evidence that they meet the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) through the Integrity Council’s application portal. Once approved as CCP-Eligible, programs will be able to use the CCP label on specific categories of credits that have been approved as meeting the CCPs. The Core Carbon Principles set ten principles for high-quality carbon credits under three categories: governance, emissions impact, and sustainable development. Carbon credits, to qualify for the CCP label, must fund activities to reduce and remove emissions that are: compatible with a transition to net zero; permanent (with monitoring for at least 40 years where risk of reversal); additional; and robustly quantified. ICVCM is also establishing Multi-Stakeholder Working Groups to assess different categories of carbon credits and methodologies and a total of ten Continuous Improvement Work Programs to further raise the ambition in the next version of the CCPs. (July 2023)
Claims Code of Practice (Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI)) — Provides companies with a rulebook for high integrity voluntary use of carbon credits and making credible climate claims in order to help build market confidence in how companies engage with voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). The Claims Code consists of four steps to make a VCMI Claim: 1) A company must meet VCMI’s foundational criteria; 2) It must select one of three tiers (Platinum, Gold, or Silver); 3) It must select carbon credits that meet quality thresholds; and 4) It must disclose information to support its claim and conduct independent validation. To qualify for the Platinum tier, companies must buy and retire carbon credits for 100% or more of their remaining emissions; Gold requires at least 60%; and Silver at least 20%. This work will be supported by additional guidance in November 2023, specifically on the VCMI Monitoring, Reporting and Assurance (MRA) framework, additional claims tiers and claims names, and rules for claims made at the product, service, or brand level. (July 2023)
Integrated Framework for Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM and VCMI) — The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) announced they will coordinate to help establish an integrated market integrity framework to ensure quality, transparency, credibility, and accountability for the voluntary carbon market across the value chain. VCMI and ICVCM both have new industry standards due to launch soon (the VCMI Claims Code of Practice and the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles Category-level Announcement). Together their integrated framework will emphasize that companies must prioritize value chain decarbonization; clarify the complementary role of high-integrity carbon credits; and promote commitment to quantified, independently verified science-based emissions reduction targets, providing clear guidelines on the use of high-quality carbon credits on the way to net zero. (June 2023)
The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) announced plans to publish an operable Claims Code of Practice on June 28, 2023, to give buyers of carbon credits confidence and clarity in their use and associated claims. The June release will offer the core elements of the Claims Code. Additional modules will be released by November to provide further user resources, guidance, and the ability to publicly announce VCMI Claims using the Code. VCMI plans to convene a Stakeholder Forum to garner feedback on the Claims Code clarity and operability and will release an open call for Expression of Interest for the VCMI Stakeholder Forum in the coming days. (May 2023)
Core Carbon Principles, Assessment Framework and Assessment Procedure (The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM)) — Sets rigorous thresholds on the disclosure and development of high-integrity carbon credits. Several elements were published, including (April 2023):
- Ten Core Carbon Princples (CCPs): fundamental principles for high-quality credits that create “real, verifiable climate impact,” based on the latest science. These include effective governance; tracking; transparency; independent validation and verification; additionality; permanence; robust quantification; no double counting; sustainable development benefits and safeguards; and contribution to net zero transition;
- The Program-Level Assessment Framework, setting out detailed criteria to assess whether carbon-crediting programs meet the CCPs.
- The Assessment Procedure, explaining the process for implementing embedding the CCP label into the voluntary carbon market.
ICVCM will publish the category-level part of the Assessment in the second quarter of 2023. This will set criteria for assessing categories of carbon credits, such as forestry projects, for different programs. It expects to begin announcing CCP-eligible programs and CCP-approved categories in Q3 and additional programs and categories on a rolling basis thereafter. Carbon credits will receive the CCP label only if both the carbon-crediting program that issued them and the credit category are assessed by the Integrity Council and meet its criteria for high-integrity. (April 2023)
Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) — The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market said that it will publish its final Core Carbon Principles in March, establishing a global threshold for high-integrity carbon credits based on solid science and clear, measurable and verifiable data. The Integrity Council expects to start officially assessing programs in May and begin announcing CCP-approved programs and credit types in Q3, enabling programs to issue the first CCP-labelled carbon credits soon after. (Jan 2023)
High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance (World Economic Forum (WEF)) — This new framework, designed collaboratively to ensure equity, accountability, transparency, and sustainability in the blue carbon space, provides a consistent and accepted approach to ensuring that blue carbon projects and credits optimize outcomes for people, biodiversity, and the climate. With growing demand for blue carbon credits, these principles were designed to help create a shared vision for high-quality blue carbon projects that can conserve, protect, and restore lost and degraded coastal ecosystems. (Nov 2022)
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market is launching an open public consultation on its draft Core Carbon Principles (CCPs). The CCPs seek to establish a definitive, consistent global benchmark to evaluate the quality of carbon credits to ensure they “create real, verifiable climate impact, based on solid science and best practice, with social and environmental safeguards.” The aim is to increase trust in high quality carbon credits as a means to drive urgently needed financial investment. The consultation will comprise three key elements: 1) the draft CCPs, 2) a draft Assessment Framework, and 3) a draft Assessment Procedure. The British Standards Institute will oversee the consultation, which will be open through September 27, 2022. (Aug 2021)
Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity initiative (VCMI) — With the backing of the UK Government, announced a provisional Claims Code of Practice (“the Code”) that applies a credibility rating to companies’ carbon credit offset claims. To be awarded any of the three tiers of VCMI accreditation (Bronze, Silver, or Gold) each year, companies must take the following steps (June 2022):
- Meet a set of prerequisites. These include (but are not limited to) a 2050 net-zero commitment across Scopes 1–3 and adherence to the SBTi maximum credit coverage guidance of 5% for Scopes 1– 2 and 33% for Scope 3.
- Identify enterprise-wide and brand-, product-, or service-specific claims.
- Purchase high-quality carbon credits, as determined by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM) and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
- Provide regular, transparent, detailed reports on the use of carbon credits.
The Code will be tested by companies including CEF members Google and Unilever through the end of 2022, and a revised version is expected in early 2023.
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Salesforce / NGO initiative to grow blue carbon markets — Salesforce and several environmental NGOs–including World Economic Forum’s ORRAA, Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy–launched an effort to develop global standards for high-quality blue carbon projects and credits (carbon captured by ocean and coastal ecosystems). A draft set of principles and definitions will be published for public comment in June. (April 2022)
The initiative formerly known as the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) has been renamed “The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market” and scaled back to focus on assuring the quality of carbon offsets. Following a public consultation opening in May, the Integrity Council plans to launch a set of global standards for carbon-credit quality in Q3 (Core Carbon Principles and an Assessment Framework). The Council has about 90 members (down from the TSVCM’s 400 members), and its Distinguished Advisory Group includes executives from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Breakthrough Energy, and CEF member BlackRock. (March 2022)
Carbonplace — The initiative formerly known as Project Carbon has been renamed “Carbonplace.” It aims to develop a voluntary carbon market settlement platform and has three new founding members: BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, and UBS. (Feb 2022)
Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM)
— The taskforce has formed an
independent Board of Directors to govern voluntary carbon markets, with
22 members
representing 12 countries (40% in the Global South); the NGO, academic, corporate, and financial sectors; Indigenous people; and local communities.
The Board will be supported by TSVCM’s founding sponsors, an Executive Secretariat, an Expert Panel, a Senior Advisory Council, and a
Member
consultation group of 250 organizations (including CEF members
Bank of America, BlackRock, BloombergNEF, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Boeing, Chevron, Delta, Google, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Siemens,
and Unilever). (Sept 2021)
MORE »
MORE 2 »
Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative
—
A new
multi-stakeholder platform was created to drive credible, transparent, high-integrity, net-zero-aligned participation in voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). The initiative—whose steering committee is co-chaired by Tufts University dean Rachel Kyte and ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment LTD CEO and Managing Director Tariye Gbadegesin—aims to ensure carbon offsets are underpinned by legitimate actions to reduce GHG emissions and help developing countries access VCM-generated climate financing. It proposes 10 supply-side and demand-side principles to drive voluntary corporate climate action. (Aug 2021)
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Project Carbon initiative (NatWest Group, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Australia Bank, Itaú Unibanco) — The 4 global banks
will in August launch a pilot platform for voluntary buying and selling of carbon credits to create a more liquid carbon offset market and help clients manage risk from climate costs. The platform allows buyers to fully trace which projects credits come from and will examine how blockchain can be used to improve trading accessibility for customers. (July 2021)
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Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets: Phase II Report Summary (TSVCM) — Created with the contribution of TSVCM’s 430 members and over 130 public consultation responses from experts across the value chain, the report breaks down the roadmap for a high-integrity, scaled, voluntary carbon credit trading marketing. (July 2021)
The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets sponsored by the Institute of International Finance established core carbon market principles and released a roadmap of 20 comprehensive actions to scale the carbon offset market. The taskforce includes governments, NGOs, and businesses, including Bank of America, BlackRock, BloombergNEF, Boeing, Siemens, and Unilever. (January 2021)
Climate Vault, a new nonprofit founded at the University of Chicago, launched to tackle the “credibility problems and opacity of voluntary offset programs.”
Leveraging government-regulated compliance (aka “cap-and-trade”) markets, the NGO will purchase and “vault” carbon permits to prevent major emitters from using them.
It will also
support and invest in emerging carbon removal technologies. Initial supporters—including
DRW, TPG,
and Vanderbilt University—helped the new nonprofit acquire and reduce over 200,000 metric tons of carbon from the marketplace upon its launch. (May 2021)
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Research & Tools
The State of the Carbon Market
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There is a significant gap between what durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) purchasers are willing to pay and what suppliers need to achieve profitability, according to a new survey by CDR.fyi and OPIS. Across all types of durable CDR, buyers’ prices perceived as “Expensive” are lower than what suppliers perceive as achieving a “Reasonable Profit.” This gap is the largest for 2025, but “remains substantial” for 2030. (Feb 2025)
2024 State of the Voluntary Carbon Market (Carbon Direct) — Examines the latest developments and trends shaping the voluntary carbon market (VCM), drawing from major carbon credit registries and from project evaluations. Insights include (Nov 2024):
- The VCM had an estimated transaction value of $1 billion in 2023.
- In 2023, total carbon credit demand, as measured in retirements, reached 164 million metric tons, up 3% from 2022. Overall demand in 2024 has stayed consistent and will likely match or slightly exceed demand in 2023.
- In 2023, issuances exceeded retirements by over 70%, and the cumulative credit surplus reached nearly 800 million metric tons.
- Currently, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) represents only 4% of available carbon credit supply in the VCM.
- Funding raised for nature-based CDR has accelerated in the past two years, but remains lower than needed to meet potential demand for these credits and global CDR goals.
- Fewer than 10% of carbon projects assessed meet or exceed quality criteria with minimal reservations.
Carbon markets fell from $1.87 billion to $723 million in the past year primarily due to environmental integrity concerns, as explored in the World Bank’s State and Trends of International Carbon Markets. The report notes that both international compliance and voluntary carbon markets are “at an inflection point” and require increased policy frameworks and legal clarity, carbon market infrastructure, global capacity, and tools to mitigate risk. (Sept 2024)
Voluntary Carbon Markets: Potential, Pitfalls, and the Path Forward (Climate Crisis Advisory Group (CCAG)) — Outlines a roadmap for the voluntary carbon market (VCM) to overcome recent criticism and rebuild trust by supporting projects that deliver real emissions reductions, as well as redistribute finance and meaningful co-benefits to local communities where projects are based. It provides guidance on the application of scientific principles across measurement, monitoring, and reporting to improve the market and also stresses the need for regulation to guarantee the quality of credits and ensure companies take all feasible steps to reduce emissions before utilizing the VCM. (July 2024)
State of the Voluntary Carbon Market 2024: On the Path to Maturity (Ecosystem Marketplace (EM)) – Provides an overview of key trends in Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM). Highlights include (June 2024):
- The volume and value of the VCM reduced in 2023 for the second year in a row from its 2021 peak, with a 56% year-on-year decline in the volume of reported transactions.
- On average, buyers paid $6.53 per ton CO2e for carbon credits in 2023, a slight decrease from 2022.
- The report finds a clear negative impact from media scrutiny of the VCM in 2023.
- The publication of the ICVCM’s Core Carbon Principles and the launch of VCMI’s Claims Code contributed to buyer confidence in market quality and integrity.
- The data suggest a growing split in the market between buyers seeking pure carbon removal projects and those committed to projects that deliver social and environmental co-benefits.
- Forestry and Land Use and Renewable Energy credits showed the greatest decline in volume, while Energy Efficiency/Fuel Switching, Agriculture, and Household/Community Devices categories all increased from 2022.
In 2023, announced carbon capture capacity for 2030 increased by 35%, while announced storage capacity rose by 70%, according to the International Energy Agency’s latest CCUS Projects Database. This brings the total amount of CO2 that could be captured in 2030 to over 430 million metric tons (Mt) per year and storage capacity to 620 Mt per year. Ten capture facilities entered into operation in 2023, and 20 reached a final investment decision, but this accounts for just 20% of announced capture capacity for 2030. (March 2024)
BAIN & COMPANY — Became the first company to make a Carbon Integrity Platinum Claim under guidance issued by Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Initiative (VCMI). This is the highest level claim, requiring the purchase and retirement of high-quality carbon credits in an amount equal to or greater than 100% of a company’s remaining emissions. (March 2024)
2023 Circular Carbon Market Report (Circular Carbon Network) — Analyzes the investment landscape within the circular carbon sector, finding that 2023 was a record-breaking year, with 455 deals totaling $8 billion invested into companies (up $370 million from 2022). This is about 25% of capital raised by climate tech in 2023, and almost a third of the $25.4 billion invested in the circular carbon sector cumulatively to date. Carbon removal companies raised 73% of all funding in 2023 ($5.8 billion), $1.7 billion more in 2023 than the previous year. About 44% of funding went to direct air capture projects, 31% to land-based projects; 20% to rock (mineralization) projects; and 6% to ocean-based projects. About 51% of companies tracked are generating revenue, with half of those generating more than $1 million. Companies who sell a physical product have raised the vast majority of capital ($20.9 billion vs. $2.7 billion for carbon market companies). However, 53% of carbon market companies reported generating revenue vs. 34% for companies making a product. (Feb 2024)
The demand for carbon credits increased to a new record of 163.6 million in 2023, up 2% from the previous record of 161 million in 2021, according to BloombergNEF (BNEF). However, BNEF finds that the market is “heavily oversupplied – to the tune of nearly 50% in 2023.” BNEF forecasts that total offsets could increase to between 1 billion and 1.6 billion annually in 2030, and between 2.5 billion and 5.9 billion in 2050. Prices could range from $14/ton under a voluntary market scenario to $238/ton under a high-quality credit scenario in 2050 (the latter valuing the market at $1.1 trillion annually). (Feb 2024)
Corporate Engagement with Voluntary Carbon Market Claims: Findings & Recommendations (The Climate Board and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI)) —This survey of 145 global companies across ten sectors explores corporate perspectives on the voluntary carbon market. Important insights (Jan 2024):
- 60% of companies have used (41%) or plan to use (19%) carbon markets as an additional tool to meet 2030 targets.
- Reasons for not participating included focusing on internal progress; concern about greenwashing claims; and needed more standardization or guidance around high-quality carbon credits.
- 93% of respondents that have already set Scope 3 emissions reduction targets are facing significant challenges to reaching their goals (including costs, engaging their supply chains, and lack of technologies available at the necessary scale.
- 70% said the use of carbon credits would increase the likelihood that their company would either maintain or, in some cases, set a science-based target.
2023 State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Report: Paying for Quality (Ecosystem Marketplace) — Summarizes key trends in voluntary carbon markets (VCM), including (Dec 2023):
- While the volume of VCM credits traded dropped by 51%, the average price per credit skyrocketed, rising by 82% from $4.04 per ton in 2021 to $7.37 per ton in 2022 (higher than prices have been in 15 years).
- This price hike allowed the overall value of the VCM to hold relatively steady in 2022, at $1.9 billion (down from $2.1 billion in 2021).
- Credits connected to nature-based solutions (which made up 46% of the market share) were a primary driver of high market value.
- Credits that certified additional robust environmental and social co-benefits “beyond carbon” had a significant price premium (a 78% premium for at least one co-benefit).
- Newer credits are also attracting higher prices, as buyers seek more robust methodologies or to match current emissions years.
The State of Carbon Credits 2023 (Sylvera) — Assesses the Voluntary Carbon Market in 2023. Key findings include (October 2023):
- Across all project types, prices have dropped to 2021 levels (below their 2022 peak).
- REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation & Forest Degradation) projects remain the only Sylvera-rated projects to receive a AA-rating (the highest rating currently available as none have yet received a AAA rating). RES (Renewable Energy Sources) credits have still not been rated above a C (the second lowest rating).
- Buyers have been applying “discounting” as a risk management tool, in which they use more than one credit to compensate for one ton of CO2 equivalent.
- There was a huge increase in forward purchases of removal credits in 2023 (i.e. pre-issuance projects).
- Four key policy trends had an impact in 2023, particularly around industry self-regulation and international regulation and disclosure requirements.
All in on Climate: The Role of Carbon Credits in Corporate Climate Strategies (Ecosystem Marketplace (EM)) — This analysis of companies purchasing voluntary carbon credits finds that credits are not being used to delay or avoid meaningful action on climate but accelerate climate action. Key findings based on CDP disclosures by 7,415 corporations in 2021 (11% of which participated in voluntary carbon markets) and EM’s dataset:
- 59% of voluntary carbon market (VCM) buyers reported lower gross emissions year-on-year related to reduced emissions and/or renewable energy consumption, compared to 33% of companies not participating in the carbon markets.
- VCM buyers were 3.4 times more likely to have an approved science-based climate target than companies that do not engage in carbon markets, and three times more likely to include Scope 3 emissions in their climate targets.
- Compared to other companies, VCM buyers were 1.2 times more likely to disclose their emissions to CDP, and disclosed 2.5 times the volume of emissions (including Scope 3).
- VCM credits represented a very small share of overall corporate GHG emissions (just over 2% of purchasers’ total emissions on average).
- There continues to be a lack of VCM buyer transparency, with only 8.2% of the total carbon buyers that confidentially report to EM disclosing carbon market engagement to CDP.
Analysis: How some of the world’s largest companies rely on carbon offsets to ‘reach net-zero’ (CarbonBrief) — Finds that two-thirds of the world’s 50 biggest companies with net-zero targets are using carbon offsets to help meet their climate goals. These 34 companies have used credits to offset 38 million metric tons of CO2 during 2020-2022, equivalent to the annual emissions of Ethiopia and Kenya combined. Fossil-fuel companies used half of these offsets and car manufacturers used 28% (78% combined). And half of the offsets were from REDD+ forest protection projects, while only 8% were from projects that removed CO2 from the atmosphere (primarily tree-planting). 93% of these offsets were based in developing countries, with Indonesia (9.2 million), China (6 million), and Colombia (5.8 million) providing the most. (Oct 2023)
Carbon credit projects attracted $36 billion in investment between 2012 and 2022, with half occurring in the last three years, says a new study from Trove Research. Over 80% of the funding targeted nature-based projects, many related to forests. Since 2020, 1,500 projects were registered with the five major carbon registries, an increase of 160% compared to the 2012-2020 period. (Sept 2023)
Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation (Science) — An evaluation of 26 carbon offset projects across six countries claiming to slow the rate of deforestation found that the vast majority of projects did not actually slow deforestation, and those that did were significantly less effective than they claimed. Of the 26 REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) projects selling offsets, only eight showed any evidence of reducing deforestation, and none achieved the extent of reductions the projects claimed. Of the 18 with sufficient data, only 6.1% (5.4 million out of 89 million credits) would be associated with additional carbon emission reductions. 68% of credits came from projects that have not significantly reduced deforestation (and carbon emissions). (Sept 2023)
Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Carbon Management (U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)) – Outlines the current state of the carbon management ecosystem, from point-source carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) to carbon removal (CDR) and presents pathways for the private sector to help achieve widespread deployment. Highlights:
- U.S. energy transition goals require capturing and storing 400 to 1,800 MTCO2e annually by 2050, up from today’s capacity of 20 million MT. The scale-up of capacity presents an investment opportunity of up to ~$100 billion by 2030 and $600 billion by 2050.
- Across CCUS and certain types of CDR, the need for multi-party agreements and a lack of commercial standardization complicate project developments. Private sector leadership and DOE-supported “hubs” for direct air capture and CCUS could help solve this challenge by creating standard commercial arrangements that simplify development.
- Beyond climate benefits, widespread deployment of CCUS and CDR could add ~$600B–1,450B in gross value to the economy and support approximately 3M cumulative direct job years by 2050, with more than 70% paying above the median salary.
This is the fourth Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report, following the March 2023 release of reports focused on clean hydrogen, advanced nuclear, and long-duration energy storage. (May 2023)
More than 140 new carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects were announced in 2022, increasing planned storage capacity by 80% and capture capacity by 30%, according to the IEA’s newly released CCUS Projects Explorer database (see New Tools). As the IEA assesses, there is a shift within the CO2 management sector, from “full-chain” projects, with one operator capturing, transporting and storing CO2, to “part-chain” projects, with multiple companies participating, particularly within CCUS hubs (of which over 140 are in development, more than three times as many as in 2021). These hubs spread infrastructure costs between emitters and generate economies of scales. With this shift, new companies specializing in CO2 management, or one specific aspect, are emerging as well, potentially increasing innovation and cost reductions in parts of the chain. (April 2023)
Comprehensive Review of Carbon Quantification by Improved Forest Management Offset Protocols (Frontiers in Forests and Global Change) — Summarizes the state of the scientific literature for key carbon offset quality criteria (additionality, baselines, leakage, durability, and forest carbon accounting) and discusses how well currently used Improved Forest Management (IFM) protocols align with this literature. This first-of-its-kind research assesses 293 IFM offset projects that have produced 11% of all offset credits (and 28% of total forest-based offset credits), and found that the industry’s top four registries have allowed developers to claim more climate-saving benefits than justified, often generating credits even when no changes were made. Baselines were often estimated at, or very close to the minimum level allowed, for example. The paper makes recommendations on addressing all criteria but returns to the importance of addressing the uncertainty in true baselines for ensuring the quality of IFM offset credits. The researchers recommend establishing more conservative baselines. This would prevent false negatives while shrinking the number of credits and increasing the value of those credits. (March 2023)
A Buyer’s Guide to Natural Climate Solutions Carbon Credits (National Climate Solutions Alliance) — Supports businesses as they navigate the procurement process for high-quality natural climate solutions (NCS) carbon credits that meet the triple goals of climate change mitigation, biodiversity gains and benefits to people. This includes practical information to guide users step-by-step through the entire purchase process for NCS carbon credits. (March 2023)
Companies bought 155 million carbon offsets (representing 155 million tons) in 2022, down 4% from the previous year primarily due to fears of reputational risk of purchasing low-quality credits, according to a new Bloomberg NEF (BNEF) report. Total supply grew 2%, to 255 million offsets, but the supply of “avoided deforestation” offset contracted by a third. In the longer term, BNEF explored three scenarios for the carbon offset market. The first “voluntary market” scenario forecasts the market growing to 5.4 billion offsets annually by 2050, with values staying low and with many offsets having “dubious environmental value.” A second scenario narrows the field to just carbon removed from the air, with offsets being more limited and significantly more expensive. A third scenario splits the market with high and low-quality offsets. (Jan 2023)
The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal (University of Oxford et al.) — This report compiles the first global estimate of currently deployed CDR efforts. The vast majority is conventional management of land (e.g. reforestation, afforestation) accounting for about 2 Gigatons of CO2/year. Biochar, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, and Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (“novel” CDR methods) make up 0.002 GtCO2/yr. However, nearly all scenarios that limit warming to 1.5°C or 2°C require these novel CDR methods, and expect them to increase by a factor of 30-540 by 2030 and a factor of 1,300-4,900 by 2050. But no country has so far pledge to scale novel CDR by 2030 as part of their Nationally Determined Contribution. (Jan 2023)
Voluntary Carbon Market Stakeholder Mapping — A landscape summary of key market contributors, ranging from project originators, developers, and brokers to rating agencies and marketplaces.
A Bloomberg Green analysis of more than 215,000 offset transactions in public datasets over the past decade reveals that dozens of global brands are claiming to be carbon neutral based on purchases of low-quality carbon offsets that experts deem as having not avoided or reduced greenhouse gas emissions—in particular renewable energy projects that would have been built anyway. Within the 2021 offsets analyzed, close to 40% of the 190 million tons of carbon offsets from more than 50,000 transactions came from renewable-energy projects. (Nov 2022)
Carbon Knowledge Hub (BloombergNEF and KADIN) — BloombergNEF (BNEF) and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) launched the Carbon Knowledge Hub. This free web platform provides companies and policymakers with the knowledge and insights to understand and take advantage of carbon markets. The hub provides primers, in-depth factsheets, commentaries, expert interviews, and other resources by BNEF to help increase market transparency and credibility. (Nov 2022)
Understanding Corporate Climate and Nature Strategies and the Role of Tropical Forest Protection (Emergent) — Provides an analysis of emerging best practices for corporate climate and nature strategies, supported by real-world examples. The report walks through the definitions of various climate and nature claims and commitments, such as net zero, carbon neutral, deforestation free, and nature positive. The report also explores the use of carbon credits and forest conservation efforts, such as REDD+, to support commitments. (Nov 2022)
The State of Carbon Credits 2022: Volume 1. Spotlight on REDD+ (Sylvera) — Analyzed the voluntary carbon market, with a particular focus on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation & Forest Degradation) credits. The report found that 31% of these voluntary carbon credits are “high quality,” receiving high scores in carbon performance, additionality, permanence and co-benefits. 25% of the projects rated are considered very low quality, and thus high risk. Regionally, 35% of South American projects, 33% of Asia Pacific and Central American projects, and 20% of Sub Saharan African projects were rated high quality. The report also explored Afforestation, Reforestation & Revegetation projects, Improved Forest Management projects, and Renewable Energy projects and their credits. (Nov 2022)
Global CCS Institute 2022 Status Report (Global CCS Institute) — CCS is experiencing record growth as countries work to meet climate goals, according to this new report. There are currently a record 196 commercial CCS facilities in the project pipeline, with 30 in operation, 11 under construction, 78 in advanced development and 75 in early development (operations of two are suspended). Total capacity of all facilities under development has grown 44% over the past year to 244 million metric tons per year. This rate of growth is expected to increase further as governments seek to achieve their climate commitments and implement policies, like the U.S.’s Inflation Reduction Act, that provides tax credits, incentives, or subsidies for CCS. (Oct 2022)
More than $3 billion has been invested in Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) in 2022, according to new research by BloombergNEF. The global capacity of CCUS is set to grow sixfold to 279 million tons of CO2 captured per year in 2030. Most current CCUS capacity is currently used for enhanced oil recovery; by 2030 most will be stored deep underground used to offset the power sector, to manufacture low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia, or abate industrial emissions. Currently about 0.1% of global CO2 emissions are captured, which is forecasted to grow to 0.6% of today’s emissions by 2030. CCUS capacity is expected to grow significantly as policy developments and venture capitalists direct more money to CCUS. (Oct 2022)
A new report by BloombergNEF analyzes 2021 offset data from the carbon registry Verra. According to a GreenBiz analysis, BloombergNEF assessed 80.1 million retired offsets (about 50 percent of the market) and found four key trends (Aug 2022):
- Less than a quarter of offset purchases disclosed a specific buyer.
- Two-thirds of the disclosed buyers were business-to-consumer companies, primarily consumer-facing brands, with offset purchases driven by consumer demand rather than pressure to meet climate commitments.
- Over half the retired offsets were produced before 2015. These “vintage offsets” are typically cheaper and of lower quality.
- 91% of offsets fell under the “avoided emissions” category, specifically on avoided deforestation (47.6%) and energy generation (43%). That means few projects are actively removing carbon from the atmosphere.
The report is available for BloombergNEF web clients only.
The value of global carbon markets grew by 164% to a record $851 billion last year, according to Refinitiv’s annual “Carbon Market Year in Review.” Key findings (Feb 2022):
- The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) accounted for 90% of the global value and more than doubled its carbon price over year-end 2020.
- The two North American markets grew by 6%, to around $56 billion, and permit prices rose by 70%.
- The British carbon market saw around $26.4 billion of turnover and the voluntary carbon market (VCM) $1 billion.
Long-Term Carbon Offset Outlook 2022 (BloombergNEF) — Models the supply, demand, and prices of carbon offsets through 2050 under three scenarios: a voluntary market, an SBTi scenario, and a hybrid scenario. A lax, oversupplied carbon market with “largely worthless credits” could drive prices as low as $47 per ton by 2050, whereas a market restricted to carbon-removal offsets could drive prices as high as $120 per ton. (Jan 2022)
Carbon Removal Solutions & Analysis
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Cost-effectiveness of natural forest regeneration and plantations for climate mitigation (Nature Climate Change) — Assesses the carbon removal potential and costs associated with reforestation projects over 138 low- and middle-income countries. The article finds that natural regeneration and tree plantations are each more cost-effective over about half the land suitable for reforestation (46% and 54% respectively). It also finds that reforestation can remove up to 10.3 times more CO2 from the atmosphere at lower cost than previously estimated (below $20/ton of CO2), revealing its increased potential to fight climate change. And using a mix of the two reforestation methods can sequester more carbon than just one method (44% more than natural regeneration, 39% more than plantations). (July 2024)
Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal: 2024 Edition (Carbon Direct and Microsoft) — Applies the latest scientific research and experience from the field to provide clear guidance to CO2 removal (CDR) project developers and buyers on how to evaluate harms and benefits across social and environmental parameters, improve project management, and refine measurement and monitoring methods. This new edition updates the essential principles for high-quality carbon removal and the criteria for each carbon removal approach (such as forestation, soil carbon, carbon mineralization, and direct air capture). For the first time, it also separates out a core principle: environmental harms and benefits, highlighting that high-quality projects should minimize environmental harm while providing benefits such as enhancing ecosystem health and environmental services. (July 2024)
Researchers from the University of Cambridge published an article in Nature describing their development of a low-cost, energy-efficient method for making materials that can capture CO2 directly from the air using activated charcoal. The process ‘charges’ activated charcoal to soak up CO2 from the atmosphere. Researchers say the charcoal sponge is potentially more energy efficient than current direct air carbon capture and requires much lower temperatures to remove the captured CO2 for storage. (June 2024)
The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal (University of Oxford et al.) — Between 7-9 billion metric tons of CO2 per year will need to be removed from the atmosphere by 2050 for the world to meet the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target, according to the second edition of this report. This is four times the current level of CO2 removal (CDR) of 2 billion metric tons of CO2 annually (vs. 40 billion tons human activities emit each year). CDR comes primarily from “conventional” methods (such as reforestation). Early-stage or “novel” CDR methods currently contribute less than 0.1% of total CDR (1.3 million tons) but are growing more rapidly than conventional methods. Of this, methods that involve geological storage account for only 0.6 million metric tons per year, less than 0.05% of the total. The gap between the amount of CDR proposed by governments and amounts in scenarios that meet Paris climate goals range from 0.9-2.8 billion tons of CO2 per year in 2030 and 0.4-5.4 billion tons of CO2 per year in 2050 (though these assume significant emission reductions are already taking place). (June 2024)
A global database of nature-based carbon offset project boundaries (Renoster) — This public geospatial database aggregates the locations of the nature-based carbon offset projects around the world (comprising 575 locations across 55 countries). The database combines information from public registries, developer requests, and manual georeferencing. The projects include three categories: avoided deforestation, afforestation and reforestation, and improved forest management. The U.S. had the most projects at 189, and Colombia the second most at 58. (June 2024)
The 2024 Buyer’s Guide to Carbon Removal Policy (Carbon Future) — Provides an overview of key carbon dioxide removal (CDR) policies globally, with a focus on relevance for corporate buyers. It covers legislative and policy developments in the U.S. and EU, with case studies of three major CDR hubs: Germany, Denmark, and California. (June 2024)
The Landscape of Carbon Dioxide Removal and US Policies to Scale Solutions (Rhodium Group) — Surveys the current landscape of different CO2 removal (CDR) approaches in the U.S. and examines the state of policy support and additional policy options to help CDR scale to the 2050 levels needed to decarbonize (at least 1 GT/year). It looks at three primary CDR approaches: natural, hybrid, and engineered solutions and assesses their cost, scalability, technological readiness, permanence, and ease of monitoring. While the U.S. has created federal policies that make the country a global leader in CDR policy support, current policy will support less than 1% of what may be needed for economy-wide decarbonization, according to the report. It proposes more demand-side support (such as procurement programs and production tax credits), R&D support, and deployment support (such as demonstration programs and loan guarantees). (April 2024)
A Supply Curve for Forest-based CO2 Removal (National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)) — Analyzes how much CO2 can be removed from the atmosphere through forestation, using data on forested areas in South America. It estimates that over a billion tons of CO2 can be removed annually via forestation at a cost below $45 per ton, and about 2.5 billion tons can be removed at below $90/ton. The analysis factors in three types of costs involved: opportunity cost of land; planting and maintenance costs; and forest conservation costs. (April 2024)
Decarbonizing Water: Applying the Voluntary Carbon Market toward Global Water Security
(University of Colorado Boulder and Castalia Advisors) — Across the water sector, which produces 10% of global carbon emissions,
the potential for carbon credits generated from water projects is more than 1.6 billion tons of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) per year,
according to this report commissioned by WaterAid, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative, and HSBC.
It finds that delivering improvements across the sector (e.g. wastewater treatment, drinking water treatment, and irrigation) could improve water security while generating large carbon credit emission reductions.
However, the research did not determine where, within the sector, are projects economically viable without additional funding, subsidies, or policy support. There are also
key questions still to be answered around additionality within the sector and standards methodology.
But harnessing voluntary carbon markets within the sector could achieve “a triple win”: emissions reductions, improved water security, and improved access to safe water and sanitation. (March 2024)
Red Team Carbon Removal Exercise — In a “red team” exercise, Frontier explored reasons carbon removal could fail in the next five years, coming up with “50+ reasons.” In this summary, Nan Ransohoff of Frontier’s advisory board lays out several of those significant short-term risks to raise the collective attention and resources necessary to address the issues. (Feb 2024)
Carbon Removals: How to scale a new gigaton industry (McKinsey & Company) — Analyzes the market potential for CDR, the investment requirements, and market trends. It also identifies which actions are the most likely to lower barriers to scaling CDR and identifies potential advantages for first movers in different stakeholder groups. The report summarizes ten different nature-based and technology-based options, assessing costs, permanence, and potential benefits and challenges. It also finds that the CDR industry could range in market size from $300 billion to $1.2 trillion in 2050. Cumulative investment in CDR to deliver net zero in 2050 is also estimated at between $6-16 trillion. It also assesses the industry for different groups, including investors, suppliers, buyers, marketplaces and intermediaries, and governments. (Dec 2023)
Roads to Removal (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)) — This first-of-its-kind high resolution interactive map and report assesses options for CO2 removal (CDR) in all 3,143 counties in the U.S. and lays out a roadmap for the U.S. economy to reach net-zero by 2050. It finds that with today’s technologies, removing 1 billion metric tons of CO2 per year will cost an annual $130 billion in 2050, through a combination of sequestration in forests and agricultural lands, converting biomass into fuels, and Direct Air Capture. These efforts could use renewable energy sources and create more than 440,000 long-term jobs. The report factors in both economic feasibility and technical potential. (Dec 2023)
Carbon Removals around the World (Carbon Removals at COP) — This new interactive map displays 134 carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects deployed around the world, across 35 countries. The map includes all carbon removal approaches (from carbon farming to direct air capture) and includes stories of the people behind the projects. (Dec 2023)
Sustainable Biomass Sourcing for Carbon Dioxide Removal (Carbon Direct) — This Buyer’s Guide outlines best practices and practical steps for buyers contracting biomass-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR), with a focus on northern forests (where the majority of biomass-based CDR projects are being developed). The Guide maps out four principles to reduce risk from these CDR projects: Biomass must come from sources that 1) have operational integrity and oversight; 2) minimize impacts on communities and workers; 3) do not threaten protected areas and 4) do not distort markets for agriculture or forestry products. CEF Member Microsoft is a signatory. (Dec 2023)
Integrated global assessment of the natural forest carbon potential (Nature) — Evaluates the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands. The study finds that global forest carbon storage “is markedly under the natural potential,” and could offer a valuable contribution in meeting global climate targets. Forests have the potential to store an additional 226 Gt in areas with low human footprint (about one-third of emissions added since the industrial revolution). 61% of these gains would come from protecting forests and allowing degraded forests to recover. 39% would come from reforesting regions where forests have been removed or fragmented. (Nov 2023)
Mangrove Breakthrough: Financial Roadmap (Global Mangrove Alliance) —
Makes the case for using financial instruments to protect mangrove forests, which provide food, livelihoods and flood protection to millions, and sequester carbon more effectively than any other terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. The report finds that
$4 billion in investment between now and 2030 could “secure their future.” It offers
“The Mangrove Transition Curve” to map out diverse investment opportunities, including nine business models in five categories: 1) creating value from standing mangroves; 2) fostering sustainable productive mangroves; 3) mitigating and transitioning degrading activities; 4) creating value from mangrove restoration; and 5) scaling technology enablers. (Nov 2023)
CDR RDT: Carbon Dioxide Removal Responsible Deployment Trainings (Carbon Business Council) — This interactive training supports project developers in learning about responsible deployment of CO2 removal and frameworks for community engagement. CDR RDT also lists additional tools, including a guide on community benefit agreements; how to identify social and environmental factors for CDR projects; an ethical pledge for carbon professionals; and a running list of more than 250 resources focused on the intersection of CDR, community engagement, and environmental justice. (Nov 2023)
Forest Carbon Planetary Variable (Planet Labs) — Announced plans to release a dataset that will provide insights into forest changes and carbon capture. It will provide quarterly updates of aboveground forest carbon at 3-meter resolution (in 2024), based on “deep learning models trained on a massive library of airborne LiDAR” (Light Detection and Ranging). A 30-meter resolution product will be released later this year. (Aug 2023)
Isometric Science Platform (Isometric) — This publicly accessible platform by climate tech startup Isometric will offer a place for carbon removal suppliers to publish and visualize their early processes, removal data, and protocols. Isometric has so far brought together six carbon dioxide removal (CDR) companies and is bringing together CDR scientists and industry experts to help develop and validate durable CDR protocols, assess novel technologies and approaches, and accelerate CDR research. Three protocols have been added so far, including for microbial carbon mineralization, ocean alkalinity enhancement, and bio-oil sequestration. (July 2023)
Microsoft Carbon Removal (Microsoft) — This third annual report assesses Microsoft’s efforts to cultivate a global carbon removal market. Contents include a look into its supply-side learnings, including its portfolio makeup, commentary on the demand and pressures to scale CDR deployments, market infrastructure observations, and reflections on policies & standards. The case study emphasizes the importance of considering environmental justice alongside scaling CDR deployment. (July 2023)
Mycorrhizal mycelium as a global carbon pool (Current Biology) — This new analysis of mycorrhizal fungi’s role in transporting carbon into soil systems found that 3.58 gigatons of carbon (or 13.12 gigatons of CO2 equivalent) fixed by terrestrial plants is, at least temporarily, allocated to the underground mycelium of mycorrhizal fungi per year, equating to roughly 36% of current annual CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. The study analyzed 194 datasets and is a “conservative” estimate of this major carbon pool that should motivate the inclusion of mycorrhizal associations “both within global climate and carbon cycling models, and within conservation policy and practice.” (June 2023)
Additional Ventures and other foundations committed $50 million over five years to a research program for accelerating absorption of CO2 into the world's oceans. The program, a new nonprofit called the Carbon to Sea Initiative, seeks to advance ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), a technological process whereby alkaline substances added to the ocean help draw down atmospheric CO2. The initiative seeks to evaluate potential approaches to OAE; eventually conduct ocean field trials; advance policies that could streamline permitting for OAE experiments; and develop the technology necessary to carry out OAE interventions if they work well and safely. (June 2023)
Being Positive about Negative Emissions (Coalition for Negative Emissions) — This paper shares an overview of emerging negative emissions industries (e.g. carbon capture and storage, and nature-based solutions) and provides a call to action for companies to incorporate negative emissions into their net zero strategies. The paper also explores the need for further development of the carbon removal industry, including enhanced standardization and regulation. (May 2023)
Depending on the Ocean (Carbon180) — Explores the various carbon removal pathways (biological and chemical) along with their risks and benefits and the challenges ocean carbon dioxide removal (CDR) faces. The report also imagines two scenarios for an ocean CDR future: a responsible one with clear permitting processes, governance structures, public engagement, and transparency; and an irresponsible one where these are lacking. Finally, it explores how policy can lower uncertainties around ocean CDR and provides six recommendations toward responsible deployment of ocean CDR. (May 2023)
An Atlas of Direct Air Capture (Carbon Solutions and Great Plains Institute) — Explores areas of the U.S. that may be best suited to the development and placement of direct air capture (DAC) facilities that achieve net-negative carbon sequestration. The analysis examines 17 key factors that shape regional suitability for developing DAC technology and associated infrastructure, such as proximity to geologic storage; low carbon power and heat sources; proximity to gas-fired plants that could be retrofitted with CO2 capture; and optimal climate and atmospheric conditions for DAC system operation. Through this analysis, several major regions emerge as prime locations to develop regional DAC hubs (each with varying advantages), including California, the Rockies and Northern Plains, the Permian Basin, Midcontinent, the Gulf, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes. (March 2023)
Buying Carbon Removal, Explained — This resource by e-commerce software company Shopify outlines the differences between carbon offsets, removals, and reductions, and guides readers through steps that should be taken before, during and after making a carbon removal purchase. (Dec 2022)
Toward Responsible and Informed Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal (World Resources Institute) — Distills the potential scale of carbon dioxide removal (CDR), expected costs, risks, co-benefits, and areas of research needed for seven ocean CDR approaches, including coastal blue carbon restoration, seaweed cultivation, ocean fertilization, alkalinity enhancement, electrochemical approaches, artificial upwelling, and artificial downwelling. The report proposes an overall approach centered on informed and responsible development and deployment of ocean CDR that balances the urgency of emissions reductions against the environmental and social risks of ocean CDR, including halting development where risks outweigh expected benefits. (Nov 2022)
Carbon removal knowledge gaps (Frontier) — This editable, open-source database highlights major knowledge and innovation gaps across the field of carbon dioxide removal (CDR). The initial list includes over 100 gaps, tagged with attributes to help orient users and to determine their potential impact. (Nov 2022)
The role of Nature-based Solutions in strategies for Net Zero, Nature Positive and addressing Inequality (WBCSD) — Presents the role of companies’ actions on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and how this can be leveraged to address climate, nature, and equity issues. The report, which also includes four supporting technical papers, looks at NbS’s role in achieving Net Zero and looks at how NbS can be used to support corporate sustainability action. (Nov 2022)
The Land Gap Report 2022 (Melbourne Climate Futures) — Countries’ climate pledges are relying on an unrealistic amount of land-based carbon removal, according to a new report by more than 20 researchers. The report calculates that 1.2 billion hectares of land is required to achieve governments’ climate pledges, the equivalent land area as current global cropland. More than half the land area pledged involves reforestation, which puts potential pressure on ecosystems, food security, and Indigenous peoples’ rights. Governments are using land pledges to “avoid the hard work of steeply reducing emissions from fossil fuels, decarbonizing food systems and stopping the destruction of forests and other ecosystems,” said lead author Kate Dooley. (Nov 2022)
High-Accountability MRV Principles Matrix (Carbon180) — This Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) principles matrix is an effort to increase the transparency of carbon removal projects and thus ensure the industry “is built on pillars of both trust and scalability,” and increase community buy-in. The matrix lists high-, medium- and low-accountability actions across 11 topics in measuring, monitoring, reporting, and verification categories. (Nov 2022)
SALESFORCE — Launched three new environmental initiatives:
- A high quality blue carbon framework to ensure carbon captured by coastal and marine ecosystem optimize outcomes for people, biodiversity, and the climate;
- ·A nature accelerator providing a cohort of nonprofits with flexible capital to pursue big climate ideas and solutions;
- ·And support for the Global EverGreening Alliance in a 5-year initiative to restore and grow 30 million trees across Zambia.
The company also recently unveiled its new Nature Policy Priorities to guide advocacy and policy engagement to protect ecosystems and build community resilience. (Nov 2022)
Exponential Roadmap for Natural Climate Solutions (Conservation International and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) — Provides a blueprint for maximizing nature’s role in tackling global warming. To avoid catastrophic climate change, the land sector, including agriculture and forestry, must reach net zero emissions by 2030. Specifically, the report argues that: more land must be protected, such as by creating more parks and protected areas; that lands must be better managed, including reducing agricultural expansion especially driven by meat production; and that degraded ecosystems need to be restored, and if they are, could remove 400 gigatons of CO2 by 2100. (Oct 2022)
Carbon Prospecting Dashboard—
An interactive, open-access mapping software that will
support the prospecting, development, and management of nature-based carbon credit projects worldwide. This first-of-its-kind dashboard supports the preservation of carbon-rich, natural ecosystems, such as tropical forests and mangroves, by helping policymakers and investors identify where nature-based projects can be developed as potential sources of high-quality carbon credits. The platform enables users to calculate the estimated yield of carbon credits and their financial return-on-investment based on user-defined assumptions such as project duration, costs, and carbon prices.
It can also calculate co-benefits, such as improving water quality and food security, and conserving biodiversity. The dashboard was jointly developed by the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions (CNCS), a research center under the National University of Singapore Faculty of Science, and ST Engineering’s satellite data and geospatial analytics business, ST Engineering Geo-Insights. (Oct 2022)
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The Time Value of Carbon Storage (Forest Policy and Economics) — Provides a framework for comparing the value of short term carbon storage with carbon stored indefinitely. This peer reviewed journal article presents a formula for calculating the number of tons that must be stored over time in order to have equivalent economic value as one ton of CO2 stored indefinitely. Using a time preference of 3% (based on federal guidance on how to estimate the social cost of carbon), this formula shows that 33.8 tons held out of the atmosphere for one-year have the same the value of a ton held permanently. This equivalence can be used to quantify the value of short-term carbon storage, removing a significant barrier to participation in the carbon market and enabling the full climate mitigation potential of the land sector to be realized. (Sept 2022)
Natural Climate Solutions and the Voluntary Carbon Market: A Guide for C-suite Executives, published by the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance in conjunction with ERM, provides guidance for decision makers in choosing high-quality carbon credits to drive demand for Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) and mobilize companies to mitigate their emissions beyond their value chains. The guide covers the role of NCS carbon credits in achieving net zero, the business case for utilizing NCS carbon credits, and immediate actions that C-Suite Executives can take. (Sept 2022)
The Climate Benefits of Degraded Lands Reclamation and Restoration (National Wildlife Federation) — Discusses the climate, community, and economic benefits of reclaiming and restoring the more than 4 million degraded sites in the U.S., including abandoned mine lands, orphaned oil and gas wells, brownfields, and Superfund sites. According to the report, for every dollar invested in land restoration, from $7 to $30 can be returned in the form of improved food production, water quality, and carbon sequestration. (Sept 2022)
State of the Science: Cropland Soil Carbon Sequestration (Environmental Defense Fund) — Examines the areas of scientific agreement and disagreement on croplands as carbon sinks, variables in play, and the related implications for the carbon credit market. The report finds that (June 2022):
- Different soil profiles, and different farming practices on the same soil profile, result in significantly different capacities for carbon sequestration. Companies, therefore, should not assume that all croplands are equal when it comes to the carbon market, and more research is needed to allow companies to focus their offset purchases on the right regions and the best practices.
- Scientific understanding of agricultural soil sequestration is lagging behind a burgeoning voluntary market for credits. This increasing gap adds urgency to the need to for more research.
- Without universally applied scientific standards and verification for credit registries, there is a risk that the market will prioritize credits based on low cost and high volume rather than rigorous scientific standards, resulting in a proliferation of unreliable credits with dubious climate benefits.
Carbon180 (formerly the Center for Carbon Removal) has released analysis and recommendations regarding the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) planned $3.5 billion in funding to develop four regional direct air capture (DAC) hubs. The hubs would eventually be capable of removing at least 4 million metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year—a 400X increase from current global capacity. As such, they represent critical proof of concept for the nascent industry. Carbon180 (whose co-founder, Noah Deich, is currently DOE’s Acting Director of Carbon Removal and CO2 Conversion Division) suggests that to optimize the opportunity—including, critically, public support—DOE should (May 2022):
- Structure and phase funding to “maximize learning by doing, net-removal, enabling infrastructure, and technological diversity.”
- Help applicants navigate the regulatory landscape, and work with the administration to improve the permitting process.
- Support communities near hubs by requiring robust community consultation processes, codifying benefit agreements, and developing strong regulatory standards.
- Include strong labor provisions in any funding awards.
Direct Air Capture: A key technology for net zero (International Energy Agency (IEA)) — Explores the potential for Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology to play a significant role in the agency’s Net Zero by 2050 model, and the drivers that would be needed to achieve adequate scale. According to the report, the trajectory of DAC deployment needed for net zero by 2050 would require an 850X increase in capacity between now and 2030. In that context, the agency emphasizes that more investment and innovation are needed to (April 2022):
- Reduce the energy requirements of the capture process and/or transition to renewable sources for that energy.
- Refine existing carbon removal processes and potentially develop new ones to Increase efficiency.
- Assess the limits of viable operation sites.
- Identify or expand markets for captured carbon—including synthetic fuels and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)—to create cost-offsetting revenue streams. This dovetails with the significant ramp-up in SAF production also needed to satisfy the IEA’s net-zero model.
Establish international standards for DAC accounting and certification so that it can be included in regulated carbon markets and national inventories.
Mind the Gap: How Carbon Dioxide Removals Must Complement Deep Decarbonisation to Keep 1.5°C Alive (Energy Transitions Commission, ETC) — Identifies ways to manage risks of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions and actions to scale CDR this decade. It finds that a “portfolio” of CDR solutions “alongside rapid and deep global decarbonization … can give the world a 50% chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.” It also finds that 20 times more funding—$200 billion annually—could be required by 2030 to deliver sufficient removals. ETC Commissioners include executives from CEF members Bank of America, BloombergNEF (of CEF member Bloomberg), and Schneider Electric. (March 2022)
Carbon Pickling (InterEarth) — The Australian-based startup is testing the theory that burying biomass can be an effective method to storing carbon. Here’s how it works: InterEarth coppices trees; digs pits about 6 meters deep where it places the wood to soak up salty groundwater; then covers the pits with the dug-up soil and adds monitoring equipment. If it works, InterEarth says there’s enough salty land around the world to scale the technology to bury as much as 1 billion tons of carbon every year. Once its technology scales, InterEarth could be selling carbon-removal credits for less than $50. Coverage by Bloomberg. (March 2022)
The Unseen Effects of Deforestation: Biophysical Effects on Climate (UVA Dept of Env Sciences, Woodwell Climate Research Center, Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture) — Provides a complex analysis of the mechanisms by which forests impact climate across the globe, beyond storing carbon. Research shows that current carbon-centric metrics undervalue and incompletely characterize the importance of forests for both global climate change mitigation and local adaptation. The report suggests that market-based solutions should reflect the full range of impacts, including important distinctions in accounting for forest impacts at varying latitudes. (March 2022)
List of Carbon Removal Solutions Analysis, 2021-2020 (PDF)
Carbon Trading, Verification, and Insurance
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For the fourth consecutive year, annual credit retirement volumes in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) have remained flat at the 175-180 million range, according to a new report from Sylvera. The report also found little improvement in credit transparency in 2024, and the majority of credits continued to come from renewables and REDD projects (58% combined). Buyers did increasingly favor higher quality credits, and were willing to pay a premium for higher rated credits. (Jan 2025)
Transparent Reporting and Certification for CDR (TRACEcdr) (Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and AlliedOffsets) — Provides transparency and oversight to the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) market by creating an interactive visualization of the CDR Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) landscape. It does this by systematically mapping and digitalizing the MRV ecosystem for all CDR methods, and illustrating the activity within the system by providing information on the number of projects and the volume of issued credits for each CDR method and MRV protocol. In 2025, TRACEcdr will also add the results of a systematic evaluation of MRV quality by assigning scores to the MRV protocols that underpin credit issuance. (Nov 2024)
Global Carbon Markets Hub (Ecosystem Marketplace) — Enables users to explore the world’s largest database of voluntary carbon markets transactions. The Hub includes data on over 20,000 carbon projects, including methodology, location, issuances, retirements, and SDG certification. It also provides interactive data visualizations that track and analyze transaction data from more than 200 market participants over multiple years. (Sept 2024)
MIZUHO FINANCIAL GROUP / LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE GROUP (LSEG) — Announced an agreement to collaborate to support growth in the carbon credit market. The two will help Mizuho clients access investment funds and companies that have been provided with LSEG’s Voluntary Carbon Market designation. (June 2024)
Voluntary Carbon Markets Joint Policy Statement and Principles (White House) — Supports the use of high-integrity voluntary carbon credit markets (VCMs) to address emission reductions and outlines the following seven principles for U.S. market participants to embrace to responsibly partake in VCMs:
- Carbon credits and the activities that generate them should meet credible atmospheric integrity standards and represent real decarbonization.
- Credit-generating activities should avoid environmental and social harm and should, where applicable, support co-benefits and transparent and inclusive benefits-sharing.
- Corporate buyers that use credits should prioritize measurable emissions reductions within their own value chains.
- Credit users should publicly disclose the nature of purchased and retired credits.
- Public claims by credit users should accurately reflect the climate impact of retired credits and should only rely on credits that meet high integrity standards.
- Market participants should contribute to efforts that improve market integrity.
- Policymakers and market participants should facilitate efficient market participation and seek to lower transaction costs.
Gross Written Carbon: Are carbon credits the next billion-dollar insurance market? (Oxbow Partners and Kita) — Forecasts that the carbon credit insurance market could reach $1 billion by 2030 and $10-30 billion by 2050. It provides a background on the carbon market and overview of the current carbon credit insurance landscape, including perspectives from brokers and re-insurers. The report also shares four benefits that insurance brings to carbon markets, namely: 1) A balance between traditional risk management practices and innovation; (2) A stamp of confidence; (3) A detailed assessment of carbon project risk; and (4) Encouragement for market participants to take necessary risks. (April 2024)
Rating the Raters: Assessing the quality of carbon credit rating agencies (Carbon Market Watch (CMW)) — Finds that carbon credits do not represent the genuine emissions reductions or removals claimed by companies. The report says that the four carbon credit rating agencies it assessed — BeZero, Calyx, Renoster and Sylvera — grade inconsistently, often undervalue safeguards for local communities, and sometimes ignore additional environmental benefits of projects. The report also provides recommendations for agencies and carbon credit purchasers. (Sept 2023)
Methodology Framework for Carbon Capture and Storage (Verra) — Proposes and opens a public consultation period for a new methodology framework for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program. Technologies covered by the framework include direct air capture; carbon storage in saline aquifers, and technologies that enable transport of captured CO2. Methodologies covering other technologies will be released later this year. Verra will host a webinar on Wednesday, July 19 to review the draft methodology framework. Registration for the webinar can be found here. Feedback on the draft methodology can be recorded in a comment template and submitted by July 29, 2023 to methodologies@verra.org. (July 2023)
SOUTH POLE — Carbon finance company South Pole launched a new climate claim: Funding Climate Action (FCA) and accompanying climate label, to help companies scale up climate investment and communicate climate action. The FCA claim and label enables companies to invest in verified mitigation contributions to cover residual carbon emissions, while declaring genuine green credentials. (July 2023)
Ocean CDR MRV Protocol (Planetary Technologies) — Planetary has released the world’s first Ocean CO2 Removal (oCDR) Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Protocol designed to allow Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement projects to deliver carbon removals, ensuring their accuracy and transparency. The open-source protocol provides clear guidelines for developing oCDR projects, including how to calculate carbon removal and estimate lifetime storage. It also includes a standardized methodology for assessing the carbon removal performance, to increase trust and drive further investment. Planetary invites scientists and the public to review the protocol here and offer suggestions to improve it further before April 15, 2023. (Feb 2023)
2022 ISDA Verified Carbon Credit Transactions Definitions — The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) published new industry documentation for the trading of verified carbon credits (VCCs) to support the transition to a green economy by providing robust legal and management standards. This new publication supports the trading of carbon credits across carbon standards and registries and allows users to accept a wide pool of VCCs for delivery or to specify particular attributes the VCCs must satisfy (e.g. being linked to a particular registry or project). (Jan 2023)
RUBICON CARBON — Launched as a new carbon credit platform to scale and provide easier access to high-integrity emissions reduction solutions by vetting projects and their credits. Rubicon received an initial capital commitment of $300 million from CEF member TPG, with a total capital commitment target of $1 billion. As part of its launch, Rubicon also formed a coalition of corporate sustainability leaders to help guide its platform and product development, including CEF members Bank of America, Dow, GE, Honeywell, J.P. Morgan, JetBlue, McKinsey & Co., and TD Bank. (Dec 2022)
Verra and climate-tech company Pachama will pilot a digital measuring, reporting, and verification (DMRV) platform harnessing remote-sensing to measure forest carbon. These platforms can help automate and standardize how data is collected, analyzed, and validated, maintaining objectivity, increasing transparency, and reducing costs. This pilot, which will begin before the end of the year, will inform guidance for future DMRV platforms in similar contexts. (Nov 2022)
The London Stock Exchange launched its Voluntary Carbon Market to facilitate financing at scale into projects that mitigate climate change. This will enable companies to raise capital to be channeled into projects that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also helping grow the carbon market and make it more transparent. (Oct 2022)
CDR Verification Framework—
Developed by
Frontier and CarbonPlan to help strengthen measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) for permanent CO2 removal, this
interactive tool maps out the key uncertainties associated with quantifying net carbon removal and storage durability outcomes for six carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathways: (1) direct air capture; (2) biomass carbon removal and storage; (3) enhanced weathering; (4) ocean alkalinity enhancement; (5) terrestrial biomass sinking; and (5) ocean biomass sinking.
To complement the tool, Frontier and CarbonPlan developed a
Verification Confidence Level metric, which summarizes the uncertainty for each pathway and attempts to quantify outcomes using the best scientific approaches available. The tool was developed with input from more than 30 CDR companies, experts, and system actors. (Oct 2022)
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SALESFORCE — Will launch The Net Zero Marketplace, a new platform for businesses to buy carbon credits from trusted partners with third-party verification. Salesforce expects this platform, which will launch in October, to make carbon credit purchases simpler and more transparent. Nearly 90 projects across 11 countries will be offered and credits will be rated by Calyx Global and Sylvera. (Sept 2022)
PURO.EARTH — Carbon removal marketplace Puro.earth launched a new digital carbon asset to facilitate carbon removal prepayments. These “Pre-CORCs” are validated projections of carbon removal activities that can be bought by companies to prepay for projected CO2 Removal Certificates (CORCs), providing an early source of revenue to help scale projects. Pre-CORC projects will be subject to a rigorous commercial and technical risk assessment and will be converted to CORCs once carbon removal has been realized and independently verified. (Sept 2022)
CTrees — The non-profit CTrees will launch the first ever digital platform for calculating the carbon in every tree on the planet at COP27. The platform offers high-accuracy, AI-enabled satellite data products that allow countries, jurisdictions, the private sector, and civil society to measure, report, and verify both carbon emissions and removals from all types of forests. CTrees will help stakeholders engaged in the carbon market to understand carbon emissions potential of forest investments. (Sept 2022)
EEX GROUP — Deutsche Boerse's commodity exchange EEX Group will launch a suite of voluntary carbon offset products on June 17, 2022. The contracts will be listed initially in North America at Nodal Exchange, followed by EEX in Europe in the second half of 2022. The four specialized products are (May 2022):
- Verified Emission Reduction (VER), CORSIA-eligible: aligns with the eligibility rules of the global Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), governed by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
- Verified Emission Reduction (VER), Nature-based: focuses on carbon credits from nature-based solutions.
- Carbon Removal: focuses on removal and sequestration activities.
- Global Emission Reduction (GER): aims to represent the entire voluntary carbon market in one product, with a basket approach and gradual pathway to net-zero.
INTERCONTINENTAL EXCHANGE, INC. (ICE) — Launched its first Nature-Based Solutions carbon credit futures contract (“NBS future”), “specifically designed to measure the carbon sequestration and storage capabilities of nature” according to Gordon Bennett, Managing Director of Utility Markets at ICE. Each NBS futures contract corresponds to 1,000 carbon credits, equivalent to the removal or reduction of 1,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Projects represented by the credits preserve and maintain natural ecosystems and are Verified Carbon Unit (VCU) credits certified under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) Projects with Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Certification. Participants supporting the contract include Chevron Products Company, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., EDF Trading, Elbow River Marketing Ltd. a fully owned Parkland Fuel subsidiary, the Macquarie Group, Shell, Trafigura, Vertree Partners and Vitol. (May 2022)
CARBONPLACE / VISA — Completed a successful test of the new Carbonplace payment platform designed to increase the efficiency, transparency, and security of carbon credit purchases. The blockchain-based Carbonplace platform was developed by seven banks—BNP Paribas, CIBC, Itau Unibanco, National Australia Bank, NatWest Group, Standard Chartered, and UBS—to be “the SWIFT of the carbon offset market.” In the pilot transaction, CEF member Visa purchased Verra-certified carbon credits from Sustainable Carbon, a leading carbon credit project developer, as part of Visa’s pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. The Carbonplace platform eliminates the need for purchasers to perform their own vetting of carbon credit providers or maintain their own private registries of purchased carbon credits. It is expected to launch in late 2022 and could play a key role in driving more private sector capital toward climate change solutions. (May 2022)
ABU DHABI GLOBAL MARKET (ADGM) — The International Financial Centre in Abu Dhabi is partnering with AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) to create a fully regulated Recognized Investment Exchange (RIE) for carbon trading. Pending consultation and approval, the proposed regulatory framework intends to launch in 2022, and aims to be the first of its kind globally to allow companies to trade and finance high-quality carbon credits as they would conventional financial assets. (April 2022)
“A Practical Guide to Insetting: 10 lessons learnt and 5 opportunities to scale from a decade of corporate insetting practice” (International Platform for Insetting, IPI) — A new guide to help companies reach their net-zero and nature-positive goals through insetting (value chain interventions that reduce emissions or remove carbon while “[creating] positive impacts for communities, landscapes and ecosystems”). It includes steps to introduce insetting internally, work with external partners, and scale projects, based on “up to a decade’s worth of insetting practice” by IPI members Accor, Chanel, H&M Group, Kering, and Nespresso. (March 2022)
“Evaluating the Use of Carbon Credits: Critical questions for financial institutions when engaging with companies” (Ceres) — New guidance to help investors evaluate the integrity of companies’ net-zero commitments, their use of carbon credits to deliver on those commitments, and how credits “can contribute to a just and equitable transition.” It compares existing carbon-project standards and identifies “critical” social and environmental safeguards for natural climate solutions projects. (March 2022)
Puro Registry (Puro.earth) — A new, first-of-its-kind public registry for carbon removal certificates (CORCs) purchased by companies. The registry includes CORCs verified under the Puro Standard, records the complete credit lifecycle, and aligns with the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 rules on corresponding adjustment. To avoid double counting, each CORC has a unique identifier and cannot change ownership once retired. (Feb 2022)
CARBEX™ indices
(S&P Global Platts)
— The S&P 500 division partnered with environmental tech company
Viridios AI to launch
6 new AI-driven CARBEX™ carbon credit indices reflecting the value of various voluntary carbon credits, with the purpose of increasing transparency in the voluntary carbon credit market and “co-benefit markets.” The indices focus on household devices, soil, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, deforestation, and economic development. (Aug 2021)
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»
Green Ad Tag (Good-Loop) — The ad tech company launched a tool that
monitors digital ad campaigns and allows brands and advertisers to track and offset the ads’ CO2 emissions in real time. Good-Loop will offset the carbon cost via
Verified Carbon Standard projects
and offer recommendations for advertisers to lower the environmental impact of their media buying. (July 2021)
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Climate Impact X (aka CIX) — A new global exchange and marketplace for high-quality carbon credits. It uses satellite monitoring, machine learning, and blockchain technology to enhance the transparency, integrity, and quality of carbon credits. CIX founders include DBS Bank, Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered, and Temasek. (May 2021)
NASDAQ — Acquired a majority stake in Puro.earth, the “world´s first marketplace to offer industrial carbon removal instruments that are verifiable and tradable through an open, online platform.”
European energy company Fortum will remain a minority owner and partner in the venture. (June 2021)
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Project Sourcing and Screening
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From co-benefits to core-benefits: how to ensure carbon finance is equitably and transparently distributed (Terraspect) — Provides guidance for developers, investors, buyers, and community-based organizations to ensure carbon finance fairly delivers for Indigenous peoples and local communities. It details how to design and implement community compensation plans for nature-based carbon removal projects that are equitable, transparent, and accountable. The guidance maps out the various means to compensate communities (including how, when, and who), how to evaluate compensation plans, and several case studies that demonstrate high levels of transparency. (Oct 2024)
Offtake agreement template (Frontier) — Frontier has published its agreement template to purchase carbon removals, based on its experience gained through seven offtake deals and $300 million contracted. The template is annotated to provide “some lessons learned along the way” and is offered as a “starting point” to save others time. It includes discussion on how to fix prices and volumes, setting delivery parameters, estimating timelines, outlining how credits will be measured and verified, and other specifics. This supporting article about the template also offers insights into timelines, key concepts in the contract, and four key takeaways. (Aug 2024)
Carbon Removal Marketplace (Supercritical) — Provides a marketplace to access high-quality biochar projects. It includes live pricing and availability data for 80% of the biochar market, with listed projects passing a 118-criteria vetting protocol. (July 2024)
Natural Climate Solutions for the Voluntary Carbon Market: An Investor Guide for Companies and Financial Institutions (ERM Sustainability Institute, Natural Climate Solutions Alliance (NCSA), and Forest Investor Club) — Provides insights to investors on how to identify and invest in high-integrity natural climate solutions (NCS) projects. It highlights the questions investors should ask, common challenges they may face, and examples of best practice across six stages of the NCS investment process (such as identifying investment structures, determining revenue sharing agreements, and conducting due diligence). (July 2024)
Project Catalog and Screenings (Sylvera) — The Project Catalog on Sylvera’s platform provides a comprehensive overview of almost 20,000 projects in the voluntary carbon market, aggregated from nine major registries. Screenings provides overviews of project quality, key characteristics and risk factors (across eight project types) to help investors more easily screen out projects that may not fit with their strategies. (May 2024)
Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS)
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Assessing global urban CO2 removal (Nature Cities) — This meta-study summarizes what methods could be useful to store and capture carbon in urban areas, analyzing over 700 papers. It estimates the carbon storage and capture potentials of cities could add to one gigatonne per year by mid-century. While substantial, this is about a fifth of CO2 emissions from cities expected in 2050. Techniques include: mixing biochar to building materials and soils of urban green spaces; returning a third of all city lawns to treescapes; and equipping 15% of all commercial buildings with small air filters that extract CO2 from indoor air. The article also discusses co-benefits, obstacles, and the potential of shifting the albedo (reflectivity) of urban landscapes on cooling and energy use. (May 2024)
Carbon Capture for Steel? (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)) — Finds that carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) will not play a major role in steel decarbonization. Instead, green hydrogen and electric arc furnaces powered by renewable electricity offer steelmakers more promising pathways to reduce their emissions. CCUS costs have gone down little while renewables and battery storage have dropped significantly in recent years. Plus, the uniqueness of each CCUS project limits technological learning and cost reductions. The report notes that the only CCUS facility at a commercial-scale steel plant captured less than 20% of total Scope 1 and 2 emissions and the captured CO2 has been used for enhanced oil recovery, enabling the production of more fossil fuels. Further, CCUS does nothing to address the emissions associated with metallurgical coal mining, particularly methane released from coal mines. (April 2024)
Understanding, Evaluating, and Remediating Leakage from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells During Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Center for Applied Environmental Science (CAES)) — Finds that there are more than 120,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in Louisiana located over potential CO2 storage areas. More than 13,000 of these were plugged before modern cementing standards were adopted in 1953. And at least 1,200 abandoned wells penetrate potential storage areas, creating a direct pathway for leakage. As even plugged wells leak to some degree, as the report notes, regulators will need to minimize leakage by setting firm limits on long-term leakage rates; finding and remediating all abandoned wells that could interact with CO2 storage formation; and monitoring and quantifying leakage over time. (March 2024)
CCUS Projects Explorer (International Energy Agency (IEA)) — This new dataset tracks CO2 capture, transport, storage, and utilization projects worldwide. It includes projects commissioned since the 1970s that have an announced capacity of more than 100,000 metric tons per year (or 1,000 metric tons per year for direct air capture facilities) as well as projects with a clear emissions reduction scope. Excluded are CO2 capture projects for utilization pathways that bring low climate benefits (e.g., food and beverages), or which are part of the conventional industrial process (e.g., internal use for urea production), as well as use of naturally occurring CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. The database complements two other IEA technology tracking efforts, the Hydrogen Projects database and the Clean Energy Demonstration Projects Database. (April 2023)
Levers for capturing methane emissions to improve gas availability (S&P Global Commodity Insights) With elevated natural gas prices, capturing vented, fugitive, and flared gas makes economic sense, according to a new S&P report. More than 70% of the 112 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas supply currently lost could be captured with a positive net present value. S&P maps out abatement pathways for six target regions to deliver 40 bcm of gas to markets in the near term and reduce GHG emissions by approximately 750 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. (Dec 2022)
Scaling the CCUS industry to achieve net-zero emissions (McKinsey) —Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) needs to grow 120 times by 2050 for countries to achieve their net-zero commitments, according to new analysis by McKinsey. This development would require an annual investment of $130 billion through 2050, however it is unlikely governments will cover all these costs. The analysis includes strategies to generate revenues beyond subsidies, including carbon pricing, regulatory interventions (e.g. requiring low-carbon fuel standards), green premiums, valuing CO2 as a feedstock, and the voluntary carbon market. (Nov 2022)
The Carbon Capture Crux: Lessons Learned (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis) — Finds that CCUS projects are more likely to fail than succeed and that 73% of the CO2 captured is sold to fossil fuel companies to extract more oil. Key findings include (Sept 2022):
- The 13 “flagship” CCUS projects studied, comprising about 55% of global operating capacity, only captured 39 million metric tons of CO2 per year, one-ten thousandth of the 36 billion metric tons of CO2 emitted in 2021;
- Failed and underperforming projects considerably outnumbered successful ones;
- Where CCUS projects did succeed, it was usually in the natural gas processing sector (where CO2 has to be removed to produce the usable product), but that CO2 was often used for Enhanced Oil Recovery.
Over 100 new CCUS facilities have been announced worldwide this year, and governments and industry have committed over $25 billion for CCUS project funding since the start of 2020, according to the head of the International Energy Agency’s CCUS unit, Samantha McCulloch. Annual capture capacity now reaches over 40 million tons of CO2; it must increase to 1.6 billion tons in 2030 to align with a pathway to net zero by 2050. (Dec 2021)
Global Status of CCS 2021
(Global CCS Institute)
— Provides an overview of CCS progress worldwide, including policy updates, facilities updates and trends, and 7 CCS pathways. Reports that global CCS storage capacity has increased 32% in the last year and North America has 40% of new CCS projects announced in 2021. (Oct 2021)
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Carbon Pricing
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Guiding Principles for Integrating Carbon Pricing into Tenders (Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP)) — Developed in collaboration with over 235 industry leaders, these Carbon Pricing Principles aim to embed carbon pricing directly into commercial evaluation criteria for tenders and supplier selection, making sustainability a core driver of procurement decisions. The document outlines basic principles around the implementation, assessment, evaluation and awards, and governance and monitoring. In 2025, SPP will also launch a Carbon Pricing Pilot Group, with a cohort of companies implementing the principles and sharing best practices to improve them. (Jan 2025)
Government carbon pricing revenues reached a record $104 billion in 2023, according to the World Bank’s annual carbon pricing report. There are now 75 carbon pricing instruments (taxes and emissions trading schemes) operating worldwide, up from 73 in 2022, which cover around 24% of global emissions. (May 2024)
State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2023 (World Bank) — Provides an up-to-date overview of existing and emerging carbon pricing instruments around the world and investigates trends surrounding the development and implementation of these instruments. Some key trends (May 2023):
- The share of global emissions covered by carbon taxes and emissions trading systems (ETSs) has grown from 7% to around 23% in the past ten years;
- Jurisdictions continue to introduce new carbon pricing instruments, such as Indonesia’s ETS introduced this year, and cover new emissions sources, such as aviation;
- Prices increased in half of ETSs and carbon taxes, although inflation has offset some of the increase;
- Government revenues from ETSs and carbon taxes have grown nearly fivefold with almost 40% of revenues being used for green spending and 10% to compensate households or businesses;
- Both issuances and retirements of (voluntary) carbon credits fell slightly compared to 2021, although they remain significantly above levels in preceding years, with corporate demand continuing to be the primary driver of market activity;
- Macroeconomic conditions, prominent critiques of carbon credits and offsetting, and bottlenecks in issuance are among the reasons for the slowdown over the past year.
The price of permits of a metric ton of carbon reached €100 ($106.50) on the EU carbon market for the first time. This was driven by longer-term reforms to the EU carbon market made last year, increased power generation from coal, along with cooler temperatures and lower wind speeds driving up immediate demand. However, the EU approved plans this week to auction carbon permits worth €20 billion, which could bring the price back down. (Feb 2023)
Comprehensive Evidence Implies a Higher Social Cost of CO2 (Nature) — Researchers from Resources for the Future (RFF) and the University of California, Berkeley published a new estimate of the social cost of carbon, putting it at $185 per ton, 3.6 times the current U.S. federal estimate of $51 per ton. This updated figure of how much CO2 emissions cost society is based on new methodologies and scientific advancements. The estimate “shows that we are vastly underestimating the harm of each additional ton of carbon dioxide that we release into the atmosphere,” notes Richard Newell, RFF president and co-author of the study. (Sept 2022)
New research by S&P Global Ratings found that carbon pricing, in a variety of forms, is likely to spread. In an examination of carbon pricing policies and emissions trading systems from around the world, researchers found that carbon pricing regulations currently in place cover about 17% of global emissions. The report found that as governments seek to transition economies to net-zero, many will utilize carbon pricing regulations. Companies better prepared for higher carbon prices, especially in the most carbon-intensive industries, will have a competitive advantage as pricing schemes are implemented and expanded. The report projects the EU’s carbon price will exceed €100 per ton of CO2 equivalent by 2025, up from the current €80/ton. (Aug 2022)
List of Carbon Pricing Research, 2021-2018 (PDF)
Collaboration
Symbiosis — A new coalition of corporate buyers of high-quality, nature-based carbon removals. It is an advance market commitment, of up to 20 million tons, to accelerate the demand for nature-based removals (similar to Frontier, but nature-focused). Founding members include Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, all CEF members. (May 2024)
JPMORGAN CHASE — Will spend over $200 million in CO2 removal credits to sequester 800,000 metric tons of CO2. The bank signed purchase agreements with several carbon removal projects, including:
- 450,000 metric tons with CO280 Solutions over 15 years (30,000 tons/year);
- 25,000 metric tons with ClimeWorks over 9 years, one of the largest purchases of CO2 removal services via direct air capture and storage; and
- 28,500 tons with Charm Industrial over 5 years.
JPMorgan Chase also committed $75 million to carbon removal pooling company Frontier, which includes $50 million for the bank’s operational emissions and $25 million to help clients meet emissions targets. (May 2023)
Frontier — Autodesk, H&M Group, Workday, and CEF member JPMorgan Chase announced they are joining Frontier, an advance market commitment to accelerate carbon removal. The new members will commit to purchase a combined $100 million of permanent, high-quality carbon removal over the next eight years, bringing Frontier’s total advance market commitment to $1.025 billion by 2030. (April 2023)
Blue Carbon Action Partnership (BCAP) — The World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda has launched this new initiative to help meet the rapidly increasing demand for “blue carbon” credits and projects around the world. Along with storing up to five times more CO2 as terrestrial forests, these coastal projects can reduce flooding and boost habitats for fisheries. Launched with a £4 million ($4.86 million) UK government grant, BCAP will support governments in working with businesses, communities and civil society organizations to restore, conserve and sustainably manage coastal ecosystems. At a global level, BCAP will work with key stakeholders to tackle policy and investment challenges and at a national level will pilot NBCAPs (National Blue Carbon Action Partnerships) to convene local stakeholders to develop national roadmaps. The first NBCAP was launched with the Indonesian government in January. (March 2023)
WATERSHED — Business climate platform, Watershed, announced a partnership with Frontier, the advance market commitment to accelerate the development of permanent carbon removal technologies. The partnership will broaden access to permanent carbon removal technologies by enabling Watershed customers to buy in at a wider range of commitment sizes. Expanding the customer pool could help reduce costs of these technologies and bring them to scale faster. (Jan 2023)
TERRAFORMATION — The global reforestation company, Terraformation, launched its Seed to Carbon Forest Accelerator, the world’s first biodiversity-focused, carbon-funded forest accelerator program. This will unlock funding and guidance needed to increase the supply of premium-quality nature-based carbon credits. Applications are open for the program’s inaugural class of forest creation and restoration teams. (Nov 2022)
SALESFORCE — Launched three new environmental initiatives:
- A high quality blue carbon framework to ensure carbon captured by coastal and marine ecosystem optimize outcomes for people, biodiversity, and the climate;
- ·A nature accelerator providing a cohort of nonprofits with flexible capital to pursue big climate ideas and solutions;
- ·And support for the Global EverGreening Alliance in a 5-year initiative to restore and grow 30 million trees across Zambia.
The company also recently unveiled its new Nature Policy Priorities to guide advocacy and policy engagement to protect ecosystems and build community resilience. (Nov 2022)
A new nonprofit organization, Terraset, has been established to funnel private philanthropy to the most promising carbon dioxide removal (CDR) startups in need of capital to scale. Individuals can now also donate to Terraset, which vets and selects scientifically rigorous and scalable CDR projects that minimizes harm to local communities. (Oct 2022)
Carbon Opportunities Fund — A new global investment platform to raise private capital to “source, tokenize, and sell high-quality, verified carbon credits.” The fund was launched by The International Finance Corporation, blockchain company Chia Network, and Aspiration and Cultivo, two leading investors in nature-based carbon credits. Investments in carbon credit projects will be chosen by Aspiration and Cultivo, tokenized by Chia Network, and tracked using the World Bank’s Climate Warehouse database. (Aug 2022)
First Movers Coalition — The flagship public-private partnership announced a major expansion to more than 50 corporate members—including CEF members Alphabet, Microsoft, Ecolab, Ford, and Schneider Electric—worth about $8.5 trillion and a total of nine governments comprising over 40% of the global economy. The coalition, which aims to create market demand for early-stage technology that cuts emissions from hard-to-abate industry sectors, also launched new sector initiatives in aluminum and carbon dioxide removal (CDR). In the Aluminum sector, Ball Corporation, Ford, Novelis, Trafigura, and Volvo Group committed to have near-zero emissions from 10% of their primary aluminum purchases by 2030. New CDR sector 2030 commitments include (May 2022):
- Alphabet, Microsoft, and Salesforce collectively committed $500 million to CDR.
- Boston Consulting Group (BCG) pledged to remove 100,000 metric tons of carbon.
- AES, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Swiss Re each committed to 50,000 metric tons of carbon removal, equivalent to a $25 million investment from each company.
- Members must demonstrate that the carbon can be stored for more than 1,000 years.
- Breakthrough Catalyst, Carbon Direct, Frontier, and South Pole joined the coalition as implementation partners for the CDR initiative.
NextGen CDR Facility — A carbon market catalyst project, run by sustainability consultant South Pole, that aggregates carbon credit spend from buyers and channels it to NextGen-curated carbon removal companies that: a) meet stringent standards set by the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA), b) can deliver carbon removals this decade; and c) need financing in order to scale. NextGen has brought together five founding buyers—Boston Consulting Group (BCG), LGT, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Swiss Re, and UBS—which will enable it to purchase more than one million tons of verified technical carbon removals (CDRs) by 2025. (May 2022)
Direct Air Capture Coalition (DAC Coalition) — An open alliance of private companies, nonprofits, universities, and philanthropies that aims “to mobilize society for Direct Air Capture” through awareness-raising, education, and engagement initiatives. DAC is among the carbon dioxide removal technologies scientists say will be needed to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors and reach net zero. The coalition—which includes leading DAC market players Climeworks, Global Thermostat, and Heirloom—will hold a summit in the next year to produce a road map for the industry through 2030. (May 2022)
XPRIZE / MUSK FOUNDATION — Announced 15 “milestone winners” in the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, the largest incentive prize in history. The winners were selected from an initial field of 1,133 entry submissions and each will receive $1 million to continue their work on developing innovative, scalable decarbonization solutions. The competition now resets for the Grand Prize phase, for which competitors will need to execute and demonstrate a working solution at a scale of at least 1,000 tons of carbon removal per year and a pathway to a scale of at least a gigaton of removal per year. The Grand Prize winner and runners up will be announced on Earth Day 2025 and awarded the remaining $80 million. (May 2022)
Frontier Fund — Stripe, with supportive funding from Shopify and CEF members Alphabet (Google), Meta, and McKinsey & Co., launched an Advance Market Commitment" (AMC) fund to buy an initial $925 million of permanent carbon removal by 2030. Inspired by vaccine development funding mechanisms, the fund intends to scale solutions that meet several criteria, including the ability to permanently store carbon over 1,000 years, cost less than $100 per ton at scale, sequester at least 0.5 gigatons of carbon annually, and be verifiable. Notably, as emphasized on the Frontier website, “Frontier aims to help create net new carbon removal supply rather than compete over what exists today.” Other companies are encouraged to participate. (April 2022)
NCS Investment Accelerator — Bank of America, Bayer, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company and Unilever launched a campaign to increase private sector investment in natural climate solutions (NCS) to slash at least 1 Gigaton of CO2 equivalent per year by 2025. The initiative is supported by the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance convened jointly by the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. (Nov 2021)
CORTEVA —
The seeds and farm chemicals company announced it is partnering with
ag-tech company
Indigo Ag
to expand the Corteva Carbon Initiative, through which US farmers receive carbon credits for implementing certain soil-health practices. For the 2022 crop year,
the offering will grow to include 17 crops in 11 states, with independently verified credits that are measured, generated, and sold through
Carbon by Indigo. Credits generated will be sold to companies including
Boston Consulting Group and
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
(Aug 2021)
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Carbon to Value (C2V) Initiative
— The group of business, government, and NGO stakeholders formed to accelerate a carbontech economy
selected its first cohort of
10 startups working toward commercializing carbontech innovations. The companies will have opportunities to engage with C2V Carbontech Leadership Council members, which include
ABInBev 100+ Accelerator, NRG Energy,
and
Unilever.
(Aug 2021)
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XPrize will launch a four-year $100 million competition— sponsored by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation — to identify effective and economical ways to remove and store carbon dioxide starting on Earth Day (April 22). (February 2021)
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative — a CEO-led initiative supported by 13 oil and gas companies — presented a plan to double the amount of CO2 that is currently stored globally by 2030. Oil and Gas Climate Initiative members include BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and more.
Carbon Market Policy Engagement & Advocacy
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The Carbon Removal Alliance, a carbon removal trade group, published a policy roadmap to strengthen carbon removal markets by advancing monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV).The report outlines MRV improvements to create a high integrity, transparent, and competitive carbon removal market. It includes 12 federal policy recommendations to advance carbon removal MRV, from increasing innovation funding on MRV and issuing guidance and protocols, to creating an interagency governmental body to align MRV efforts across agencies. (Oct 2024)
More than 100 carbon removal companies and organizations sent a letter to the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) objecting to its draft guidance. This proposed guidance, which could shape the future of carbon markets, deems engineering-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) activities as “technologically and economically unproven, especially at scale, and pose unknown environmental and social risks,” and also “do not contribute to sustainable development.” The letter urges the supervisory body to instead adopt the IPCC’s definition of CDR as “anthropogenic activities” removing CO2 from the atmosphere and durably storing it. It also discourages distinguishing between nature-based and engineering-based activities as “virtually every CDR approach is a hybrid of nature and engineering.” Instead the letter encourages letting “science, innovation, and the market compete to deliver the solutions offering the greatest climate impact and other co-benefits.” (May 2023)
23 companies formed a new industry group, The Carbon Removal Alliance, to advocate for stronger federal and state policies to scale up CO2 removal technologies, specifically those that are permanent, net negative, additional, and verifiable. The Alliance is organized as a 501(c)4, allowing it to dedicate significant resources to lobbying, along with educational and intra-industry work. (Feb 2023)
36 ORGANIZATIONS — 70 executives, scientists, and advocates from 36 companies, organizations, and academic institutions wrote an open letter calling for an “independent, not-for-profit initiative” to “enable scientific rigor, transparency, and harmonization across CDR [CO2 removal] pathways.” The letter proposes that the initiative should serve to establish and regularly update guidelines, and review and approve quantification protocols and their underlying approaches to measurement and modeling. The representatives note they plan to set up a larger working group involving a wider set of stakeholders. (Feb 2023)
The Carbon Business Council, a new nonprofit trade association that will represent a coalition of early-stage companies specializing in carbon capture, use, and sequestration (CCUS), has just launched. The organization will help its members to connect with investors and policymakers looking for promising solutions for mitigating atmospheric CO2—including direct air capture, soil sequestration, cement sequestration, and a host of other promising technologies. In taking a collective approach to driving CCUS markets, the Council hopes to help the industry scale more quickly to become a scientifically viable complement to emission reduction in pursuit of Paris Agreement goals. (July 2022)
UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance
—
The alliance of investors managing $6.6 trillion of assets
released a new
position paper calling on the finance industry to boost investments in carbon-removal methods and negative-emissions technologies, and standardize carbon credits. The group says a mix of solutions “must be scaled massively and rapidly” to align with a 1.5°C pathway. (Sept 2021)
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Carbon Capture Coalition (CCC) - "A nonpartisan collaboration of more than 80 businesses and organizations building federal policy support for economy-wide deployment of carbon capture, transport, use, removal and storage. Our mission is to reduce carbon emissions to meet midcentury climate goals, foster domestic energy and industrial production, and support a high-wage jobs base through the adoption of carbon capture technologies. Convened by the Great Plains Institute, Coalition membership includes industry, energy, and technology companies; energy and industrial labor unions; and conservation, environmental, and energy policy organizations."
Standardizing & Improving Carbon Accounting
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Emissions First Partnership — Ten corporations have come together to offer new objectives and principles for consideration to update electricity greenhouse gas emissions accounting systems to accelerate grid decarbonization. Objectives include increasing clarity on emissions impact of electricity, improving data, and increasing stakeholder confidence that emissions reduction claims are accurate and effective. CEF members include: Amazon, General Motors, and Meta. (Dec 2022)
Climate Action Data (CAD) Trust — Launched by the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the World Bank and the Government of Singapore, CAD Trust will provide an open-source metadata system to share information about carbon credits and projects across digital platforms, easing future integration of multiple registry systems. CAD Trust will bring together decentralized carbon crediting records with the aim to avoid double counting, increase trust in carbon data, and enhance climate ambition. Major carbon registries along with other national registries will plan to connect to CAD Trust in early 2023. (Dec 2022)
CCS Collective — Six companies from across the carbon value chain have joined forces to support the development of third-party independent environmental assessments and data measurement for carbon capture and sequestration. The collective will harmonize existing frameworks and requirements into data-driven measurement, reporting, and verification for CCS. It will also work to set standards to ensure that CO2 volumes are safely captured, transported, and permanently sequestered. (Dec 2022)
The Carbon Call — Twenty corporate, scientific, philanthropic, and intergovernmental organizations, hosted by the ClimateWorks Foundation, launched a new collaboration to accelerate the development of reliable and interoperable carbon accounting, with a focus on carbon removal and methane, indirect, and land-sector emissions. Participating organizations will work to advance universal accounting methodology standards, expand access to reliable GHG emissions and removal data, and strengthen the interoperability of digital accounting infrastructure. Corporate signatories (including CEF member Microsoft plus Capricorn Investment Group, EY, GSK, KPMG, and Wipro) commit to annually and transparently reporting on their GHG emissions and offsets, including all scopes and classes. (Feb 2022)