The race to build carbon credits infrastructure, projects, marketplaces and more is well underway.
From farmers, to forests, to energy producers, everyone is positioning themselves for the future of carbon credits and the potential opportunity of rising demand amid global decarbonization.
Who is making moves:
- Rubicon Carbon, Freepoint Commodities and Imperative Global have teamed up to fund a nature based offset project that could create as many as 100 million carbon credits. The project could require up to $500 million in capital
- The United States Agriculture Department recently unveiled a new initiative which will provide $150 million in funding to support small forest owners and enable them to participate in the carbon credits market. The idea is to incentivize land owners not to cut down trees or sell their property to a developer by offering them carbon credits as an alternative source of monetization
- Shopify's (NASDAQ: SHOP) partnership with Running Tide, a startup who sinks wood in the ocean to generate carbon removal, has delivered their first carbon credits to Shopify. Shopify, through their Sustainability Fund, had pre purchased the credits in advance
- Further, it has become public that Running Tide also has agreements with Microsoft, Stripe and others who have pre purchased credits from them
- DevvStream (CBOE: DESG) recently announced a deal with an unnamed Canadian energy company to purchase 250,000 carbon credits from them over a multi year period
- The first ever digital registry for carbon credits has just been launched in Asia, formed by a trio of Carbonbase, HBAR Foundation and ImpactX. The concept is to bolster transparency and trust in the carbon markets, as well as validate the integrity of carbon credits being traded in order to reduce potential fraud
- Mootral, a food technology startup with a climate focus, recently unveiled their ‘CowCredits’ which are verified by VERRA are officially able to be purchased by companies and governments
Why it matters:
- The global push towards net zero emissions has put emphasis on decarbonizing the world, of which the carbon credit markets play a major role
- There is a clear need for more startups and venture investment in the carbon credits market, as it represents a critical piece of infrastructure for the energy transition globally
- The opportunities for carbon credits is enormous, as the implications of emission reduction spans across agriculture, energy, technology and more
