The traditional voluntary carbon market (VCM) is broken.
A market built on shaky foundations.
A series of flawed methodologies, conflicting market incentives & a handful of bad actors have left us with a carbon market that has, by and large, failed to make a net positive contribution to our net zero transition.
No standardized guidance on how carbon credits can contribute to a voluntary net zero
Lack of supply of carbon credits that remove fossil fuel emissions on the same carbon cycle (aka permanent removals)
Expensive for buyers to enter the market for permanent removals
Lack of trust & transparency in the system
Quality Assurance for buyers steps in
To help buyers break through the complexity of the market & overcome barriers to entry - a wave of quality assurance providers stepped into the market. While many quality assurance providers have been able to cultivate more demand by mitigating some of these risks & enabling buyers to engage in the market with greater confidence - the market is still facing an uncertain future.
The imperative to rebuild the market from the ground up.
Scientific Rigor
Independent standards & exchanges built with scientific rigor and transparency
Like for Like
Market consensus on which carbon credit pathways apply to different emission sources
Transparent Market
Independent data & information accessible to all market participants
To grow the VCM at the speed & scale required to avoid a scenario of 1.5 or even 2 degrees of warming - we must go back to first principles & rebuild the market on solid foundations. To build a robust & scalable VCM we must establish: Independent standards & exchanges built with scientific rigour and transparency Market consensus on which carbon credit pathways apply to different emission sources Independent data & information accessible to all market participants Over the past couple of years we have seen new market entrants coming in to drive this reset & strengthen the market. However, there is still a massive information gap between the buy side & sell side limiting the ability of the market to scale.
The final building block - transparency
When there is an imbalance or asymmetry of information between the buy & sell side of a market, friction is inevitable & the velocity at which the market can scale declines. When there is an imbalance or asymmetry of information between the buy & sell side of a market, friction is inevitable & the velocity at which the market can scale declines. When Bloomberg empowered the buy side with information that previously had been almost entirely in the hands of the sell side - he made an opaque market transparent & volumes soared. In the VCM, suppliers working to sequester & store carbon to trade as credits with corporate buyers, do not have a clear indication of what buyers are looking for. While there are many solutions out there helping create new standards & empower buyers with information to make purchases - the fragmentation of the market that persists makes it incredibly difficult for suppliers to understand demand signals & preferences, stalling sales.
Introducing Gentoo.earth
Gentoo.earth is committed to revolutionizing the Voluntary Carbon Market by providing carbon removal companies with the tools and information required to succeed. Our AI-powered platform helps to shed a much needed light on corporate net zero, saving you 80% of your time finding & analyzing buyers.