Summary
Centigrade is designed to become the central data utility for the Voluntary Carbon Market. Centigrade provides a fully digital, “live” data environment for profiling and tracking carbon projects in their full scientific and operational detail. Developed in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Institute, Centigrade’s standardized data structure can accommodate any carbon credit methodology and pathway. Centigrade’s objective is to supply carbon credit markets with the data infrastructure that is required to transition to a modern and scalable market.
Success is within our reach
Achieving net zero by 2050 is not financially feasible without private-sector investments in carbon mitigation outside of the corporate value chain.* An effective, efficient and equitable voluntary carbon market is thus indispensable. There is no shortage of investable mitigation solutions, ranging from engineered carbon dioxide reduction (e.g., biochar, enhanced rock weathering, BECCS, etc.) to major nature restoration/conservation. The amount of ingenuity, passion, and tenacity in today’s project development community is truly inspiring. Any individuals or organizations who are focused entirely on the failures of the past are only detracting from the task at hand.
Not a modern market — yet
As we all know, the current carbon credit market is not a true “market”. In a functional market, buyers have access to reliable, standardized data to discover, price, and efficiently purchase assets. Buyers are also supported by trustworthy and well-regulated intermediaries including auditors, rating agencies, and insurers. And when it comes time to consummate a transaction, it occurs on efficient, transparent, and well-regulated exchanges. Modern markets, assuming the proper data and infrastructure, will almost always efficiently price assets.
The carbon credit market needs a data utility
Like all other modern markets, the carbon credit market needs a fully digital, “live” data environment for profiling and tracking assets, including their performance over time. The data must be granular enough to allow project developers to profile their projects/claims in their fully-differentiated glory. The data should also follow a common data standard, be stored in one place, and be administered by an independent data utility with no conflicts of interest. Most importantly, market participants — project developers, service providers, and buyers — should have access to the data at all times.
Introducing Centigrade
Over the past year, the team at Centigrade has been hard at work to build exactly that data utility. With the help of our partner, the Rocky Mountain Institute, we have created a standardized data structure that can accommodate any carbon credit methodology or pathway, dramatically expanding access to the voluntary carbon market. Centigrade’s groundbreaking software will make it easier, faster, and cheaper for project developers, service providers, and buyers to conduct business. The results should be astounding — massive numbers of new project developers will enter the fray, service providers will perform their critical work more efficiently and effectively, and buyers will discover and diligence high quality projects on a global scale with the stroke of a key.
Our journey
From day one, Centigrade’s focus has been on our users — project developers, service providers (e.g., dMRVs, VVBs, assurers, raters, insurers, etc.) and buyers. We have conducted extensive user research to understand their needs/pain points, workflows, and dreams/aspirations. While we have learned a lot over the past year, we have much more to learn.
Understanding the users in this market is not an easy task. Carbon removal projects span 150+ unique methodologies for generating carbon credits. The science behind baselining, monitoring, and analyzing projects is constantly evolving, and so are the scientific methodologies and pathways themselves. Additionally, capturing the full richness of social and ecological co-benefits of a particular project can be difficult and time consuming.
While we’ve made great progress thus far, we have lots of work left to do. We kindly ask that you be patient with us as we continue to develop our software, and forgive us for any mistakes that we might make along the way. Our ambition is to make it easier, faster, and cheaper for every good-faith carbon project on Earth to come to market. This is no easy task, but with your grace and a little luck, we will reach our goal. We thank you in advance for your generosity and support.
For more information:
www.centigrade.earth
marketing@centigrade.earth
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* Sources:
Sources: “Carbon removals: How to scale a new gigaton industry”, McKinsey & Co., December 2023; “Above And Beyond: An Sbti Report On The Design And Implementation Of Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM)”, SBTi, February 2024; “Carbon Removal in a Beyond Value Chain Mitigation Strategy”, Carbon Direct, May 2024; ”OECD Secretary-General Report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on the work of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches”, OECD, April 2024; “Funding Beyond Value Chain Mitigation”, Gold Standard, March 2024
