June 1st, 2022, marks the one-year anniversary of our exciting partnership with Nasdaq. When the financial technology company acquired a majority stake in Puro.earth, we accelerated our journey towards mobilizing carbon removal on a global, industrial scale and over the last 12 months, we’ve gone from strength to strength. Our small team of six tripled in size. We were also joined by an incredibly skilled team of advisors, including Professor Myles Allen, Director of the Oxford Net Zero Initiative, who chairs our external Advisory Board, the body that governs Puro Standard's methodologies and crediting rules, and industry-leading experts such as Fredrik Ekström, president of Nasdaq Stockholm, who chairs our Board of Directors.
The collaborative approach places us in a strong position to scale the CO2 removal industry and address the growing demands from corporations on their path towards net-zero.
Since the start of our journey together with Nasdaq – an established leader in corporate ESG - our climate impact has grown:
Overall, we are beginning to see a more liquid market where offtake and pre-purchase agreements are gaining importance and the Puro Standard is increasingly known for its high-quality. If this growth trajectory continues we will reach the gigaton level before 2030.
We are also proud to have welcomed Zurich Insurance Group and Snap Inc. among others as new public reference customers, and Microsoft as a repeat customer who renewed procurement for the second year.
Earlier this year, in collaboration with Nasdaq we increased transparency in the whole voluntary carbon market by:
By providing access to reference prices for CORCs, we aim to create transparency and robustness in the market in line with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The indexes create a price signal that stimulate growth of the carbon removal ecosystem by supporting the business case for new projects and helping potential investors make better informed decisions.
Also with Nasdaq’s support, we expanded the corporate use of advance purchase commitments with our Pre-CORC Framework. Buyers can give demand signals to carbon removal suppliers by committing to purchase CORCs in the future from innovative projects that are still setting up operations. This drives support together with other buyers, effectively pooling demand and thus enabling new projects to materialize. Pre-CORCs can help projects secure funding while buyers lock in their future supply and demonstrate their commitment to supporting the growth of the carbon removal ecosystem.
What’s next?
Geographic growth – Besides our targeted growth in North America and Europe, we will continue to expand our presence in Latin America and Asia, so that more carbon removal projects can have a nearby Puro.earth presence, enter the market and monetize their climate service.
New methodologies – In the coming months the Puro Standard will release a methodology for Terrestrial Enhanced Rock Weathering, expanding the science-based issuing of CORCs. We will continue to enable new carbon removal methodologies as technology and science evolves.
New and stronger partnerships- We will continue to work with the leading carbon footprint quantification and reduction advisory companies, such as Watershed Climate, Patch.io, Plan A, and Pledge, to offer CORCs to their clients.
Keep enabling advance commitments- We believe that enabling buyers to commit to advance multi-year agreements is the way to help suppliers gain inclusive market entry and future carbon credit revenue, which will enable growth via access to equity and debt.
We are inspired by our growth trajectory, alongside the knowledge that a fully functioning carbon removal industry could remove more than 10 gigatons of CO2 each year. We hope to play an instrumental role in building a world where any company can help reverse climate change by removing its carbon emissions from the atmosphere. Bolstered by Nasdaq’s support, we continue to strive to achieve this hugely important and worthwhile proposition.
The Puro.earth Team
Are you ready to include science-based carbon removal in your climate actions? Welcome to learn more about our Carbon Removal Suppliers and don't hesitate to contact us.