In June 2023, we celebrated the two-year anniversary of our partnership with Nasdaq. Since the financial technology company acquired a majority stake in Puro.earth in 2021, our drive to mobilize the world’s economy to reward carbon net-negative emissions has gained significant momentum. 

Between 1st June 2022 and 31st May 2023, our team of 18 has grown to 37 across Europe, North America West Coast, the Asia-Pacific region and Australia. As we enter the second year of our partnership with established corporate ESG leader Nasdaq, now is the time to look back at how our climate impact has grown over the last twelve months*:

• We issued 250,000 CORCs, meaning our supplier partners have removed a quarter of a million metric tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere (the equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions from 55,633 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year) for hundreds to thousands of years, an increase of around 111,000 CORCS from the same period last year.
• We more than doubled the number of new buyers purchasing CORCS through our sales channels.
  32 new carbon removal suppliers joined Puro.earth, bringing the grand total to 101 and helping close the gap between supply and the rapidly increasing demand for verified carbon removal.
• We have carbon removal suppliers in 31 countries, 11 more than the previous period, and a reseller network of 37 channel partners, from 21 the previous year.
• We announced our partnership with Kita to make carbon insurance available for biochar projects in 2023, reducing transaction risk and accelerating upfront financing.
• We have become the first carbon removal crediting program focused on durable carbon removal with storage time of minimum 100+ years and obtained endorsement by the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA).
• We have released a new e-book ‘Carbon Removals: Achieving a Net-Negative Economy’ to further educate business leaders and sustainability professionals. The e-book includes extracts from interviews from a variety of thought leaders, early-innovators and movers in the industry who have contributed to shaping the carbon removal market we see today.

We have witnessed rapid global growth from buyers and sellers within the voluntary carbon removal market and accelerated innovation in the industry. There has been a new targeted focus on investment into carbon removals and the durability of the projects, and leading organisations continue to trust the Puro Standard to offer and maintain integrity and transparency in these markets during a time of great momentum.

Over the last 12 months, we have focused on scaling the voluntary carbon market to meet the expected rapid growth from corporates seeking to neutralize emissions. In collaboration with Nasdaq, we have supported the growth of the VCM through:

• The launch of the Puro Accelerate program and the Pre-CORC, a prepaid and tradable certificate for validated projections of future carbon removals to stimulate growth of the carbon removal market. These provide an early source of revenue for carbon removal projects and help projects scale operations enter the market.
• Listing AspiraDAC, the first project for CORCs based on Direct Air Capture (DAC), on Puro.earth. The tech giant-backed Frontier Fund committed to purchasing 500 CORCs from the first-of-its-kind solar-powered modular storage project.
• Accrediting the world’s first gigaton-capable carbon removal methodology with 10,000+ durability, Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW). This enabled ERW projects to monetize their carbon removal activities with CORCs and allow corporates to purchase these carbon removal credits for the first time, increasing global ERW capacity by providing early-stage financing opportunities.
• Piloting the Terrestrial Storage of Biomass methodology so that additional information and biomass decomposition data could be gathered from field trials. We opened a public consultation to evolve the methodology beyond the pilot stage into an approved methodology usable by carbon removal suppliers.

What’s next? 

Geographic growth: We have had an amazing year developing networks though North America, Europe and Asia, and our suppliers are covering new areas in Latin America and Africa. Our new removal partner Octavia Carbon has commissioned the Global South’s first DAC and Storage facility in Kenya, 100% powered by the country’s abundant renewable geothermal energy. With opportunities like these, we will open up the voluntary carbon markets to new regions and greatly increase carbon removal capacity worldwide.

New methodologies: The science team is researching a new methodology, Aquatic Storage of Biomass, and analyzing scientific evidence on how to quantify CO2 permanently removed from the atmosphere using this process. We will be updating our Geologically Removed Carbon methodology to reflect the evolution of understanding in the field and enhance the accuracy of carbon crediting. We have also recently broadened our Carbonated Building Elements methodology to Carbonated Materials and are looking forward to seeing how this opens up new sources of carbon credit origination and drives innovation in carbon sequestration.

New partnerships: We are both strengthening existing relationships and building new ones around the globe. Through our partnership with Singapore-based carbon exchange Climate Impact X (CIX), CORC and Pre-CORC transactions can now be facilitated via CIX Clear, a clearing and settlement service for privately negotiated single-project, multi-project or portfolio transactions. We are also excited to announce our new partnership with Xpansiv, who will now make CORCs available on its spot marketplace CBL, the largest spot exchange for trading voluntary carbon credits and other environmental commodities.

New Products: We are introducing our new API to the market, a powerful tool that connects asset onboarding, trade reporting, and retirement of CORCs to the Puro Registry. This API empowers sales channel partners with seamless integration and unlocks growth opportunities in the voluntary carbon market. By facilitating high-volume CORC trading, it will streamline processes and promote market liquidity.

2023 is a pivotal year for carbon removal as many governments are moving to create policies to support the carbon removal sector. We are calling on governments to:

i. Set long-term plans with a clear role for durable carbon removals,
ii. Develop the rules on what qualifies as durable carbon removal and consider the use of existing methodologies form carbon crediting programs,
iii. Implement policies to support supply and demand and create the business case for investment.

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The carbon removal industry has the potential to reach 10 gigatonnes of CO2 removal each year, and together with Nasdaq we will continue to play a vital role in scaling the markets to a point where supply will meet growing demand from climate-conscious corporations. We foresee a world in which any company can help mitigate the effects of climate change by removing hazardous emissions from the atmosphere, and we will continue to drive momentum until this dream becomes a reality.

Thank you - The Puro.earth Team

*all data points recorded on 31st May 2023