The gold rush of “climate technology” is here – but who will test its credibility and claims?

Last week we witnessed how WeWork founder Adam Neumann received $ 70 million for a startup selling token carbon credits in the blockchain, meanwhile in Davos discussions on how to restore confidence to “resume global cooperation” have not focused on verifying claims.

On the one hand, news of Neumann’s investment in crypto and tokenization is welcome because we need to fund major projects, however such solutions do nothing to address the issue of carbon offset quality.

While we need new players who drive innovation and digital solutions on a large scale, the truth is: if carbon credit is of poor quality, then it adds nothing to the climate.

Neumann’s project is just one of many dubious carbon credit ventures: we see hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into projects, while independent industry checks, the key to making projects real, and what impact invested funds, will lead to a significant impact on the land, not high enough on the agenda.

Verification is the process of ensuring that a carbon project is implemented in accordance with the standards set by global certification bodies, and if technology providers do not adhere to these standards, things get messy very quickly.

For this new generation of climate players to thrive and make a significant contribution to climate change, we need to see the next generation of players who can collaborate with climate technology digitally and provide confidence that the impact they claim is real.

The problem is that the verification industry is perhaps the only industry that has not been affected by the digital revolution to date. Most organizations continue to use manual or analog processes to verify that projects meet the standards of certification bodies, and it goes without saying that this is costly, complex and constraining action to achieve sustainability goals under the Paris Agreement.

To solve this problem, at SustainCERT we are developing the world’s first software platform for digital verification in the carbon and reporting markets Scope 3. Digital Monitoring Reporting (D-MRV) will make certification standards more accessible and accessible at the same scale, but it also requires revision inspection industry rules.

At Innovate 4 Climate last week along with carbon standards such as The Gold Standard and Verra, we offered an open forum to share ideas on working together and reaching consensus on MRV best practices in a digital context because as the industry expands , this is very important. it is a consensus on how to increase trust, transparency and efficiency in carbon markets around the world. We will share the results in a white paper openly published in the coming weeks, and look forward to feedback and participation from the wider industry.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Emanuel Faber, chairman of the Council for International Standards for Sustainable Development (ISSB), stressed the role of verification in combating green cultivation, saying that “the problem of today’s market is that companies may make claims that no one can verify. “

Which we are all to deal with an evolving and ambiguous landscape. However, the main thing that everyone is trying to achieve is the impact – and to ensure that the impact they are investing in is in fact understood.

With regard to investing in climate technology to scale solutions, it is important that large-scale independent verification is also on the agenda. Because essentially: if it’s not tested, it’s not true.

If we do not invest quickly in innovation to meet this challenge, we may find ourselves on a burning planet in 20 years and think, “We had all these plans, technology, blockchain, but nothing was realized – no project has lived up to its promise.” .

Marion Verles is the CEO of SustainCERT.

This article is sponsored by SustainCERT.

About SustainCERT

SustainCERT is a carbon impact organization that develops digital verification solutions to provide credibility to climate action.

The organization is working to thwart the verification industry to make it accessible, transparent, and scalable by launching the world’s first software platform to provide digital verification of claims of impact on carbon markets and value chains.

Founded as an independent stand-alone company in 2018 in line with gold standards, SustainCERTs ’approach coincides with, and contributes to, leading international structures, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

SustainCERT is also a co-founder of the Value Change Initiative, a multi-stakeholder forum that brings together some of the world’s largest companies, leading civil society actors and internationally recognized bodies to jointly identify best practices and scale up Scope 3 emissions. more: https://www.sustain-cert.com/

About Marion Verles

Marion is an entrepreneur in climate and sustainable development who has dedicated her career to transforming our economic system through redefining value.

Prior to co-founding SustainCERT in 2018, Marion was CEO of the Gold Standard Foundation, a leading carbon market standard, where she led the launch of the Gold Standard for Global Goals (GS4GG) and value change programs, also co-founded the Sustainable Development Initiative and the Climate Initiative.

Prior to that, Marion spent seven years in Asia, where she founded Nexus Carbon for Development, a successful cooperative of development organizations seeking to scale climate mitigation programs through results-based funding.

She is a recognized ideological leader on the following topics: corporate climate action with zero value, the use of technology to achieve large-scale impact, innovation and transformation of impact testing, leadership in the new economy and climate entrepreneurship.