Articles from Carbon Direct

Carbon Direct, the global leader in science-driven carbon management, announced today that it has acquired climate technology pioneer Pachama. The acquisition augments Carbon Direct’s world-class scientific expertise and advisory services with Pachama’s proprietary technology and ground-breaking digital platform for forest carbon project monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV). The deal enhances Carbon Direct’s digital MRV capabilities, creates a more robust online experience for clients, and expedites the company’s flagship project diligence services.

Carbon Direct, a global leader in science-driven carbon management, in collaboration with JPMorganChase, today unveiled a new report: Optimizing for Biodiversity with Nature-Based Projects in the Voluntary Carbon Market: Principles for Pursuing Dual Outcomes. This guide offers organizations a data-driven blueprint for identifying and designing nature-based voluntary carbon market (VCM) projects that deliver both carbon and biodiversity outcomes.

Carbon Direct and Microsoft today announced the release of the 2025 edition of the Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal. This fifth edition, which builds on multiple years of application, market feedback, and advances in climate science, continues to shape the global conversation on high-quality carbon removal and the evolution in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) quality benchmarks. The inaugural criteria were introduced in 2021 and are updated annually, serving as the industry's leading resource for project developers seeking to deliver high-integrity carbon removal, and for buyers evaluating the quality of their CDR portfolios.

Carbon Direct, in collaboration with McKnight Foundation, today announced the release of its landmark report, Carbon Dioxide Removal and Environmental Justice in the United States: A landscape analysis of race, class, and environmental burden metrics. This is the first comprehensive study to empirically assess the intersection of carbon dioxide removal (CDR,) project siting, and environmental justice (EJ) in the U.S., providing essential data to inform future climate policy, investment, and project development.

Carbon Direct, in collaboration with Microsoft, today released a first-of-its-kind guide to high-quality environmental attribute certificates (EACs) in the concrete and steel sectors. These new quality criteria are designed to help Microsoft address greenhouse gas emissions from scope 3 activity with EACs that are verifiable, additional, and catalytic. The criteria are also relevant to other organizations who seek to mitigate supply chain emissions from the embodied carbon of commodity materials used in both equipment and building construction.

Carbon Direct has appointed Rory Jacobson as Head of Policy, bringing onboard a respected leader who most recently directed the Carbon Dioxide Removal program at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. Jacobson returns to Carbon Direct with deep expertise in carbon policy implementation and a proven track record of launching pioneering federal initiatives.

Carbon Direct has released its inaugural quarterly industry insights report, The Navigator, which includes distilled policy, science, and market insights across climate and carbon markets. This April 2025 issue covers the evolving landscape of climate policy under President Trump’s second term, including state-level resilience, evolving carbon market standards, and scientific advances in carbon management technologies and debates.

Carbon Direct, in collaboration with Microsoft, today announced the release of new criteria for high-quality marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), setting a higher standard for social impact, monitoring, durability, and environmental integrity in the rapidly evolving mCDR space.

According to a report released today by Carbon Direct, the voluntary carbon market is at a key inflection point: carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is growing rapidly, however it still only represents 4% of available carbon credits in today's US$1 billion market. Carbon Direct’s analysis found that while there is oversupply in the broader market, demand for high-quality CDR is outstripping the supply for these credits. At the same time, the majority of forward CDR offtakes in 2024 came from a very small cohort of first movers.

Carbon Direct today announced that it was named as a strategic adviser to 1PointFive for its South Texas DAC Hub application, which was recently awarded a Phase 2 grant under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded Regional Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hubs program. Carbon Direct was selected by 1PointFive to provide community benefits planning, life cycle assessments, and stakeholder engagement for the South Texas project.

Carbon Direct, in collaboration with Microsoft, today announced the release of the 2024 edition of the Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal. The 2024 edition advances the work done by Carbon Direct and Microsoft since the inaugural Criteria were introduced in 2021 to address the quality challenges in the voluntary carbon market through the development of rigorous, science-based standards for carbon dioxide removal projects. The Criteria are designed to provide carbon removal project developers with regularly updated guidance to ensure project quality, and to offer buyers of carbon removal credits a starting point for evaluating the quality of their carbon credits portfolios.

Carbon Direct today released the 2024 State of Corporate Climate Commitment report. Compiled in collaboration with Wakefield Research, the report highlights how companies are prioritizing climate action, and the steps they are taking to reduce their impact. Fifty percent of professionals surveyed said their companies had already taken action around climate change, and another 46% said their company planned to. This leaves only 4% of companies without a plan for climate action.

Carbon Direct has published a new report, “Opportunities for Ecological Restoration in the Voluntary Carbon Market.” The report, written in collaboration with Meta, explores barriers for ecological restoration projects on the voluntary carbon market and provides a roadmap for how buyers in the carbon market can support both climate change mitigation and biodiversity. Carbon Direct and Meta will discuss the findings of the report in a special breakfast briefing at Carbon Unbound in New York on May 23, 2024. To learn more, visit: www.carbon-direct.com/events/carbon-unbound-east-coast

Carbon Direct, a company built to help enterprises drive climate action, today announced that it served as a strategic advisor to two of the initial selections for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded Regional Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hubs program. Carbon Direct was selected by 1PointFive to provide community benefits planning, life cycle assessments, and stakeholder engagement, and by CarbonCapture Inc. to provide go-to-market strategies and life cycle assessments in support of these federally-funded projects.

Carbon Direct, in collaboration with Microsoft, today announced the release of the 2023 edition of the Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal. The 2023 edition advances the work done by Carbon Direct and Microsoft since the inaugural Criteria were introduced in 2021 to address the quality challenges in the voluntary carbon market through the development of rigorous, science-based standards for carbon dioxide removal projects. The Criteria are designed to provide carbon removal project developers with regularly updated guidance to ensure project quality, and to offer buyers of carbon removal credits a starting point for evaluating the quality of their carbon credits portfolios.

Carbon Direct, a company built to help enterprises drive climate action, today announced the Carbon Direct Platform, designed to provide organizations of any size with the information, strategies, and resources they need to set and equitably deliver on their climate commitments. The Carbon Direct Platform provides auditable carbon footprints, actionable strategies for emission reductions, and high-quality carbon removal portfolios that help companies make climate impact.