Carbon accounting and offsets (2024)

1. Going vertical

   Back in 2022, the carbon accounting players that popped up were offering to measure the emissions of any old business. Now, startups are increasingly focusing on specific sectors, promising tailored measurements.

   There are companies focused on industries like food and fashion, which have significant supply chain emissions that need measuring. There are others honing in on everything from financial services to real estate, too.

2. M&A watch

   Like any buzzy market, we’re also starting to see consolidation in the carbon accounting space. One of the most high profile tie ups involved Planetly, a Berlin-based carbon accounting company that was bought by American software compliance company OneTrust. Planetly — founded in 2019 — was seen as an early poster child of the recent carbon accounting cohort but, a year after OneTrust’s acquisition, all of Planetly’s staff were laid off and the company shut down.

   We’re also seeing corporates acquire startups. Carbon Intelligence, a London-based platform was bought by Accenture in 2022. Globally, another interesting acquisition was Nasdaq’s buy up of Metrio, a Canadian carbon accounting company that the exchange bought last year. Nasdaq said it will integrate Metrio into its existing suite of ESG tools.

3. Offsets turn to removals

   Carbon credit marketplaces are increasingly turning away from offsets that avoid carbon entering the atmosphere, and towards ‘removals’, which actively remove carbon from the atmosphere.

   That can be done either through tech-heavy methods like direct air capture, or through things like biochar and enhanced rock weathering. We’re seeing marketplaces pop up that solely offer removals.

   For the companies that provide verification data and those that run credit registries, we’re seeing more protocols pop up that aim to certify credits based on removals too.

Who early stage startups are up against