Spotted: Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) are where carbon credits are purchased, usually by organisations, for voluntary use rather than to comply with legally binding emissions reduction obligations. VCMs are growing, driven in part by demand from businesses looking to ‘offset’ their emissions. The marketplace is expected to be worth upwards of $50 billion (around €47 billion) by 2030. Yet, it also suffers from a lack of transparency. 

Startup Reforestum aims to address this lack of trust and transparency with an artificial-intelligence-driven (AI) platform that helps individuals and organisations know exactly where their offset funding is going. For businesses, Reforestum has recently introduced two new products – the ‘VCM Navigator’, which provides market intelligence and other information to see and understand VCMs, and the ‘Portfolio Manager’, a tool that helps companies more easily manage their offsetting projects in line with best practices. 

Reforestum also offers tools to help individuals offset their carbon footprint by contributing to community afforestation projects. Both the business and individual products use AI to track and manage projects and carbon offsets, allowing anyone to access up-to-date information on projects from the main VCM registries. 

Alban Bressand, CRO and co-founder at Reforestum explains: “There have undoubtedly been great breakthroughs in recent years to infuse more integrity in the market. However, there is a prevailing distrust that puts funding for immediate climate action dangerously at risk. 

This company is not the first to realise that the lack of transparency in carbon markets is causing many to shy away from using them. Springwise has spotted a number of approaches taken to tackle this issue. These include using lasers to gather more accurate information on the ground, and a platform that helps local communities develop sequestration projects.

Written By: Lisa Magloff