Financial services company Nasdaq and Finnish state-owned utility Fortum have joined forces to develop a trading platform for carbon removal credits, they said June 1.
Various forms of carbon trading have gained traction as tackling climate change has become urgent and industry is under pressure to cut or offset its emissions by buying into carbon reduction schemes, such as tree planting or emissions sequestration.
Backed by Fortum, Puro.earth was founded in 2019 and offers verifiable and tradable carbon removal credits on an open, online platform, with existing corporate clients including Microsoft, the companies said.
Puro.earth’s CO2 Removal Certificates (CORCs) are based on technologies for long-term carbon removal, such as storing carbon in a solid structures made from industrial waste.
This allows companies to reduce their carbon footprint, in some cases to less than zero.
Nasdaq is taking a majority stake in the Puro.earth platform for an undisclosed sum, they said.
“The partnership with Puro.earth will provide our global network of corporate clients access to a unique marketplace for carbon removal and will allow Puro.earth to scale its platform through the Nasdaq network and technology platform,” said Bjoern Sibbern, executive vice president and president of European markets at Nasdaq.
Puro.earth seeks to help its customers reach ambitious emissions goals, CEO Antti Vihavainen said.
Carbon offset credits are traded in small, bilateral and typically project-specific deals but exchanges are increasingly exploring opportunities to standardize trading.
Offsets are voluntary initiatives, differing from mandatory emission trading systems set up as policy tools to help cut emissions by putting a price on CO2 emissions. Here, participating companies are required to buy and render certificates for all or a share of their carbon dioxide emissions.
Recommended Reading
Qnergy Tackles Methane Venting Emissions
2024-03-13 - Pneumatic controllers, powered by natural gas, account for a large part of the oil and gas industry’s methane emissions. Compressed air can change that, experts say.
Women in Energy: Here’s to Ms. Flat-Bottomed Paper Bag Inventor
2024-03-10 - A salute to the women of genius, including ‘Ms. Plain English Computer Language Inventor’ and ‘Ms. Parity is Not Conserved in Weak Interaction Discoverer.’
Women in Energy: Diversify or Die
2024-03-08 - The oil and gas industry may be at risk of losing the innovation race if women remain sidelined.
Hart Energy’s Influential Women in Energy: A Woman of G.R.I.T.
2024-03-07 - When Lara Jones was at her lowest point, she developed a system to transform her fears into action. Now, her mission is to share what she learned.
MethaneSAT: EDF’s Eye in the Sky Targets E&P Emissions
2024-03-07 - The Environmental Defense Fund and Harvard University recently launched MethaneSAT, a satellite tracking methane emissions. The project’s primary target: oil and gas operators.