London-based firm backed by banks including NatWest, UBS, Standard Chartered plans to launch 'transparent and secure' carbon credit trading network in 2023
Carbonplace, a carbon credit transaction network backed by a host of leading banks, has raised $45m from investors in its latest funding round, as the firm gears up to launch its voluntary CO2 offset trading platform later this year.
The London-based business announced the latest capital injection earlier this week, confirming it will use the new funding to advance plans to provide "transparent, secure and accessible carbon markets" that can aid corporate climate action and net zero emissions targets.
Formerly known as Project Carbon, the firm was first established as a collaboration between several banking giants - NatWest Group, CIBC, Itaú Unibanco, and National Australia Bank - before rebranding last year to Carbonplace when UBS, Standard Chartered, and BNP Paribas joined the coalition of backers.
With another two banks, BBVA and SMBC, having also since joined as founding partners, Carbonplace now boasts nine major banks as its backers, which together account for almost $9tr in assets worldwide.
All nine backs, each of which shares equal equity in the new company, participated in the latest $45m strategic investment round, according to Carbonplace, which this week formally launched as a standalone entity.
The company said it would leverage the new investment to scale up its platform and team to expand services to a wider client base of financial institutions and accelerate partnerships with additional carbon market participants, including registries and existing marketplaces around the world.
It was also announced this week that Scott Eaton has been appointed to lead Carbonplace as its new CEO, joining from capital markets fintech firm Nivaura.
"With Carbonplace, we are transforming the way that carbon credits are bought, distributed, held and retired," said Eaton. "I am excited to take this company to the next level of its evolution, and to help unlock its massive potential to drive significant economic and social value by opening the carbon markets up to the world."
Banks leading the initiative claim the platform will help to boost transparency by providing a book of record for the ownership of carbon credits, allowing owners of such credits to clearly demonstrate possession to the market, thereby reducing the risks of double counting and simplifying reporting processes.
The platform, for which the IT infrastructure is currently under development ahead of its launch later this year, also aims to provide full traceability and linkage back to the source of a carbon credit, according to the banks.
Robert Begbie, CEO at NatWest Capital Markets, said the new Carbonplace platform would create "an efficient and secure network for carbon credit transactions".
"According to McKinsey, global demand for voluntary carbon credits is likely to increase by a factor of 15 in the next seven years," he said. "To meet that demand, Carbonplace is delivering a reliable, secure and scalable technology that will form a crucial part of the infrastructure for carbon markets to drive climate action at scale."
* This article was originally published here
Comments
Post a Comment