“Market coordination is a sign of market maturation. CDOP's growth to more than 75 member organizations, and its expansion from four data categories to eleven spanning the full credit lifecycle, marks exactly that shift for carbon markets. Every organization that adopts this schema is voting, in practice rather than in principle, for a market where data is comparable, reliable, and no longer a barrier to institutional participation. That is the foundation a mature asset class is built on, and CDOP's second year shows the market building it together.”

–  Chris Canavan, CEO, Global Carbon Market Utility 

• 37 organizations including Isometric, Verra, South Pole, and Kita commit to continue supporting the adoption and development of the Carbon Data Open Protocol (CDOP) Version 1.0 

• Open-source data schema for project location, details & approach addresses carbon market fragmentation

• Developed in alignment with, and building upon, other data standardization initiatives, including the G20-led Common Carbon Credit Data Model (CCCDM), the CAD Trust, and the UNFCCC (relating to Article 6)

Co-Chairs GCMU, Sylvera, RMI and S&P Global Commodity Insights invite experts to advance transparency in carbon markets and collaborate on Carbon Data Open Protocol

Lack of Standardization Fragments Market & Impedes Markets’ Potential as Driver of Climate Action

LONDON, NEW YORK, SINGAPORE (March 18, 2025) – A group of 30 leading businesses, nonprofits and public sector organizations have joined forces to help facilitate and scale carbon markets by launching an open, multi-stakeholder initiative to develop a protocol that harmonizes the definitions and rules that standardize data describing carbon crediting projects and carbon credits across markets, geographies and activity types.    

Today, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), the Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU), and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) announced they will be co-hosting Accelerating Climate Action: Delivering High-Integrity Carbon Markets, an event on September 25 in New York during Climate Week focused on showcasing the reforms and actions necessary to increase the impact of voluntary carbon markets.

The Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU), a public utility designed to provide the necessary infrastructure for a trustworthy carbon market, today joined others to applaud the United States Government's release of new principles endorsing the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as a crucial mechanism for accelerating global decarbonization.