Climate Action Data Trust

Quantedge Advancement Initiative is supporting the Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust), an open-source metadata platform that links, aggregates and harmonises carbon credit data to address data fragmentation and foster integrity and confidence in carbon markets.

An effective and well-functioning global carbon market requires the credible and accurate accounting of emissions reduction and removal. However, carbon credit data is currently scattered across different national, subnational, and independent registries in various formats. The fragmentation of data hinders the accurate tracking of global emissions reduction and removal, and the visibility of carbon market activity. This can erode investors’ trust in carbon credits, and in turn constrain the scaling of climate finance that is needed to achieve greater global emissions reduction and removal.

Founded by the World Bank, International Emissions Trading Association, and the Government of Singapore, CAD Trust seeks to address this challenge through its decentralised, blockchain-based digital infrastructure that: (i) links, aggregates and harmonises carbon credit information held across different carbon registries, (ii) standardises information on carbon credits along a common data model, and (iii) provides a robust and collaborative governance model allowing for co-creation of public goods for the carbon market. The platform will enhance free access to carbon credit data, help safeguard against double-counting of emission activities, and help operationalise new international carbon market mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. In so doing, CAD Trust aims to build further confidence in the carbon markets as a tool to encourage greater investment in emissions reduction and removal activities.
 
In the coming years, CAD Trust will:
  1. Increase data coverage and platform adoption by onboarding carbon registries and forming strategic partnerships with key market stakeholders;
  2. Enhance product offerings through conducting research, developing new tools and advancing the technology of its data platform; 
  3. Support global carbon market data and infrastructure harmonisation efforts and capacity building among various stakeholders; and
  4. Strengthen operational capacity to achieve long-term sustainability of its work.

Through our support for CAD Trust, Quantedge Advancement Initiative seeks to catalyse climate change action by fostering the growth of a public good that can accelerate and scale funding of climate mitigation activities around the world.
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