Monitoring, Reporting, & Verification: Issue Brief
The Carbon Business Council published an issue brief about Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification. The Carbon Business Council joins the sector-wide call for clear, high-quality, and independent monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) standards for carbon dioxide removal (CDR). MRV is the process of accounting for, communicating, and certifying a CDR project’s net carbon removal over time, including complete measurement of the project’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The full scope of MRV is a work in progress and is evolving to include a project’s non-GHG impacts on ecological and Earth systems. It has been said that MRV is the “product” delivered by CDR companies, and we agree. Without high-quality MRV, buyers of CDR credits cannot be confident that their purchase truly counterbalances corresponding hard-to-abate residual emissions in a net-zero target, and the CDR sector will not be able to build the trust necessary to scale deployment.
Currently, widely accepted and independent MRV standards for CDR are limited outside of carbon dioxide storage in underground Class VI wells in the United States. Actors across the CDR ecosystem can join forces and work together to develop coherent and internationally applicable criteria for high-quality MRV standards across the diverse range of CDR pathways. This will take time and require sustained investment from both the private and public sectors. MRV will be strongest when based on the best available science and when independently administered and updated— whether by governments, existing standards bodies, or a newly created, independent non-governmental organization. Critically, criteria for high-quality MRV standards must acknowledge and account for the varying levels of uncertainty inherent to the range of potential CDR pathways. MRV should foster innovation and continue to scale and advance the sector while building trust and affirming effectiveness. We invite you to dive into the issue brief for more information.
Thank you to our members for their input and time in making this brief happen, along with a variety of stakeholders who provided invaluable feedback. Toby Bryce and Grant Faber served as lead authors. Ben Rubin and Isabella Corpora of the Carbon Business Council are co-authors. Working group members include: Aaron Fitzgerald, Mars Materials; Alex Zhuk, Perennial; Anna Lehner, Carbonfuture; Ben Swainbank, Oceanid MRV; Berta Moya, Carbonfuture; Brad Rochlin, Running Tide; Christiaan Gevers Deynoot, South Pole; Frances Simpson-Allen, Ebb Carbon; Jonathan Monroe-Cook, Mars Materials; Josh Dorfman, Plantd; Kelly Erhart, Vesta; Laurel Mills; Living Carbon; Leonard Smith, Puro.earth; Lisa Braune, Neustark; Mark Cyffka, AirMyne; Matt Bright, CarbonCapture Inc; Maurice Bryson, Silicate; Max Chalfin, Running Tide; Meghan Kenny, CarbonCapture Inc; Michael Welch, EcoEngineers; Nikhil Neelakantan, Ocean Visions; Ning Zeng, Carbon Lockdown Project; Paul Young, Kita; Pete Chargin, Planetary; Richard Hatz, Puro.earth; Roxby Hartley, EcoEngineers; Sebastian Manhart, Carbonfuture; Tom Merriman, Kita.
Thank you to our partners for their helpful review, including Haley Leslie-Bole and Danielle Riedl of the World Resources Institute and the team at Carbon180.
The Carbon Business Council recently published issue briefs on the US Farm Bill and Carbon Removal and Defining CDR. You can follow us on Twitter (@CO2Council) and LinkedIn (Carbon Business Council) for updates on our work and subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest. Questions or comments? Let us know at info@carbonbusinesscouncil.org.
