Carbon Data Open Protocol (CDOP) Coalition Unveils Open-Source Data Model at Climate Week NYC to Facilitate and Scale Carbon Markets

• 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)

NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at Climate Week NYC a growing coalition of carbon market participants announced the release of Version 1.0 of the Carbon Data Open Protocol (CDOP) structure to help facilitate and scale carbon markets by standardizing rules and definitions that describe carbon crediting projects and carbon credits across markets, geographies and activity types. The new structure provides a collaborative, cross-industry schema for project location, project details, and project approach.

Today's CDOP Version 1.0 structure, with its harmonized data schema, marks a critical breakthrough in addressing data fragmentation that has hindered the carbon market's development into a mature, investable asset class capable of mobilizing the capital needed for global climate action. It is the first result of the international coalition of leading businesses, nonprofits and public sector organizations that launched in mid-March of this year, co-chaired by The Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU), Sylvera, RMI, and S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Solving critical market fragmentation

Carbon credits are defined by complex attributes spanning project type, methodology, location, and vintage – variability that has resulted in dozens of incompatible data schemas across the market. This fragmentation results in inconsistent data quality, limited interoperability, and slows down the investment of crucial capital into the market. 

The CDOP Version 1.0 structure - starting with pre-issuance - provides standardized definitions for five foundational data categories: location; project details and approach; disclosures; and issuances, helping support technical alignment across registries, platforms, buyers, project developers, and institutional investors on these key data points where no or little common guidance had previously existed. Future iterations will cover the full lifecycle in terms of data categories, with the aim to bring in-depth technical guidance for implementing common data practices in various contexts.

"This is one of the most significant collaborative steps toward carbon market standardization we've seen to date," said Nikodem Lacki, Data as a Product Head, S&P Global Commodity Insights. "Establishing common data foundations across voluntary and compliance markets, removes structural barriers that have prevented institutional capital from flowing efficiently into climate solutions."

Built as a public good

CDOP Version 1.0 structure also marks a pivotal technical moment, where the CDOP's Technical Working Group analyzed and harmonized - according to the CDOP Principles - more than 15 distinct data schemas submitted by market participants, identifying over 1,600 unique data fields under location alone. The resulting standardized structure captures the full complexity of carbon credit attributes while maintaining simplicity for implementation and has already been tested with real data by multiple committee members.

Unlike proprietary data solutions, CDOP is designed as an open-source public good. The complete structure, supporting documentation, and CDOP Principles are freely available online, to ensure broad accessibility and continued evolution. This approach reflects the coalition's commitment to scaling carbon market integrity through basic infrastructure collaboration rather than competition.

"Carbon markets are too important to global climate goals to be hindered by data silos," said Allister Furey, CEO, Sylvera. "By open sourcing these standards, we're ensuring that innovation can build on a stable, shared foundation."

To access the data schema, technical specifications and documentation, follow this link.

Global alignment and coordination

CDOP is designed to complement and strengthen existing carbon data initiatives, creating a coherent ecosystem of standardization. Specifically, CDOP recognizes and welcomes such as:

• The G20-led Common Carbon Credit Data Model (CCCDM), as a common foundation on which market participants can build and innovate.
  • The G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group, the first multilateral policy forum to address carbon market data standardization – with its request that the Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC), as its Lead Knowledge Partner, build a CCCDM to serve as a common foundation for data standardization across the carbon credit life cycle, for voluntary use by the public and private sector.
  • Building on the CCCDM's fields, CDOP will progressively add layers of technical depth and rigor needed by sophisticated market participants – to ensure implementation readiness for registries, platforms, carbon credit rating agencies and institutional investors. Recognizing the need for data schema to evolve over time, over time, CDOP and CDSC will regularly engage to ensure ongoing alignment.
• The Climate Action Data (CAD) Trust's objectives of increasing transparency and accessibility in carbon markets. It aims to support its key role as a global public data infrastructure helping avoid double counting and support transparent accounting in line with the Paris Agreement. CDOP will embed its updated 2.0 schema into the first round of updates, providing a robust open-source baseline for global post-issuance data to support technical alignment. This is to increase data interoperability across systems and ultimately enable greater public access to standardized data and its use for increasing market integrity.

"Standardizing data in carbon credit markets is critical to scaling and unlocking their financing potential," said Alice Carr, Managing Director of the Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC) Secretariat. "We welcome CDOP's efforts to build on the Common Carbon Credit Data Model (CCCDM), developed in support of this year's G20 priorities, as a step toward greater technical alignment across the market."

How to get involved in CDOP Version 1.0

 CDOP invites market participants to begin adopting the Version 1.0 structure and contributing to its continued development, especially those involved in data-heavy workflows. CDOP is intended to be an iterative and collaborative initiative, in which the schema will update over time, and will evolve with the data underpinning its use. To adopt, please view CDOP's Version 1.0 structure, its data schema, adoption guidance and documentation here.

"This is just the beginning," said Chris Canavan, CEO at GCMU. "The real impact comes from widespread adoption. We invite every carbon market participant to join this movement toward transparent, efficient, and scalable climate finance infrastructure."

CDOP is supported by 54 leading organizations from the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. To find out more about CDOP and become a member, or submit your organization's data schema to be included, visit the CDOP website.

"Transforming global systems requires market infrastructure that works at scale," said Bonnie Lei, Principal, Climate Intelligence - Carbon Markets at RMI (founded as Rocky Mountain Institute). "CDOP represents exactly the kind of collaborative, market-driven solution needed to unlock capital flows for climate and clean energy projects worldwide. We're enabling the efficiency that the market transition demands."

SIGNATORIES:
AirCarbon Exchange
AlliedOffsets
Artio
BeZero Carbon
Biocare Projects Pty Ltd
BlueLayer Ltd
CarbonAI
Carbon HQ
CDR.fyi
Centigrade Inc.
Climate Impact X Pte. Ltd. (CIX)
Demia
EcoRegistry
Elimini
Equitable Earth
Evident
Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC)
GCMU
Herzog Law Firm
Infrablocks Technologies
Isometric
Kana Earth
Kita
Klimate.co
Offstream
oneshot.earth inc.
Plan Vivo
Puro.Earth
Remove
Resilient LLP
Revalue
RMI
S&P Global Commodity Insights
South Pole
SustainCERT S.A.
Sylvera
Verra

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Benjamin Carr (Sylvera), [email protected]
Monica Greco (GCMU), [email protected]
Chris Potter (RMI), [email protected]
Kathleen Tanzy (S&P Global Commodity Insights), [email protected] 

About CDOP
The Carbon Data Open Protocol (CDOP) is a cross-industry, multi-stakeholder collaboration to standardize data describing carbon crediting projects and carbon credits across markets, geographies, and activity types.

More than 50 leading organizations have collectively endorsed the CDOP Principles for data, disclosure, and protocol governance, and have committed to integrating or evaluating CDOP's standardized definitions for data on location, project details, and project approach into their own data models, as well as CDOP's future expanded data structure. Their commitments are a testament to the collective recognition that shared data standards and practices are critical for scaling market trust, efficiency, and liquidity. 

About Sylvera
Sylvera, a leading provider of carbon ratings, tools and data, is on a mission to incentivize investment in real climate action. Global corporations, financial institutions, and governments rely on Sylvera to develop and execute their carbon credit strategies, drive measurable progress toward net zero goals, and optimize returns on investment. Co-founded in 2020 by Dr. Allister Furey and Sam Gill, the company is headquartered in London with additional offices in Belgrade, New York, and Singapore. To date, Sylvera has raised over $96 million from investors such as Balderton Capital, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, LocalGlobe, and Salesforce Ventures. 

About GCMU
The Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU) is a public utility with a mission to transform the carbon market into a fully developed financial market. The GCMU serves as a central book of record, offering best-in-class financial market infrastructure and registry services. This infrastructure will enable financial intermediaries, like banks and insurance companies, to enter the market, provide project financing, and house risk for end-buyers. The GCMU was launched at COP27 in 2022. 

About RMI
RMI, founded as Rocky Mountain Institute, is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world's most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50% by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. 

About S&P Global Commodity Insights
At S&P Global Commodity Insights, our complete view of global energy and commodity markets enables our customers to make decisions with conviction and create long-term, sustainable value.  

We're a trusted connector that brings together thought leaders, market participants, governments, and regulators and we create solutions that lead to progress. Vital to navigating commodity markets, our coverage includes oil and gas, power, chemicals, metals, agriculture, shipping and energy transition. Platts^® products and services, including leading benchmark price assessments in the physical commodity markets, are offered through S&P Global Commodity Insights. S&P Global Commodity Insights maintains clear structural and operational separation between its price assessment activities and the other activities carried out by S&P Global Commodity Insights and the other business divisions of S&P Global.  

S&P Global Commodity Insights is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). S&P Global is the world's foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help many of the world's leading organizations navigate the economic landscape so they can plan for tomorrow, today. For more information visit https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights. 

SOURCE S&P Global Commodity Insights; RMI; The Global Carbon Market Utility; Sylvera