In recent times, the carbon removal market has had significant tailwinds. The US Department of Energy recently committed $3.7 billion towards the carbon removal industry, and the UK Emissions Trading Scheme will be amended to include engineered carbon removal activities, subject to consultation and a robust MRV (monitoring, reporting, and verification) framework.
This need for robust MRV is where Isometric, a London-headquartered, a carbon removal registry and science platform, comes into the picture. While the urgency of the climate crisis makes it increasingly clear that the carbon removal industry must grow from kilotonnes per year today to gigatonnes in the coming years. Isometric ensures the carbon removal industry scales responsibly and fast.
Closes $25M funding
In a recent development, Isometric has raised a $25 million seed round, led by Lowercarbon Capital (which backed Noya and Uncommon), and Plural. This is one of the largest-ever seed financing rounds for a climate software company.
The company will use the funding to hire more scientists and engineers to continue building out its public registry for verified credits, the first carbon registry to list only high-quality long-duration carbon removal credits.
Eamon Jubbawy, founder and CEO at Isometric, said: “There are two non-negotiable challenges for the human race over the coming decades: first, decarbonise our economy; second, scale carbon removal. I decided to build Isometric as the critical missing piece of infrastructure required to scale carbon removal. I knew it would only be feasible to tackle this difficult and important problem with the backing of trustworthy, long-term financing partners who think in terms of decades, not months or years. So I’m happy that Lowercarbon and Plural have put their faith in me. We have a tough journey ahead of us and it was crucial for me to pick partners that were 100 percent aligned with my vision.”
Khaled Helioui, who led the investment round at Plural, said: “Bringing trust to carbon dioxide removal is fundamental to allow the kind of investments needed to avoid a climate catastrophe. Eamon is one of the most impressive founders of his generation. His experience building Onfido makes him uniquely equipped to steward the responsible and fast scale-up of carbon removal space. He has already built a stellar team whose talent & devotion are critical to solving the climate crisis we face.”
Launches world’s first science platform
In addition to the investment, Isometric is building the world’s first carbon registry to list only fully verified, delivered credits from long-duration carbon removal suppliers. This platform will be publicly accessible later this year. This platform helps suppliers, buyers and the academic community advance the field of carbon removal. The data on the platform is legible—and built on science. Its goal is to accelerate the development of rigorous protocols.
This new science platform is a precursor and complement to Isometric’s registry launching later this year, which is unique in its depth of information, including quantification of durability and uncertainty of removal. The registry will only surface credits for ex-post verified, delivered tonnes and will allow the public to review the evidence and calculations behind every credit.
Besides this, the firm is also building the world’s first carbon registry to list only fully verified, delivered credits from long-duration carbon removal suppliers.
What does Isometric do?
Founded in 2022 by Eamon Jubbawy, one of Europe’s leading technology entrepreneurs and the founder of AI company Onfido, Isometric is looking forward to bringing consistency to carbon removal MRV with a modular protocol framework that can be updated and customised as technology and science evolve. This will ensure all companies working to take carbon out of the atmosphere are equivalently compared, and make it simpler for customers to understand what they are buying when they purchase credits.
Isometric charges buyers (not suppliers), a single flat fee per offtake or purchase. The fee covers all the costs associated with developing protocols, verifying removals, and issuing credits. Isometric does not sell or broker the sale of carbon removal tonnes, thereby differentiating itself from traditional carbon registries.
