Isometric recently certified a protocol for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) via reforestation. This protocol brings Isometric’s scientific rigor and tech-enabled transparency to the reforestation industry. Now, buyers have a registry option that’s fast, easy to work with and incorporates the latest approaches to monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV).
Scaling CDR requires issuing scientifically rigorous carbon removal credits that people can trust. This necessitates a focus on “ex post” removals, meaning issuing credits for CDR that has actually happened—not for future hypothetical scenarios or emissions avoidance. This is what we’ve focused on building at Isometric. So far, we’ve brought this approach to ten CDR pathways, including direct air capture, enhanced weathering, biomass carbon capture and storage and more. But this isn't enough.
High quality, trustworthy credits are needed in as many carbon removal pathways as possible if we’re going to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Trees are one of the most energy efficient forms of carbon removal and we need more of them to meet our climate goals. This is why reforestation is playing a key role in the CDR market today.
Many CDR buyers take a portfolio approach, purchasing reforestation credits that remove carbon (but store it over a shorter time frame), as well as investing in longer duration CDR, like direct air capture. For some time, our Fortune 100 customers have told us that they want Isometric to bring its approach to verifying carbon removal to the whole range of pathways that make up their portfolio of credits.
The protocol offers three key innovations that solve long-standing issues in forestry based carbon removal.
Tech-first quantification
As trees grow, they sequester carbon which needs to be measured. Historically, this has been done manually, but it’s now possible to do this faster—with more accurate results—by incorporating remote sensing tools like Geographic Information System (GIS) data, drones with LiDAR capabilities and peer-reviewed Machine Learning models.
Technology for this type of data collection and analysis has advanced dramatically in the last few years, but is still not permitted by other registries. Most protocols on the market require outdated measurement techniques and have failed to incorporate modern technology.
Automating these data flows (and the evaluation of data) drastically reduces the time from submission of carbon accounting data to crediting. Moving from manual data entry in spreadsheets to an automated, machine learning approach is a key step in modernizing reforestation.
The use of these digital technologies for MRV makes the quantification process cheaper and more accurate—while also speeding up verification and credit issuance. Suppliers that work with Isometric won’t be waiting a year after measurement to issue (and get paid for) credits. Verification will be completed in weeks, so suppliers can get paid faster and reduce their cost of capital.
In addition to helping suppliers, this also gives buyers the flexibility of timely and accurate assessments of the total carbon removal through reforestation, according to their deal terms, not arbitrary periods that can be up to five years long.
Perhaps most importantly, these technologies enable more accurate assessment of the risks inherent to reforestation projects, such as community support, financial viability and natural disturbances. Isometric's innovative buffer pool approach dynamically adjusts buffer pool contributions to reflect a project’s unique reversal risk profile, rather than simply applying a flat, somewhat arbitrary contribution amount. For example, a project with lower risk of wildfire will have to contribute less to a buffer pool than a project with a higher risk profile. Linking buffer pool contributions to specific risk factors in this way incentivizes project developers to select more favourable project sites and to develop and implement risk mitigation measures.
With these changes, Isometric's protocol incorporates the latest technological advances to monitoring, reporting and verification in reforestation.
Use of dynamic baselines
Most reforestation protocols use a static baseline model, meaning that control parameters are set every ten years. This projected baseline typically includes unreliable assumptions, drawn from historical data, creating ambiguity and inefficiency.
The Isometric protocol uses dynamic baselining, incorporating multiple control plots so that comparisons with project sites can be done more frequently. This delivers more regular data on net carbon removals, reducing uncertainty for projects and creating a more accurate assessment of additionality in reforestation projects.
Suppliers can now use Isometric’s baseline calculations to save time, reduce costs and free up operational resources.
Approaches to leakage and life cycle assessment
Leakage occurs when a project affects business-as-usual behaviors outside of a project. For example, when a CDR project uses waste, this could incentivize more waste production because that product now has value. This means the project could be responsible for increased emissions, even though those emissions happen outside of the project. These emissions need to be taken into account when calculating a project’s total carbon removal. Leakage can come from market changes, movement of people or products and ecological changes. It is a significant risk and a complex problem.
Default leakage factors and discounts are common ways of mitigating the potential for market leakage in reforestation projects. Existing solutions like global default factors don’t take into account regional variation and are often confusing and time consuming for suppliers. They also leave room for manipulation when it comes to crediting.
Isometric’s protocol uses more accurate leakage parameters that are informed by region and commodity types present in the project area. While these parameters are stronger than what is in traditional protocols, they are still flexible enough to allow for scientifically sound deviations from defaults.
Isometric’s protocol is also the first to require a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that accounts for all greenhouse gas emissions of a project. This means emissions are accounted for, whether the project is being developed, in full operation or reaching end of life.
These three innovations mean buyers can be confident that their reforestation purchases will drive real, verifiable climate impact.
This protocol was created in collaboration between Isometric’s in-house Science Team as well as external consultants from academia. The protocol was reviewed by industry leaders in the reforestation market: project developers such as Mombak and Arbonics; technology providers such as Pachama; carbon data platforms such as Sylvera and Renoster; and Isometric's 300-member Science Network.
Isometric worked with these reforestation leaders to ensure the protocol reflects the best available science, offers flexibility for the operational variety of suppliers and includes the innovative technology solutions available in MRV. These MRV solutions create a standardized and efficient way for suppliers and verifiers to provide all required data and evidence to ensure fast verifications and credit issuances on the Isometric Registry.
Diego Saez Gil, Co-founder & CEO of Pachama, welcomed the protocol:
Innovative registries like Isometric are key to verifying carbon removal from reforestation. This new protocol brings a faster, more accurate way of verification by embracing DMRV from inception. At Pachama, we know that technologies like AI and satellite data can make a huge difference to scaling carbon removal with integrity, so we’re pleased to work with a registry that is incorporating these critical tools in their protocol at a crucial time of the market.
Dan Harburg, Chief Technology Officer at Mombak, said this about the protocol:
As we build carbon removal projects to reforest the Amazon, we recognize that transparency and rigor in monitoring, reporting, and verification are critical to ensuring trust in the credits we generate. This new protocol from Isometric represents a big step forward by enhancing transparency, making it easier for buyers to have confidence in the data behind each removal. We’re excited to see this protocol released, as it will help bring more trust and clarity to the market, which is essential for scaling impactful reforestation efforts around the globe.
Credits issued under the protocol will have a minimum durability of 40 years. Durability will be determined by the ongoing monitoring period of the project. Monitoring will be performed by Isometric, not suppliers (as is the case in existing protocols). This gives buyers another level of protection that aligns with Isometric’s overall approach to working for buyers.
Scaling carbon removal—responsibly and fast—is key to combating climate change. This protocol raises the bar for quality and trust in reforestation by embedding Isometric’s innovative, technology-first approach in the core of Isometric’s reforestation credits.
