How dMRV ensures precision, transparency, and trust in the carbon removal market

Introduction

As the demand for carbon removals grows, the need for reliable, transparent, and verifiable carbon credits is more critical than ever. 

Buyers aiming to support their net-zero goals must remember;not all carbon credits are created equal. The quality of credits varies significantly depending on the project type and methodology used to measure and verify carbon removal, especially with different carbon standards applying varying levels of scrutiny applied to projects.. Key factors such as permanence of the carbon stored and accuracy of the removal process can therefore differ widely between projects.

While ensuring the highest quality carbon credits is still a challenge, the emergence of new frameworks, such as the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF), marks a significant step toward a consistent, high quality of carbon removals across different standards and project types. Though not yet fully established, the CRCF aims to provide clear guidelines for ensuring high-quality verification, emphasizing the importance of monitoring, accuracy, and long-term carbon storage. Employing dMRV is a highly effective measure for projects to meet all these quality requirements already today.

What is a dMRV?

Digital Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (dMRV) is a system that ensures continuous and accurate monitoring of carbon removal projects. Unlike traditional MRV processes that rely on manual audits conducted periodically, dMRV provides real-time insights by aggregating data from multiple sources to create a clear and verifiable picture of carbon removal activities. A key function of dMRV is to calculate, using real-time data, the precise amount of carbon credits that can be issued, based on the verified carbon stored and emissions tracked. This ensures that the carbon credits accurately reflect the net carbon removal achieved by the project.

At its core, a high-quality dMRV system aggregates data from two critical areas:

1. Traceability to calculate real-time carbon storage: The system continuously monitors the amount of carbon stored, ensuring that it meets the required standards for long-term storage and optimal final use. This traceability ensures that the carbon sequestration process is reliable with an eligible  end product use.

2. Traceability of project emissions: The system also tracks the emissions generated throughout the project lifecycle, drawing data from IoT sensors, ERP systems, and other real-time monitoring tools. This allows for accurate tracking of the carbon flows and ensures the project’s net carbon impact is verified and transparent.

This robust data aggregation process ensures that carbon removals are accurately quantified and continuously verified. A key function of dMRV is to calculate, using real-time data, the precise amount of carbon credits that can be issued, based on the verified carbon stored and emissions tracked. The traceability provided by dMRV prevents issues like double counting or data manipulation, which are common risks in less sophisticated systems. For example, data in Excel documents can be easily altered, and identifying double counting of units can be challenging. In contrast, dMRV enables continuous monitoring of all data points, allowing inconsistencies to be detected quickly and flagged for correction. This real-time tracking ensures that any discrepancies are identified and resolved long before they might be caught in an annual audit, providing a higher level of transparency and reliability.

Moreover, dMRV enables standardized verification across various carbon crediting programs, ensuring that the system works seamlessly with platforms like Isometric, Puro.earth, and Carbon Standard International, among others.

Why is dMRV critical for carbon credit buyers?

For buyers looking to invest in high-quality carbon removal projects, a dMRV system is essential for ensuring that their carbon credits are credible, precise, and compliant with the latest standards. Here are four key reasons why integrating a dMRV solution is critical for carbon credit buyers:

1. Precision in carbon credit calculation

Buyers need confidence that the credits they purchase correspond exactly to the actual carbon removed. With dMRV, each ton of CO2 sequestered is precisely tracked in real time, ensuring that the carbon credits reflect the true net carbon removal achieved by the project. This prevents over-crediting and ensures that buyers are paying for verified, tangible environmental impact rather than inflated estimates.

2. Continuous monitoring for risk management

dMRV allows for ongoing surveillance of the project, ensuring that any changes in carbon removal performance or unforeseen issues (like temporary carbon reversals or operational inefficiencies) are detected immediately. This reduces the risk of buyers unknowingly purchasing credits from projects that fail to deliver long-term carbon storage, protecting their investment from potential losses and ensuring compliance with emerging carbon standards.

3. Data-driven transparency and trust

By integrating multiple real-time data sources, dMRV provides transparent and verifiable data trails for each phase of the carbon removal process—from initial sequestration to long-term storage. Buyers can access detailed reports that confirm the quality, reliability, and permanence of the credits they are acquiring. This data transparency is essential for avoiding future claims of greenwashing and maintaining stakeholder trust.

4. Alignment with carbon crediting standards

dMRV supports standardized verification processes across different carbon standards, including Isometric, Puro.earth, and Carbon Standard International. For buyers, this means that no matter which platform or methodology is used, the dMRV system ensures the consistent quality and credibility of the credits. It simplifies due diligence, making it easier for buyers to compare and invest in high-quality carbon removal projects that meet their compliance and sustainability goals.

Use case: Carbon Plus project in Malaysia

To showcase how CrystalTrade’s dMRV enhances carbon removal projects, let’s examine the Carbon Plus project in Malaysia. This groundbreaking initiative represents Malaysia’s first industrial-scale biochar-based carbon removal project, with plans to scale similar efforts across the region.

Project overview

The Carbon Plus project focuses on converting organic waste into biochar, a material that locks carbon away in the soil for hundreds to thousands of years, via gasification technology provided by Renewables Plus. This project not only targets significant carbon removal but also aims to make a positive social impact on the local community, while enhancing agricultural sustainability by improving soil health through the application of biochar in local soils. 

^{Carbon Plus biochar facility in Malaysia}

CrystalTrade’s role in enhancing operations

CrystalTrade’s dMRV system elevates the operational quality of Carbon Plus by:

• Ensuring real-time monitoring of biochar production and its integration into the soil, offering a detailed record of carbon removal efficiency.

• Providing complete traceability for each carbon credit, from the initial removal to its final storage, thus increasing trust in the project’s outcomes.

• Streamlining verification and compliance with international standards like Isometric and Puro.earth, ensuring that all carbon credits issued meet the highest level of certification.

Conclusion

As the carbon removal market continues to grow, ensuring the quality and credibility of carbon credits is more important than ever. Projects that lack real-time monitoring and transparent verification are increasingly at risk of greenwashing and misreporting. This is why adopting a dMRV system isn’t just a best practice—it’s essential for success in the evolving carbon market.

With CrystalTrade’s dMRV, both buyers and project developers can have confidence in their carbon credits. For buyers, this means investing in verified, high-quality carbon removals with real-time data, eliminating the risks of over-crediting or inaccurate reporting. For project developers, our system offers a seamless way to track, calculate, and optimize carbon removal, while ensuring compliance with the latest global standards.

Our expertise is already transforming projects like Carbon Plus in Malaysia, where we provide real-time traceability and the ability to monitor every ton of CO2 removed. The results speak for themselves—improved efficiency, monthly issuance of carbon credits, and full alignment with international certification bodies.

If you’re ready to take your carbon removal efforts to the next level, contact us today to discover how CrystalTrade’s dMRV can help you optimize your operations, generate reliable carbon credits, and build trust in the market. Don’t settle for outdated methods—embrace the future of precise and transparent carbon removal.