How each credit stays sound
Each inset credit stands for one verified tonne of CO₂e reduced inside a supply chain. Independent bodies validate the project and verify the reduction. Carbon3 records who holds each credit, so each tonne is claimed only once.
What an inset credit represents
An inset credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) that a specific project has reduced or removed inside a value chain, at a supplier the funding companies buy from. The tonne is measured against a validated baseline and confirmed in an independent verification report before the credit is issued.
- It is tied to one project activity, one monitoring period and one system boundary, for example one vessel on one route or one kiln at one plant. The project documents, validation report and verification report stay attached to it.
- Before it is retired it can be held, allocated between co-funders or transferred to another company. Each transfer is recorded, and a credit is moved, never copied. Once retired, it can never move again.
- Whether it supports a Scope 3 claim depends on the company that retires it and the rules it reports under. A reduction at that company’s own supplier sits inside its value chain. A reduction elsewhere in its industry does not, and it is reported differently.
- Serial
- C3-EX-000001
- Quantity
- 1 tCO₂e
- Category
- Realized emission reduction
- Project
- Supplier process heat upgrade
- Activity
- Electrified heat at a supplier plant
- Period
- Calendar year 2025
- Boundary
- The supplier’s own plant
- Issued to
- Project developer
- Held by
- One holder at a time
Who does what
Four separate parties take part in every credit. Carbon3 is only one of them, and it never checks its own work.
Project developer
It is usually the supplier. It scopes the project with its co-funders, makes the change, collects the monitoring data and keeps the evidence. Credits, realized or future, are issued to it in its own name on the Carbon3 registry.
Independent validator
Before the project starts, it reviews the scope, baseline and method, and writes the validation report. It is never Carbon3.
Independent verifier
After monitoring, it checks the data against the baseline and confirms the tonnes reduced in a verification report. It is never Carbon3.
Carbon3
It runs the registry. It records the credits issued to the project developer, tracks every allocation and transfer, and records retirement. It never issues credits, and it does not validate, verify or hold funds.
From scoping to retirement
There are seven steps, and each one leaves a record an auditor can check.
Realized and future credits
Future credits let a project raise finance before the reduction happens. When credits are issued to the project developer, the developer must state whether the reduction has already happened. Realized credits follow the verification report. Future credits can be issued earlier, once the project is validated, so funders can buy them to finance implementation. The category is shown on every credit, so a buyer always knows which one it holds.
Realized emission reduction
Reduction already happened
The reduction has already happened and has been measured for a past monitoring period. The tonne exists, so the buyer takes no delivery risk.
Future emission reduction
Reduction still ahead
The reduction is planned for a coming period. Buying one is co-investing in the project before it delivers, so the buyer carries the risk that the tonnes fall short.
Future credits are typically priced lower than realized ones, to reflect that delivery risk.
How the registry guards against double counting
One emissions reduction is often funded by several companies. That is the point of co-funding, but it also creates a risk that two funders each claim the same tonne. The registry prevents this by giving every tonne one credit, and every credit one holder at a time.
- Each credit has its own identifier and one holder at a time.
- Transfers and splits move credits from one holder to another. They never copy them.
- Only the current holder can sell or retire a credit. A retired credit can never move or be retired again.
- Every credit stays linked to its project, its issuer and its verification report, through every split and transfer.
One holding of 1,000 credits, split in a single step
Each tonne ends up with exactly one holder.
How Carbon3 maps to the standards
Each row covers one standard. “Pending” means the mapping is not yet confirmed.
| Standard | Covers | Status | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard | Value-chain accounting | Aligned with | Scope 3 attribution. Records follow the strictest reading while the revision is open. |
| SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 | Corporate targets | Aligned with | Treats book and claim as interim, below direct action. Carbon3 says the same. |
| ISO 14064-2 and 14064-3 | Project quantification and verification | Applied by the verifier | The verifier applies the method that fits the project. |
| ISO 14083 | Transport-chain emissions | Pending | Mapping not yet confirmed. |
| Book-and-claim schemes (ISCC, RSB) | Chain of custody for fuels | Builds on | Adds sharing between funders, trading and one claim per tonne. |
| Registry rules | Double counting | Built in | One identifier and one holder per credit. Retirement is final. |
| EU Directive 2024/825 | Green claims | Respects | No product-neutrality claims from credits. |
| IFRS S2, TCFD and CSRD | Disclosure | Designed for | Records built for disclosure-grade traceability. |
Carbon3 is not a verifier or a standards body. A methodology PDF is not yet published.
What Carbon3 does not do
- Validate or verify projects, which independent bodies do.
- Issue credits. Credits are issued to the project developer after independent verification, and Carbon3 records them in its registry.
- Hold funds or process payments. Buyers and sellers settle payment directly.
- Guarantee that an auditor or regulator accepts a claim.
- Offsets from projects outside the supply chain.
- EU ETS allowances or other compliance units.
- A replacement for a company’s own emissions reductions, or a basis for “carbon neutral” product claims.
What is still open
Some of the rules that govern supply-chain claims are not settled yet. Carbon3 builds to the strictest reading and lists what is still open.
Buyer claims under the GHG Protocol
This is not yet settled, and a revised standard is expected in 2028. Carbon3 builds to the strictest reading.
Recognition of third-party programs
SBTi has not yet published how it will recognize third-party programs for market instruments, so Carbon3 claims no recognition.
Additionality for market instruments
How additionality should be tested for market instruments used toward targets is not yet defined. Each project’s validator applies the test its methodology sets.
Classification by integrity bodies
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) have not yet classified inset credits.
Transfers bounded by the supply chain
It is proposed that credits move only between companies in the same supply chain. This is not yet enforced on the platform.
Questions about how a project gets verified?
Tell us the sector, location and project type, and we will explain which steps and records would apply.