Market roles in Environmental Credit Service (preview)

Article
01/17/2024

Important

Some or all of this functionality is available as part of a preview release. The content and the functionality are subject to change. You can access the Environmental Credit Service (preview) sandbox environment for a 30-day trial. To use Environmental Credit Service (preview) in a production environment, complete the Environmental Credit Service (preview) sign up form.

Each organization using Environmental Credit Service (preview) can have one or more market roles. For example, if an organization operates as a buyer, it has one market role. If another organization operates as both an issuing registry and a marketplace, it has two market roles.

Environmental Credit Service (preview) is currently available for the following roles of the voluntary ecological market:

Buyer
Issuing registry
Marketplace
Supplier
Validation and verification body

For information about supported roles, go to Role-based access control in Environmental Credit Service.

Buyer

A buyer is an individual or organization that purchases verified credits issued by an issuing registry. Often, this role is a corporate buyer using credits as offsets for unavoidable emissions to meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, but could evolve into speculative or institutional buyers.

A buyer can do the following tasks in Environmental Credit Service (preview):

Category	Task
Search credits for purchase	Set preferences based on credit properties such as durability or method
	Based on preferences, view credits available for purchase across marketplaces
	View the lineage of a credit
	Transfer credits
Retire owned carbon credits	Select an owned credit for retirement
	Specify the milestone for which excess emissions must be offset (optional)
	Submit credit retirement proposals for approval by the issuing registry
Credit splitting	Select an owned credit
	Split a credit by specifying the quantities in mtCO2e for at least two child credits

Issuing registry

A issuing registry is an organization that establishes science-based standards for measuring, reporting, and verifying ecological benefit claims. They also issue value in the form of credit for claims that meet the standard set.

An issuing registry can do the following tasks in Environmental Credit Service (preview):

Category	Task
Project registration	Review modular benefit project registration proposals
	Approve proposals for project registration on the registry
	Reject proposals for projects that can't be registered on the registry
	View registered projects
Credit issuance	Review credit issuance proposals submitted by verifiers
	Approve proposals for which the registry is aligned to issue credits
	Reject proposals for which the registry isn't aligned to issue credits
Credit lineage	Choose the issued credit
	View the lineage of a credit
Credit retirement	Review retirement proposals submitted for issued credits
	Approve proposals for cases where the registry is aligned to retire a credit
	Reject proposals for cases where the registry isn't aligned to retire a credit

Marketplace

A marketplace is an organization that provides trading infrastructure to match buyers and sellers together and include services like settlement, clearing, and risk management. Suppliers can list their credits on the marketplace and buyers can trade directly or via a broker on the marketplace.

A marketplace organization can act on behalf of another organization by using the omnibus capabilities available in Environmental Credit Service (preview). A marketplace organization acting as an omnibus will also have the buyer role to perform functions on behalf of a buyer. For more information about these capabilities, go to Act as an omnibus in Environmental Credit Service (preview).

A marketplace can do the following tasks in Environmental Credit Service (preview):

Category	Task
Trader registration	Review trader registration proposals
	Approve proposals for cases where the marketplace is registering the trader on their platform
	Reject proposals for cases where the marketplace isn't going ahead with registering the trader on their platform
Credit listing and delisting	Review listing proposals submitted by registered traders
	Approve proposals in cases where the marketplace is listing the credit on their platform
	Reject proposals in cases where the marketplace isn't listing the credit on their platform
	Review delisting proposals submitted for listed credits
	Approve delisting proposals in cases where the marketplace is delisting the credit on their platform
	Reject delisting proposals in cases where the marketplace can't delist the credit from their platform
Credit lineage	Select a listed credit and view the credit lineage
Credit splitting	Select a listed credit
	Split a credit by specifying the quantities in mtCO2e for at least two child credits
Ownership transfer	Select a listed credit that was purchased by a buyer and must have the ownership changed
	Submit a transfer ownership proposal for a credit, including the buyer details
Listing transfer	Create and submit a listing transfer proposal for a listed credit
	Approve a transfer proposal to list a credit on the platform (marketplace approver)
	Reject a transfer proposal and decline the listing of the credit the platform (marketplace approver)

Supplier

A supplier performs the actions in an ecological project for creating the asset value, such as carbon offsets, for use in the voluntary market and becomes the initial owner of the ecological benefit value generated. There can be multiple parties that are a part of the supplier role:

Owner: Organization or individual that owns the assets used in the activity that is the source of the benefit claims. For an ecological project, an owner might be a farmer.
Sponsor: Organization or individual that finances the activities generating the benefit claims, such as a bank or investment fund.
Developer: Organization or individual that constructs or develops techniques or technologies used in the activities that generate the benefit claims, such as a direct air capture device manufacturer.

A supplier can do the following tasks in Environmental Credit Service (preview):

Category	Task
Project registration	Create an ecological project
	Create modular benefit projects for the ecological project
	Submit modular benefit projects for registration on the registry
Claim processing and credit issuance	Create claims for a registered modular benefit project
	Submit claims for verification by a validation and verification body
Credit listing and delisting	Submit a proposal to register as a trader on a marketplace
	Submit a proposal to list an owned credit on a marketplace
	Submit a proposal to delist an owned credit currently listed on a marketplace
Credit lineage	Select a carbon credit that you own and view the top-down lineage
Credit splitting	Select a carbon credit that you own and split a credit

Validation and verification body

A validation and verification body is an organization that is authorized by an issuing registry to validate and verify MRV claims issued by a project. |

A validation and verification body can do the following tasks in Environmental Credit Service (preview):

Category	Task
Claim processing and credit issuance	View submitted verification proposals
	Accept a proposal for verification
	Complete a verification and approve a proposal to create a corresponding credit issuance recommendation for the issuing registry to review
	Reject a proposal for cases where verification isn't successful