Absolute Climate, a newly established independent quality assurance provider for the carbon removal sector, has partnered with Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) to improve the integrity and governance of carbon credit markets. The collaboration combines Absolute Climate’s third-party certification framework with Northern Trust’s regulated infrastructure for issuing and managing credits.
The partnership addresses a long-standing gap in voluntary carbon markets by separating the role of certification from that of credit issuance. Through Absolute Climate’s monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) platform, project developers can now record credits on the Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem™, a digital system launched in 2024 to enable developers and institutional buyers to explore, transact and retire credits with transparency.
Peter Minor, Chief Executive of Absolute Climate, said: “This is how carbon markets should work. Definitions of quality and governance standards should be developed independently from those issuing credits. By pairing our neutral, third-party certification framework with Northern Trust’s sophisticated market infrastructure, we’re building the kind of market architecture that allows buyers to trust credits and developers to operate with clarity.”
Absolute Climate’s certification system is registry-neutral, compatible with multiple platforms, and designed to support a wide range of carbon removal methods. It enables developers to create credible MRV plans aligned with rigorous methodologies and to produce the structured data required to meet regulatory-grade standards.
Northern Trust’s Carbon Ecosystem, launched in September 2024, automates the credit lifecycle from issuance to retirement, with the aim of strengthening market confidence.
Justin Chapman, Group Head of Strategic Partnerships, Digital Assets and Financial Markets at Northern Trust, said: “Working with governance providers who are looking to separate responsibilities in the carbon credit value chain supports further maturity of the voluntary carbon market.”
By combining science-based certification with institutional infrastructure, Absolute Climate and Northern Trust aim to create a more transparent, reliable and trusted system for carbon credit transactions, advancing the development of a more mature voluntary carbon market.
