Northern Trust has announced a major advancement in the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) with the introduction of near real-time digital voluntary carbon credit generation on The Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem.
The new capability is designed to streamline and automate the creation of verified carbon credits, addressing inefficiencies in measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) processes that have traditionally been manual and resource-intensive. By working with project developers and data collection providers, Northern Trust has created a system that records verified carbon credits in near real-time, ensuring accuracy and transparency.
Each digital carbon credit generated on the platform includes detailed data attributes such as carbon dioxide capture flow rates, power consumption during capture, and key verification parameters including the time and location of carbon sequestration.
Justin Chapman, Global Head of Digital Assets and Financial Markets at Northern Trust, highlighted the impact of this innovation on the VCM. “Despite some automation and digitisation in the VCM over the last few years, the measurement, reporting, and verification of carbon credits have remained a manual, time-intensive process. This additional capability of The Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem enhances our ability to provide a fully digital lifecycle management solution for voluntary carbon credits. Recording verified credits in near real-time supports project developers in accelerating commercial opportunities for their projects.”
Northern Trust has partnered with several data collection providers and carbon project developers to implement this enhanced system, including InceptionX, which uses IoT devices, machine learning, and real-time data collection to quantify and validate carbon assets. The company recently transmitted carbon data from a wastewater recycling plant in San Francisco to The Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem, facilitating the creation of digital carbon credits.
It has also partnered with Mangrove Systems, a provider of digital measurement, reporting, and verification (dMRV) solutions for carbon dioxide removal projects. The company has partnered with The Carbon Removers, a UK-based developer capturing and sequestering biogenic carbon. In Scotland, real-time carbon capture data from a whisky distillery is automatically collected, mapped against The Carbon Removers’ protocol, and submitted to Northern Trust to generate verified digital carbon credits.
Tom Dickie, CEO of InceptionX, described the collaboration as a breakthrough in speeding up the carbon credit process. “The Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem provides us with a set of solutions that allows us to securely create carbon credits in near real-time on behalf of our project developer clients, enabling them to transact those credits faster.”
Brandon Vlaar, CEO of Mangrove Systems, noted that the ecosystem improves carbon credit verification and traceability. “The Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem stores critical data parameters required for robust verification, enhancing transparency and reducing the time needed to register carbon credits.”
Sanjay Parekh, Chief Commercial Officer at The Carbon Removers, emphasised the importance of detailed carbon credit tracking.
“Having the capability to capture specific data — such as the date, location, and flow rate of each credit—ensures that buyers can see the full lifecycle of every carbon credit, providing complete transparency and traceability.”
Northern Trust formally launched The Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem in September 2024, facilitating the first live transactions on the platform. The system connects institutional buyers with climate-focused project developers, supporting efforts to avoid, reduce, or remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
