BeZero Carbon Raises $32M to Expand Carbon Ratings

London-based carbon credit ratings startup BeZero Carbon has announced a successful Series C funding round, raising $32 million to bolster its global expansion and enhance its capabilities in the carbon market sector. The funding comes as the company seeks to scale its operations, diversify into new markets, and strengthen its position as a leading ratings agency for carbon markets.

Founded in 2020, BeZero Carbon provides carbon credit ratings, research, and data products, supported by a multidisciplinary team that comprises climate scientists, earth observation experts, data scientists, and financial analysts. The company has achieved rapid traction from customers in over 30 countries within six continents. Its ratings are available on more than 40 platforms, including Bloomberg, and serve high-profile clients such as UBS, Sumitomo, Emirates NBD, Equinor, Woodside Energy, and ERM. It offers ratings and scientific analysis of more than 480 carbon credit projects, indicating its position as a reliable source for determining the quality and credibility of carbon credits.

Impact in the carbon credit market BeZero Carbon has dramatically transformed the carbon credit market. At the beginning of 2022, the company launched its rating platform. Since then, the climate impact that a carbon project was supposed to have and its price had not been established yet. Now, for every rating notch on the company's 8-point rating scale, a carbon credit project scores a premium average of 40%. Such an influence this platform has placed on market perception and transparency has really been evident.

The newly secured funds will be used by BeZero Carbon to increase its ratings coverage into new markets, including domestic and sovereign compliance markets and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). This comes at a time when governments and international organizations such as CORSIA are increasingly keen on using carbon markets as one of the central strategies for achieving net-zero emissions. In increasing its breadth, BeZero is looking forward to offering credible, standardized ratings to an ever-widening set of carbon credit projects towards helping the low-carbon transition in the world's economy.

Beyond market reach, BeZero is also poised to invest highly in automation, thereby implementing artificial intelligence techniques to elevate data processing and analytics capabilities. The company will also continue to scale its team of climate and data scientists, ensuring the delivery of accurate, independent ratings and risk analytics on a larger scale. These efforts aim to address the growing demand for reliable carbon credit assessments, particularly as businesses and governments prioritize high-integrity carbon projects in their decarbonization strategies.

According to BeZero Carbon's co-founder and chief executive, Tommy Ricketts, the importance of the funding round cannot be emphasized enough, given the current state of the economy. "Achieving a Series C in today's climate is a huge vote of confidence in our brilliant team and independent carbon ratings. We wouldn't be where we are today without the support of our fantastic customers who now more than ever rely on our ratings.". This funding will enable us to continue the pace of innovation and further increase our coverage of ratings in compliance carbon markets," he said.

The round was led by GenZero, an investment platform owned by Temasek focused on decarbonization solutions. The round also included participation from the Japan Airlines and Translink Innovation Fund as well as from existing investors EDF Pulse Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Illuminate Financial, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Molten Ventures, Qima, and Quantum Innovation Fund. GenZero CEO Frederick Teo said that carbon ratings are fundamental to market integrity and transparency. "Carbon ratings play a pivotal role in ensuring integrity and transparency in carbon markets by providing independent, standardized assessments of quality. By working with data, internal scientific expertise, and methodological insights to analyze carbon projects, BeZero's work will foster greater confidence in carbon markets, and catalyze more capital and demand," he said.

Teo also noted the strategic importance of BeZero Carbon’s presence in Singapore, where GenZero is based, as the region works to establish a global carbon ecosystem. He expressed optimism about the collaboration between GenZero and BeZero in building the infrastructure necessary for scalable, impactful carbon markets.

The global carbon market has witnessed a boom in activity as businesses and governments increasingly turn to carbon credits as part of their climate strategies. However, concerns around the quality and credibility of some projects have underscored the need for robust, independent assessments. BeZero Carbon's innovative approach to ratings and analytics addresses these concerns, providing stakeholders with the confidence needed to invest in high-quality carbon credits. With the recently announced funding, the company stands poised to do more in regard to its offerings as it plays an integral role in developing the integrity and effectiveness of carbon markets throughout the world.