London-based carbon credit ratings startup BeZero Carbon said it had raised $32 million, with proceeds aimed at enabling the company to expand into new markets, and to grow its capabilities and its team.
Founded in 2020, BeZero is a ratings agency for carbon markets, providing carbon ratings, research and data products, backed by a team of climate scientists, earth observation specialists, data scientists and financial analysts. BeZero has customers in over 30 countries across six continents, with ratings available on more than 40 platforms, including Bloomberg, with subscribers to its platform – providing ratings, data, and scientific analysis for over 480 carbon credit projects – including UBS, Sumitomo, Emirates NBD, Equinor, Woodside Energy, and ERM.
According to BeZero, in 2022, when it first launched its ratings platform, there was no correlation between the climate impact of a carbon project and the price of a carbon credit, while there is now an average 40% price premium commanded for every incremental “BeZero Carbon Rating” notch on the platform’s 8-point rating scale.
BeZero said that it will use the new capital to invest in expanding its ratings coverage for new markets, such as domestic and sovereign compliance markets and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), as countries and international organizations such as CORSIA increasingly look to carbon markets to reach net zero.
Additionally, the company said that it will also continue investing in automation, including the application of artificial intelligence techniques, and its expert team of climate and data scientists to deliver ratings, data, and risk analytics at scale.
Tommy Ricketts, CEO and Co-founder of BeZero Carbon, said:
“Securing a Series C in the current 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. The funds will allow us to sustain our pace of innovation and expand our ratings coverage to compliance carbon markets.”
The funding round was led by Temasek-owned decarbonization solutions-focused investment platform GenZero, with participation from the Japan Airlines and Translink Innovation Fund. Existing investors EDF Pulse Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Illuminate Financial, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Molten Ventures, Qima, and Quantum Innovation Fund also committed fresh capital.
Frederick Teo, CEO of GenZero, said:
“Carbon ratings play a pivotal role in ensuring integrity and transparency in carbon markets by providing independent, standardised assessments of quality. By leveraging data, internal scientific expertise and methodological insights to analyse carbon projects, BeZero’s work will foster greater confidence in carbon markets, and catalyse more capital and demand. We welcome BeZero’s presence in Singapore as we develop a global carbon ecosystem here and are excited to work together to build the critical infrastructure required for carbon markets to have impact at scale.”
