Carbon Trading Infrastructure

Brian Halligan describes opportunities in building measurement and verification infrastructure for the emerging carbon marketplace, similar to how traditional financial markets have supporting infrastructure and systems.

Key Points:

• Measurement Systems Development:

  • Build systems to measure global warming beyond aggregate temperature
  • Track specific environmental metrics:
    • Ocean salinity
    • Ocean temperature
    • Atmospheric temperature
    • Tide measurements
  • Create precise tracking for insurance companies to predict storms

• Carbon Market Infrastructure:

  • Similar to traditional financial markets (NYSE, NASDAQ, commodities)
  • Carbon will have its own global marketplace
  • Opportunity to build supporting businesses around this marketplace

• Verification Systems:

  • Current systems are mainly survey-based and self-certified
  • Need for quantitative measurement systems (more like Nielsen than JD Power)
  • Must verify legitimacy of carbon sequestration credits
  • Help companies like Microsoft and HubSpot verify their carbon offset purchases

• Carbon Tracking Solutions:

  • Current tracking methods are inadequate
  • Big business opportunity for companies that can track carbon effectively
  • Traditional auditors (like PricewaterhouseCoopers) are trying but haven't solved it
  • Need for better corporate carbon footprint tracking tools