What Are the Different Types of Carbon Market Data and How Can They Be Used?

Carbon markets are key to the global effort to combat climate change, allowing businesses to invest in projects that reduce or remove carbon from the atmosphere. However, like any market today, their effectiveness relies on data.

To function efficiently, carbon markets need comprehensive and reliable data. This includes details on carbon credit issuances and retirements, pricing and quality. Understanding these dynamics helps market participants make informed decisions and ensures the integrity of the market itself.

But what exactly are the different types of carbon market data, and how can they be leveraged by various stakeholders?

What are the specific types of carbon market data?

Registry Data

Registry data encompasses information from standards bodies such as Verra, Gold Standard, American Carbon Registry, Puro.earth, Isometric, and others. This data provides a fundamental understanding of the market's supply side.

Issuances and retirements

Tracking the lifecycle of carbon credits – from issuance to retirement – provides critical insights into market dynamics:

• Supply levels (issuance volumes)
• Actual demand (retirement patterns)
• The balance between available and used credits

Sectoral and regional retirement trends

Project-Specific Data

Diving deeper, project-specific data offers granular details essential for due diligence:

• Methodologies employed
• Project implementation timelines
• Financial structures
• Community impact assessments
• Co-benefits beyond carbon reduction

Pricing data

Perhaps the most commercially sensitive and valuable data relates to carbon credit pricing:

• Current spot prices across different project types
• Price premiums for quality
• Regional price disparities
• Historical price trends

For example, our State of Carbon Credits report included analysis of ARR (Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation) projects, revealing a clear quality premium, averaging +$5 per rating band. However, significant price dispersion exists even within rating levels, suggesting some buyers may be overpaying for credits.

And this price dispersion is evident across the market. When examining REDD projects, we found dramatic price variations even for credits from the same project and vintage offered within the same week – highlighting the critical need for transparent pricing data.

Project quality data

Companies are increasingly aware of quality challenges, with more organizations screening out high-risk projects through ratings or avoiding entire project categories with known issues. With increased scrutiny on carbon credit quality, data on project integrity is essential:

• Independent carbon credit ratings and assessments
• Risk evaluations (overcrediting, additionality, permanence)
• Methodological robustness
• Verification standards

‍

‍

This data is particularly important as the market shows a gradual shift toward higher quality projects. Our analysis shows non-anonymous buyers increasingly favoring credits from projects with lower risks, with a clear upward trend in the weighted average quality of retired credits since 2020.

Why this data is needed and how it’s being used

The carbon market remains heavily dislocated

This creates both challenges and opportunities. The dislocation stems from market fragmentation, where trading activity spreads across multiple registries with limited transparency around price or quality. For sophisticated market participants, comprehensive data can transform this blurred landscape into an opportunity. Clear, useful data  can enable  value-centric decisions that capitalize on pricing, quality or demand shifts. Portfolios can be built or planned  based on fundamental quality metrics rather than marketing narratives or sentiment.

Market opacity compounds these challenges

But data is driving a transparency revolution. With 45% of credit retirements still conducted anonymously, the carbon market operates with less transparency than most financial markets. This opacity creates information gaps  that favor those with better data access. By consolidating multiple data streams – from registry information and pricing intelligence to quality assessments and regulatory updates – comprehensive market data platforms don't just help individual users gain transparency; they actively drive transparency across the entire market ecosystem.

Market participants are using data to stay ahead of trends

 We're seeing organizations identify emerging areas -  like in durable CDR projects - before they become mainstream. They can track shifts in buyer preferences toward higher-quality credits, and recognize early impacts  of regulatory changes that will reshape demand patterns. The most sophisticated players are monitoring retirement patterns to understand which sectors are actively offsetting, analyzing geographic variations in demand to inform project development strategies, and leveraging proprietary quality data to quantify how rating improvements translate into price premiums.

‍

‍

Regulatory convergence accelerates the need for real-time data

As voluntary and compliance markets increasingly overlap – with developments in CORSIA, Article 6, and various national standards – market participants need to understand how policy shifts can  create immediate price impacts, impact eligible credit types, and alter supply-demand dynamics. The companies that thrive will be those that can quickly assess these ripple effects and adjust their strategies accordingly.

Ultimately, better data drives better climate outcomes

When market participants can easily identify high-quality projects, understand fair pricing, and make informed investment decisions, capital flows more efficiently toward projects that deliver genuine climate benefits. So the transparency that comprehensive data provides doesn't just improve individual decision-making,  it helps ensure the carbon market fulfills its fundamental purpose of driving meaningful climate action at scale.

‍

How different carbon market players can use this data

Corporate buyers

Corporate buyers navigate the tradeoff between price and quality, and have to inform major decisions by what's available, within budget and of the quality for their needs. Market data empowers them to make these decisions with more confidence.

For companies purchasing carbon credits as part of their climate strategy, market data offers:

• Price discovery: Benchmark project quality and price against the rest of the market
• Trend analysis: Track supply and retirement trends to anticipate market shifts
• Strategic planning: Understand what credit attributes drive price to optimize procurement strategy
• Competitive intelligence: See what other buyers in your sector/geography are retiring
• New opportunity alerts: Discover new issuances, ratings, and projects that fit specific criteria as they hit the market

Example case study: 

A Chief Sustainability Officer at an airline company new to the VCM is defining a short-term carbon credit procurement strategy. Each morning, they begin by checking Sylvera's Market Data dashboard for overnight price movements in CORSIA-eligible credits. They've created a custom filter to track new issuances that meet their specific quality criteria, allowing them to quickly identify potential opportunities before competitors. 

When preparing for a quarterly procurement cycle, they use the platform to generate price benchmarks for different project types and quality ratings, helping them make the case for investing in higher-quality credits that align with their corporate sustainability goals.

‍

‍

Investors

Investors balance risk and return potential. Project quality, regulatory changes, and buyer preferences create both opportunity and uncertainty. Market Data provides the critical intelligence needed to identify growth sectors, conduct thorough due diligence, and time market entry points effectively.

For those investing in carbon projects Market Data provides:

• Market analysis: Understand how much credits cost and what factors drive prices
• Investment screening: Evaluate which project types are more likely to be successful based on quality assessments and market demand
• Demand forecasting: Identify which projects are seeing increased demand, indicating high viability for investment
• Prepurchase evaluation: Analyze potential savings of pre-purchasing credits versus buying them spot

Example case study: 

A fund manager with an interest in nature-based solutions uses Market Data daily to inform their portfolio allocation decisions. They've set up custom views to show them when high-quality projects in their target geographies are showing increased retirement rates, signaling growing demand. 

Before committing to a $5M investment in a new ARR project, they use the platform to analyze the price premiums associated with different quality ratings for similar projects, helping them structure an agreement that balances competitive pricing with fair returns. The historical price trend data also helps them model potential ROI under different market conditions.

Carbon project developers

Carbon project developers must balance project viability with market demand. They’re navigating complex decisions about methodology selection, pricing strategy, and buyer and investor targeting in an increasingly competitive landscape. Market Data provides the essential intelligence needed to identify market opportunities, optimize project design, and connect with the right buyers and investors - at the right price.

For those creating and managing carbon projects, Market Data helps with:

• Buyer targeting: Source potential buyers by analyzing who is retiring credits from similar projects in your region or project type
• Pricing strategy: Determine what your credits could sell for based on region, project type, and quality rating
• Competitive analysis: Understand what projects would "compete" with yours and how well-rated projects of the same type/geography are performing
• Market opportunity assessment: Identify which project types, registries, and geographies are seeing higher demand

Example case study: 

A developer actively working on an ARR project in Southeast Asia is exploring a second project. They use Market Data as a critical business planning tool. Each week, they analyze retirement data filtered for Southeast Asian ARR projects to identify potential buyers and refine their target list. 

When preparing pitch materials, they use price analysis features to demonstrate the premium their high-quality project is likely to command based on comparable projects. For their second project, they're evaluating which methodologies show the strongest price stability and retirement rates, helping them focus development efforts.

Traders and intermediaries

Traders and intermediaries operate in a fast-moving market where timing, pricing accuracy, and market intelligence determine success. With significant price dispersion and fragmented trading venues, comprehensive data is essential for identifying opportunities, managing risk, and serving clients effectively.

For brokers, exchanges, and other market facilitators, Market Data provides:

• Market intelligence: Know which actors are actively buying credits and which projects are actively in demand
• Trading signals: Jump ahead in acquiring supply of projects with recent favorable Ratings
• Price monitoring: Track how prices are changing and identify what is increasingly profitable to trade
• Supply-demand matching: Connect buyers with appropriate sellers based on detailed market knowledge

Example case study: 

A carbon credit broker serving institutional clients starts each day by reviewing the latest market movements in Sylvera's Market Data platform. They've created custom dashboards tracking pricing trends across different project types, vintage years, and quality ratings. 

When a client needs to purchase 50,000 tons of high-quality forest credits, the broker filters the platform for projects meeting specific criteria, quickly identifying available supply and fair price ranges. The platform's retirement analysis also helps them identify potential buyers for a new project coming to market, allowing them to proactively connect sellers with the most likely purchasers based on historical buying patterns.

‍

Introducing Sylvera's Market Data

Sylvera's Market Data has been designed to address the critical challenges faced by carbon market participants. Here's how our solution transforms complex market information into actionable intelligence:

Designed for all market participants

Our Market Data serves the specialized needs of various stakeholders:

• For corporate buyers: Streamline procurement decisions with fair price benchmarks and quality insights
• For investors: Identify market opportunities and perform thorough due diligence
• For project developers: Understand market demand patterns and optimize project design and pricing
• For traders and intermediaries: Real-time intelligence and pricing signals facilitate transactions and identify trading opportunities fast

Comprehensive and thoughtfully curated

Get a complete view of the carbon market while focusing on what matters most for your specific needs:

• Big picture overview: Track total market volumes, retirement trends, and supply-demand dynamics across the entire voluntary carbon market
• Weekly market movements: Monitor short-term shifts in pricing, project performance, and buyer activity
• Specialized drill-downs: Focus on specific project types, geographies, registries, or quality ratings

Interactive exploration

Our platform puts you in control of your market analysis:

• Customizable dashboards: Create personalized views that highlight the metrics most relevant to your strategy
• Multi-dimensional filtering: Segment data across multiple parameters simultaneously to uncover hidden insights
• Comparative analysis: Benchmark project types, quality levels, and pricing against each other

Proprietary data advantage

Our Market Data combines publicly available information with our exclusive proprietary data that can't be found elsewhere:

• Sylvera Ratings distribution: See how our Ratings are distributed across the market
• Pricing intelligence: Access insights from 100,000+ price points aggregated across 40+ sources covering over 1,000+ projects
• Premium analysis: Quantify the price premiums associated with higher quality ratings

Daily updates

While most competitors refresh their data weekly or monthly, Sylvera's Market Data updates daily, ensuring you always have the most current information for time-sensitive decisions:

• Real-time market intelligence: Stay ahead of emerging trends before they become widely recognized
• Current pricing data: Access the latest price points across different project types and vintage years
• Regulatory impact tracking: Quickly understand how new developments are affecting market dynamics

‍

See Market Data in action

Want to learn more about how Sylvera's Market Data can help you navigate the carbon market with confidence? Book a demo today.

And you can see Market Data in action in our next Live Product Demo with Head of Climate Consulting, Annalise Downey. Join us on 2nd July to see a live walk-through of how the platform can help you make smarter, data-driven decisions. Register here.