Sylvera Raises $57M for Carbon Offsetting towards Net Zero

Sylvera, a trailblazing carbon offsetting company, has secured an impressive $57 million in funding, significantly striding towards combating climate change and achieving carbon neutrality. This substantial financial boost holds the potential to accelerate carbon offsetting efforts and move the world closer to the elusive goal of Net Zero emissions. The funding is expected to drive innovation, expand sustainable initiatives, and pave the way for a more sustainable future.

Sylvera Advances Net Zero Goals

Sylvera recently secured a $57 million Series B funding round, following a $32 million Series A in January 2022 and a $5.8 million seed in May 2021. Since its founding in 2020, Sylvera has amassed an impressive total external investment of nearly $100 million ($96 million+). This financial boost will help address the data gap in carbon credit accounting and advance its mission towards Net Zero emissions.

The Series B funds will support Sylvera’s expansion into the US market, where it plans to open a New York office and engage with US financial services companies and the asset management industry. This strategic move aims to extend the company’s reach and impact in promoting carbon offsetting and sustainability initiatives across a broader audience.

Much of the funding will be allocated to recruitment, strengthening Sylvera’s engineering and product teams. These teams play a crucial role in driving transparency in carbon trading markets, utilizing advanced technology and data analytics to enhance the effectiveness and credibility of carbon offset projects.

Navigating Uncertainty: Unlocking Forests’ Carbon Sequestration

“Nobody’s ever — including all the world’s climate scientists — really spent a lot of time and effort measuring how much carbon is in the world forests,” co-founder Dr. Allister Furey said. “And so we’ve done much of that work — collaborating with national governments, the World Bank, and publishing on that work. So we are the world leaders in getting that calibration and validation data.”

“There’s this strange obsession with perfection in the climate space that stops you from doing anything,” Furey argues, discussing how Sylvera thinks about modeling uncertainty and risk in a changing climate. “We always deal with uncertainty — a bond default, or houses sometimes burn down and cars crash or whatever. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have houses or cars or stock markets, right? And so you need mechanisms to account for that loss and get trued up — again with a high level of rigor and integrity.”

Carbon Removal Engineering

Sylvera’s assessment methodologies encompass diverse carbon removal projects, including innovative technologies like biochar for Direct Air Capture (DAC). DACS stands for Direct Air Capture & Storage, a cutting-edge technology designed to directly extract carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Source: Sylvera

While some projects may seem less holistically beneficial, Sylvera recognizes that humanity can’t afford to invest solely in popular nature-based solutions like tree planting due to the urgency and scale of carbon sequestration needed to achieve Net Zero by 2050. By assessing a wide array of projects, Sylvera ensures that even novel carbon removal technologies undergo rigorous evaluation, verifying their carbon accounting to ensure credibility and effectiveness in pursuing a sustainable future.

Unbiased Carbon Offset Analysis

Unlike many other businesses in the field, Sylvera does not directly profit from carbon credit sales nor accept payments from carbon project developers to rate their projects. Instead, it positions itself as an impartial data layer, providing rigorous analysis to help companies make informed decisions about offsetting projects to support their decarbonization efforts.

Sylvera’s approach to gathering data and building models for benchmarking carbon offsetting projects sets it apart. The company tailors its tests to different project types, avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach. Depending on the project type, Sylvera employs various sensing technologies, such as lidar and radar. This ensures a fair and comprehensive assessment, which includes nature-based solutions, renewable energy, clean cookstoves, and emerging carbon removal technologies.

To maintain objectivity and prevent bias, Sylvera collaborates with the market through review committees comprising buyers, project developers, and investors. The company ensures transparency and accountability by reaching a consensus on testing standards.