Beyond the Ton: Documenting the Benefits to Communities and Ecosystems at the Heart of Carbon Projects

This 3-part webinar series introduced RMI’s Carbon Crediting Data Framework (CCDF), an open-source blueprint designed to bring clarity, consistency, and interoperability to project data in the voluntary carbon market (VCM). 

Webinar one covered the foundational concepts behind the CCDF, and webinar two brought in the perspectives of early implementers to explore how the CCDF is being applied in project contexts. In this third and final session, we turned to the socio-environmental (SE) dimensions of carbon projects—highlighting how carbon finance can be a driver of community empowerment and ecological justice when benefits are properly measured, documented, and shared throughout the market. Through applied use cases, we explored how robust SE data can help projects deliver equitable, durable impacts that go well beyond the ton. 

The VCM holds huge promise to scale climate finance but is held back by scattered, static, and hard-to-trust project information. The CCDF creates a common language and standard format to move the market toward transparency and interoperability—not just for emissions data, but also for the social and ecological safeguards at the heart of project success. 

This series was tailored for carbon-market stakeholders and climate justice advocates alike. Whether you’re a data expert, technical specialist, project developer, buyer, or service provider, you’ll gain technical insights, see how community and ecological benefits are being generated on the ground, and join a community driving progress around better data that supports an equitable and just carbon market.