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Commodity Market Transformation Initiative

CMTI accelerates market transformation in emissions-intensive commodity sectors by building transparency, trust, and aligned incentives.

Global commodity markets are pivotal to the energy transition. Yet, climate performance remains largely invisible, untrusted, and unrewarded. The lack of robust supply-chain emissions data, credible standards for emissions claims, and clear market value for emissions performance are key barriers to climate differentiation. This lack of visibility weakens buyers’ ability to factor product-level emissions into purchase decisions, disincentivizes producers to decarbonize, and slows the flow of capital needed to drive real-world change.

RMI’s CMTI is working to change this. By enhancing transparency, building credible market systems, and aligning incentives, CMTI aims to make climate performance a meaningful market signal. The ultimate goal is to enable global markets to recognize, trust, and value low-emissions production of commodities and products, accelerating decarbonization on a global scale.

Through the CMTI, RMI is helping build the market systems needed to make that shift possible.

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How CMTI Works

CMTI is addressing market challenges by focusing on the market foundations required for transformation. Together, these pillars create the conditions for durable market transformation:

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Market transparency

CMTI advances robust carbon accounting methodologies and emissions visibility so climate performance can be measured and compared. This includes improving data quality, advancing interoperability, and identifying emissions hotspots and decarbonization opportunities across value chains.

Read: Accounting for impact 

Read: Pennsylvania: The Keystone State for an Emissions-Differentiated Gas Market

Read: Measuring Methane: State Actions to Reduce Pollution and Create a Market

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Market trust

CMTI supports the development and testing of credible market architecture and enforceable rules – such as chain of custody models, carbon accounting infrastructure, and ecosystem engagement – and works to align new approaches with existing commodity, policy, and emissions frameworks.

Read the Steel Book and Claim Framework  

Read the sectoral carbon accounting guidance pilots 

Read the technology ecosystem briefing 

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Market transformation

CMTI helps translate transparency and credibility into action. By working with buyers, suppliers, key market stakeholders, and policymakers, CMTI supports demand signals, procurement strategies, and policy alignment that reward low-emissions performance and unlock investment.

Report | Catalytic Procurement Report

Guidance | Accelerating Supply Chain Decarbonization  

Guidance | Corporate Low-Carbon Procurement

Read our work on EU methane regulations

Read our Low-Methane Leakage Gas Market Navigator

CMTI’s Focus Areas

CMTI works across high-emitting sectors — including oil and gas, chemicals, metals, and other energy transition materials — where climate differentiation can drive real emissions reductions.

Through deep collaboration with suppliers, buyers, governments, and market actors, CMTI designs practical, credible, and scalable market solutions tailored to regional contexts while applicable across global commodity systems.

Our Work by Sector

We are developing sector-specific approaches to decarbonize global supply chains.

Oil and Gas

Oil and Gas

RMI and SystemIQ developed MiQ to address the limitations of emerging voluntary actions and policies in holistically addressing methane emissions and created a Methane Performance Standard which differentiates lower-emissions natural gas by tracking methane emissions across the entire value chain. With a global warming potential over 80x more powerful than CO2 over a 20-year timeframe, methane must be addressed now.

Aluminum

Aluminum

Decarbonizing the aluminum sector relies heavily on low-carbon primary production technology, electricity decarbonization, and end-of-life scrap collection and sorting. Our aluminum emissions reporting guidance provide key metrics to accelerate decarbonization.

Plastic

Plastic

The transformation of crude oil and natural gas into intermediate chemical products is a highly emissions-intensive segment of the oil and gas value chain. Through plastic molding and extrusion guidance, we aim to improve emission measurement and support the sector's decarbonization.

Steel

Steel

Steel production accounts for roughly 7% of global energy emissions and is on track to consume 25 percent of the total remaining 1.5°C carbon budget by 2050. Our steel emissions reporting guidance, and Purchasing Platform enable actors to decarbonize this critical sector.

Aviation

Aviation

Aviation accounts for ~2% of global CO2 emissions annually. We are developing aviation fuel accounting guidance in collaboration with the World Economic Forum's Clean Skies for Tomorrow Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) framework to decarbonize the way we travel.

Copper

Copper

The copper sector currently contributes to 0.2% of global GHG emissions, and could exceed 2% by 2050 without targeted interventions. To address this, RMI and the Copper Mark developed the Sectoral Decarbonization Approach (SDA) to GHG target setting for copper companies.

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