New Effort to Develop Cross-Sector Registry System Aims to Simplify Supply Chain Decarbonization Across Transport and Heavy Industry 

New York, NY – September 22, 2026 – RMI, the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA), and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping today announced a joint initiative to develop a unified, not-for-profit book and claim registry system across transport and heavy industry. The effort aims to provide consistent, credible market infrastructure that supports company efforts to address their supply chain emissions across hard-to-decarbonize sectors.   

As a first step, more than 150 companies can now access two established not-for-profit registries — the SAFc Registry for aviation and Katalist for maritime shipping — through a common entry point. Katalist is managed by RMI and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS), while the SAFc Registry is managed by RMI, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Center for Green Market Activation, in collaboration with the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance. The new experience reduces the need to navigate separate tools and provides an initial model for greater consistency across book and claim systems. Alongside this, the parties are releasing a request for information to third-party developers and administrators to inform next steps in creating and consolidating new sector registries into the unified system.  

Streamlining tools for impact 

Heavy industry and transport — including aviation, shipping, cement and concrete, trucking, aluminum, chemicals, and steel — account for around one-third of global emissions and are among the hardest sectors to decarbonize. They also represent a significant share of corporate supply chain emissions, yet companies often have limited ability to directly source lower-emissions fuels and materials. 

Book and claim systems help bridge that gap by allowing companies to support verified emissions reductions when lower-emissions alternatives are not directly available within their supply chains. Registries provide the infrastructure to track the resulting environmental attributes from issuance through retirement, helping prevent double counting and support credible claims. Today, however, registries are typically sector-specific, requiring companies operating across complex supply chains to navigate different systems and processes. This complexity diverts resources from decarbonization actions to managing logistics.  

“Companies should not have to navigate a patchwork of systems to take credible action on emissions across their supply chains,” said Thomas Koch Blank, Managing Director at RMI. “By working with the Center for Green Market Activation and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping to build trusted infrastructure across sectors, we can make participation simpler while maintaining the rigor, transparency, and verification these markets require. Connecting aviation and maritime shipping is an important first step toward that broader vision.” 

The new platform will make it easier for companies to address supply chain emissions across hard-to-decarbonize sectors by creating greater consistency in terminology, user experience, registry transactions, and data, reducing friction for companies participating in multiple book and claim markets, all while maintaining the traceability and verification needed for credible environmental claims. 

“Integrating SAFc and Katalist is the first concrete step towards a system that works the way companies actually operate,” said Pernille Dahlgaard, Chief Impact Officer at the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping. “We have spent years building the infrastructure that lets the voluntary market deliver real maritime decarbonization. Working with RMI and GMA to extend that to aviation and across transport and heavy industry gives companies one credible route to accelerating the transition, instead of several partial ones.” 

Building an umbrella registry across sectors 

The partners plan to build on the aviation and maritime integration to develop registry infrastructure capable of supporting additional transport and heavy industry sectors. With book and claim frameworks already developed for cement and concrete and ​​steel, the registry has a strong foundation as it expands beyond transport. The effort will collaborate closely with the Book and Claim Community, represented by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) and the Smart Freight Centre (SFC), as well as with prevailing target-setting and GHG accounting standards. The collaboration aims to support greater consistency in terminology, data, user journeys and registry transactions, while engaging with existing registries to explore opportunities for consolidation or interoperability over time. 

The not-for-profit model is central to the effort. By developing infrastructure around the needs of market participants and positive environmental impact over commercial returns, this effort aims to create a trusted system that can evolve alongside emerging markets while prioritizing integrity, transparency, accessibility, and usability. 

“We’re at a pivotal moment. High-integrity book-and-claim systems have been given the green light by SBTi. Companies are coming together to activate green markets through GMA buyers alliances. And, now, RMI is stepping up to provide robust, unified infrastructure for high integrity EACs,” said Kim Carnahan, CEO of the Center for Green Market Activation. “This new registry system is the missing piece of the puzzle we need to credibly scale green markets.”   

As part of this effort, RMI, GMA, and MMMCZCS are issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to inform the selection of third-party software developers and administrators to help build and operate the umbrella registry system. The RFI seeks input on a central user interface connecting sector-specific registries, as well as the development and operation of new registries under that umbrella, with the goal of building trust, reducing administrative friction, and providing greater clarity as book and claim markets scale and expand into new sectors.  Learn more and respond to the RFI here.

Media inquiries please contact:  

Amy Yanow Fairbanks, Communications Manager, RMI: amy.yanowfairbanks@RMI.org   

Alison Greene, Communications Manager, GMA: alison.greene@gmacenter.org  

Luca Cucinotta, Communications Partner, MMMCZCS: luca@katalist.org    

About RMI 

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to secure a prosperous, resilient, clean energy future for all. In collaboration with businesses, policymakers, funders, communities, and other partners, RMI drives investment to scale clean energy solutions, reduce energy waste, and boost access to affordable clean energy in ways that enhance security, strengthen the economy, and improve people’s livelihoods. RMI is active in over 50 countries. 

About GMA 

The Center for Green Market Activation (GMA) is a US-based, globally focused non-profit. Through innovative procurement approaches and sector-specific buyers alliances, GMA catalyzes and scales the uptake of low-carbon goods and services within carbon-intensive industries including aviation, maritime, trucking, cement and concrete, and chemicals. With collective decades of experience in environmental markets and alternative fuels and materials, the GMA team works to standardize new, green markets and forges mutually beneficial partnerships between climate-focused companies, suppliers, and mission-aligned non-profit organizations to channel funding to critical climate technologies in pursuit of accelerated sectoral decarbonization. Learn more at gmacenter.org.  

About Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping 

The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping is an independent, not-for-profit research and development center established in 2020 with funding from the A.P. Moller Foundation. Our purpose is to guide and accelerate decarbonization of the global maritime industry. This complex challenge requires unprecedented collaboration across sectors, industries, and geographies. Working with our partners, governments, authorities, public sector bodies, scientists, and organizations across the global maritime industry we mature solutions to the most pressing problems across the maritime value chain, from fuels to onboard solutions, regulations, and financing.