Carbon Removal FAQ

Have a question? It's probably answered below!

About Nori

nori certification
What will I get for purchasing carbon removals?

You’ll receive a digital certificate of ownership for the carbon removal credits you paid for. This certificate will show the number of carbon removals purchased, the project supported, and any additional information provided by the supplier. All these records are registered permanently on a blockchain database, so you will have lasting proof of your purchase — and protection against your carbon being re-sold or traded.

How will you make your system safe?

While all software applications and providers are susceptible to hacking, we have taken a few important measures to decrease that risk and augment our security. Our approach to dealing with that risk is two-fold:

  • Our transparency with open-source software allows the public to audit our code and report on any bugs discovered in a responsible manner.
  • We are following industry-standard practices on securing private data in ways that mitigate damage if an attacker is ever able to breach our data storage.
What does Nori do?

Nori is on a mission to reverse climate change by making it as simple as possible to pay people to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Nori is building the open source market infrastructure to allow for carbon removal projects to measure and monetize their activity. Our voluntary marketplace, based on blockchain technology, will enable carbon removal suppliers to connect directly with buyers, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

How is Nori different from other voluntary carbon offset registries and how does it work?

Nori is unique in the carbon market space because we are focused 100% on carbon removal from the atmosphere. Paying people not to cut down existing trees is not a model that would qualify for Nori Regenerative Tonnes in our market. Reversing climate change requires both decreasing current emission rates, as well as removing the 1.5 trillion tonnes of excess CO2 that's already up in the atmosphere. Many companies and initiatives focus on reducing present and future emissions, but Nori is the only market that deals exclusively in removing past emissions. Nori allows buyers to pay for Regenerative Tonnes in a round-robin-style queue as they’re entered into the marketplace. This commoditizes the removal of CO2 and removes the costly matchmaking process that occurs in traditional carbon offset markets.

Nori is also different from existing carbon markets by taking a software approach to reduce costs for suppliers and buyers through streamlining data collection. By accounting for the ownership of the Regenerative Tonnes on the blockchain, Nori eliminates the double-counting problem that has plagued past attempts at creating healthy carbon offsets markets. Nori’s cost structure is substantially different from traditional carbon offset markets. We do not charge fees to develop new methodologies, and only ever charges suppliers a one time registration fee to list projects.

Why are you starting with soil carbon storage?

The first type of carbon removal credits on the Nori platform are generated from agricultural projects that can store carbon dioxide in soils (learn more about Nori Regenerative Tonnes here). We are starting here because of the crisis of soil carbon loss, the immense potential to store carbon in soils, and the unique features of the Nori design which enable risk mitigation against carbon losses and lower verification costs that do not exist in traditional offset markets. Through more regenerative farming practices there is a theoretical capacity to store ten billion tonnes of CO2 per year. By creating a financial instrument that supports growers to increase carbon dioxide in their soils, we’re also advancing a number of great co-benefits like drought resistance, reduced runoff pollution, and an overall improvement of soil health.

Carbon Removal

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How do you know how much carbon a supplier has removed?

Nori partners with companies that make carbon quantification tools (CQTs) with rigorous scientific backing in order to model how much carbon was removed. In the case of farmlands, these models work by comparing farmers' new sustainable practices to their previous farming methods. Our partner Soil Metrics uses a USDA-approved model to run thousands of scenarios to determine within a reasonable level of confidence how much carbon a farmer has stored in their soils. This is one of the simplest and most accurate methods for counting carbon removals available today.

What is a Nori Regenerative Tonne?

A Nori Regenerative Tonne represents approximately one tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) that has been removed from the atmosphere for a minimum of 10 years. Once completing the Nori enrollment process, a supplier of Regenerative Tonnes can register them on the Nori marketplace. Regenerative Tonnes are sold directly to individuals and organizations seeking to mitigate carbon emissions. This way, anyone can participate in reversing climate change.

Why is carbon removal necessary to stop climate change? Isn't carbon reduction enough?

Since the Industrial Revolution, humankind has burned fossil fuels to produce energy which release greenhouse gases. Despite our understanding of the clear linkage between excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere/oceans and global climate change, humans have been unable to stop emitting. While reducing and replacing carbon emissions are key components to slowing down the flow of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years—warming the planet—the only way to stop the most severe effects of climate change is by balancing the total stock of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This can only be achieved through carbon removal. Carbon reduction is a start, but it’s simply not enough.

This can be viewed as an arithmetic problem. We are putting too many greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and not taking enough out. Carbon removal removes excess emissions from the atmosphere, helping us to avoid climate tipping points and ultimately reverse climate change.

How can I trust that the carbon removals are real?

Nori works with independent, third party verifiers with experience and accreditation working on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction projects. Farmers are paired with a verifier to review their carbon removal data and supply any additional evidence required, and the verifier submits a report of their findings to Nori. When sold, every certificate of carbon removal will be attached with a copy of this report.

Blockchain

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Why blockchain for carbon removal?

Blockchain allows for a number of new opportunities to establish a market for carbon removal. Because a Nori Regenerative Tonne can only be used once and is immediately retired, our blockchain system avoids the double counting which occurs in other traditional carbon offset markets. Furthermore, using a blockchain solution allows for complete transparency of the new type of carbon removal asset.

What is a Nori Regenerative Tonne?

A Nori Regenerative Tonne is a digital asset — an electronic certificate — that is stored on the Ethereum blockchain in the Nori application. One Regenerative Tonne represents approximately one tonne of CO2-equivalent heat-trapping gas that has been removed from the atmosphere and stored in an industrial, terrestrial, subsurface, or aquatic reservoir.

Buyers

nori marketplace
Do you offer refunds?

We do not. When you purchase Regenerative Tonnes, retirement of the credits is immediate and your certificate is permanently recorded on the blockchain. The carbon removals can not be unretired or resold.

When purchasing Regenerative Tonnes, where does my money go to?

When purchasing Regenerative Tonnes, 100% of each tonne you pay for goes directly to supporting our suppliers, while Nori collects a 25% transaction fee to help keep the marketplace running. This not only rewards farmers for implementing sustainable farming practices, but provides further incentives for sustainable farmers to provide even more carbon removals in the future.

Suppliers

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How do I get paid?

Currently, when your soil carbon sells in Nori's marketplace, you instantly receive USDC which you can immediately convert to cash.

How do I generate Nori Regenerative Tonnes?

Regenerative Tonnes are generated after a supplier has entered their farm data into the Nori app, run quantification to determine the incremental soil organic stock (SOC) gained from regenerative practices, verified these by a third party auditor, and signed a Regenerative Tonne agreement. Farm data is always owned by the farmer and is only used to run the Soil Metrics model and for Nori internal use.

What are the benefits to farmers who work with Nori?

Nori provides an additional income source to farmers who operate with regenerative practices. While carbon markets are emerging and a new commodity to consider, we believe that the value to farmers is not only in diversifying their income sources, but leaving the decision making and data ownership to the grower.

Are you only working with farmers in the US? What about Canada?

To start, we're working with farms in the United States. We plan to work with farms in key markets outside the U.S. in the not-too-distant future, including Canada.

Does Nori verify the Nori Regenerative Tonnes?

No. We work with third-party verifiers who conform to our established methodology standards to verify carbon removal data.

Are you working with farmers now?

Yes, Nori is working with farmers now. You can learn more on our Growers page.

Thank you for your interest in joining Nori's marketplace and your patience as we develop and refine the enrollment process.

The Future of Nori

co2 removal benefits nature
How can I get involved with Nori?

There are many ways!