Climate change and environmental sustainability are becoming major issues in the world today, and companies want to find out how to make greener practices a source of revenue. It focuses on better tracking and monetizing corporate emissions data. Companies can not only increase their environmental credibility but also open new business opportunities by using the emissions data.

However, if done with the right strategy, emissions data can be just as valuable a corporate asset as a sustainability metric. Forward-thinking companies have the opportunity to be the first to capture competitive advantage and seize new revenue streams.

The Increasing Importance of Emissions Reporting

To set the scene, it’s essential to understand the background trends driving increased transparency and reporting of emissions data. Climate change is now a critical global issue, with pressure on corporations to take more climate accountability through innovative platforms like ProveZero. This context is vital for the growth opportunities around data monetization.

Several interacting trends are boosting demand for emissions tracking and disclosure:

Regulations. Regulations around climate reporting are proliferating globally, requiring companies to measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the SEC recently proposed rules requiring US public companies to report Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Major proposals are also being made in the EU, UK, Japan, China, and other countries. Regulations create a compliance need for solid emissions data.

Investor pressure. Major institutional investors are pressuring companies to reduce emissions, with transparency an important first step. Larry Fink of BlackRock has sent strong signals that investors want action on climate, impacting assets worth trillions of dollars. Better climate data is key for investment analysis.

Supply chain tracking. As large corporations make emissions commitments, they need data to track performance across supply chains. Walmart aims to get to zero emissions by 2040 across its vast supplier network, relying on accurate Scope 3 data.

Consumer consciousness. With climate change concern growing globally, consumers want more sustainability information on the products they buy. Accessible emissions data allows brands to market goods by their environmental footprint, tapping into green consumer sentiment.

Industry initiatives. Voluntary industry initiatives are also driving climate disclosure, such as the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). TCFD provides guidance to companies on what climate data investors want publicly reported.

With multiple push factors around transparency, emissions data is becoming indispensable for companies to demonstrate climate responsibility. This reliance on emissions data in turn creates opportunities for monetization.

How Companies Can Monetize Emissions Data

While reporting emissions data is often seen as a cost of compliance and risk management, forward-looking companies realize this data can also become a revenue source in itself. As climate consciousness grows, emissions data develops value – for financial analysts, consumers, regulators and trading markets.

We are still in the early days, but expect to see emissions data become widely commercialized. Here are some of the ways first-mover companies are starting to monetize their emissions data:

Selling access to specialized data. Some companies are productizing parts of their emissions data for commercial sale. For example, satellite companies like GHGSat sell proprietary methane tracking data to energy companies and financial firms. This lets them identify and tackle emissions leaks.

Enabling carbon offset markets. Granular, verified emissions data is crucial for the fast-growing voluntary carbon offset market. Companies can profit from emissions data by using it to generate carbon credits to sell to third parties via exchanges like Xpansiv.

Offering sustainability-as-a-service. Companies are offering their emissions reporting and analytics tools to other corporations for a service fee. This “Sustainability-as-a-Service” gives customers an easy way to get robust emissions tracking. French utility Engie charges companies to use its TERRA tool and data skills.

Allowing climate benchmarking services. To help assess climate risks, investors want to benchmark company emissions performance against peers. Data providers like CDP leverage submitted emissions data to compile anonymized industry benchmark reports for purchase.

Informing ESG ratings and rankings. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) ratings are big business, with hungry demand from investors for company scoring. Providers like MSCI and Sustainalytics incorporate emissions data into ratings. Companies can profit by providing detailed data to get a ratings boost.

Enriching product eco-labels and claims. Credible emissions data strengthens environmental product marketing demande claimsd by green consumers. For example, Thrive Market worked with WRI to get robust product carbon footprints, aiming to differentiate its online grocery.

While nascent, these examples show emissions data becoming its own tradeable digital asset class. Expect to see it increasingly commercialized as climate action accelerates.

Case Studies: Early Movers Monetizing Emissions Data

To see how emissions data monetization works in practice, some pioneering companies offer useful case studies and models:

Shell

Oil major Shell has developed sophisticated carbon measurement and pricing within the company to drive decarbonization across its units. Business units that cut emissions can generate credits to sell to higher-emitting units internally, creating internal carbon revenues.

Units cutting emissions quickly benefit from the internal trade of data-verified credits, incentivizing decarbonization. Shell aims to cut emissions by 50% by 2030.

Microsoft 

Technology giant Microsoft has committed to be carbon negative this decade, using offsets from carbon removal projects to neutralize historical emissions by 2050.

Microsoft is investing $1 billion in emissions removal offsets, with robust emissions accounting key to tracking project performance. Its data-driven approach helps make the offset market investable at scale.

Ørsted 

Danish energy firm Ørsted, a world leader in offshore wind, has 12GW of installed capacity in Europe, Asia and North America. Ørsted pledges to invest over £23bn in green energy by 2025.

Ørsted monetizes this operational data through AI algorithms predicting future wind speed and facility output over different timescales, selling these wind forecasts to energy traders and grid managers.

With emissions tracking integral to all its investments, Ørsted positions itself as the “world’s greenest energy company”. Climate data helps secure ESG financing for new projects.

These examples demonstrate innovative data monetization in action, turning emissions tracking into economic and competitive advantage. Expect creative new business models as climate data utilization accelerates.

Enabling Technologies and Startups

Underpinning the monetization trend are technologies making emissions data more measurable, reportable and tradable. Various startups and platforms are driving this:

1. Measurement tech. Startups like Satelytics use AI on satellite imagery to cheaply track methane emissions across oil and gas infrastructure. This allows continuous monitoring rather than intermittent manual reporting.
2. Blockchain platforms. Trading emissions credits is perfect for blockchain verification of assets and transactions. Startups like Nori are building digital marketplaces which allow removal offsets to be bought and sold, while being authentic.
3. Monitoring systems. The oil and gas sector is being simplified emissions reporting and compliance for with startups like ProveZero using OGI and artificial intelligence to enable exact and real time methane and GHG intensity measurement and verification.
4. Enterprise carbon accounting. Persefoni provides software as a service to help companies calculate their overall climate impact. Error-prone manual reporting is replaced with cloud carbon tools.
5. Investor climate analytics. Companies like Temperats give investors analytics on how companies are aligned on net zero across their portfolios based on audited emissions data.
6. Consumer emissions labels. Shoppers know they can find apps like HowGood that reveal product carbon footprints ,and some retailers even put emissions tags in their stores. Comparisons are possible with standardized data.

These enabling platforms turn emissions tracking into consistent, commercial-grade data, measurable across the economy. As the technology infrastructure improves, expect accelerating monetization opportunities.

Ongoing Challenges Around Data Quality and Privacy

However, while the potential is vast, there are still big challenges to resolve around emissions data quality, validity and privacy:

1. Fragmented measurement. No universal standards exist yet for emissions accounting, with data quality, consistency and granularity still variable.
2. Gaming potential. Complex supply chains mean emissions cuts can be misrepresented or shifted between parties, risking “greenwashing.”
3. Data transparency. Companies are wary about disclosing competitively sensitive emissions data publicly without controls.
4. Customer consent. Questions exist around monetizing data tied to consumer identities without explicit consent, risking privacy infringements.

Common protocols and policies are starting to address these issues:

1. Global GHG Protocol. Provides corporate accounting standards for different emissions types.
2. International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). New sustainability disclosure norms for investors.
3. Data ethics frameworks. Guidelines for responsible data commercialization and sharing.

But there is much work still needed to ensure robust, consistent and transparent emissions data. The challenges are surmountable given the huge potential value at stake.

Conclusion: Turning Opportunity into Action

Emissions data is undergoing a value transformation – from a narrow compliance tool to an information asset with widening commercial potential. Companies that seize first mover advantage can realize revenues while also demonstrating climate responsibility to stakeholders.

But strategic vision is vital to turn opportunity into action:

1. Companies need strong data governance ensuring quality control as reporting expands.
2. Smart use of enabling technologies can make data usage scalable over time.
3. Partnerships with external platforms create the capacity to commercialize data.
4. Emissions savings need linking to verified outcomes that are monetizable.

The direction of travel is clear as climate consciousness grows exponentially. There are still obstacles around emissions data validity and transparency. But for climate leaders, data is becoming a competitive differentiator. The opportunities now emerging to monetize environmental responsibility will only accelerate further in future.