Known Supply: Solving the Carbon Market's Supply Visibility Problem with Real-Time Data

The carbon market has a transparency problem. Picture this: a corporate buyer spends weeks researching carbon credits for their net-zero strategy, identifies promising projects through registry data, conducts deep due diligence, and reaches out to developers, only to discover that the credits they wanted (and had checked were available) were actually sold months ago. The registry still showed them as "available" because they hadn't been retired yet, but they were already contracted and sitting in someone else's inventory.

This scenario plays out across the carbon markets, creating friction that slows procurement, frustrates buyers, and ultimately delays climate action. 

We've been hearing about this pain point from buyers and developers alike, which is why we're excited to introduce Known Supply - part of our Market Data offering - a feature designed to show what's actually available to purchase in real-time, not just what appears unretired on a registry.

Why are ‘available’ carbon credits not actually available?

Registries serve a crucial function in the carbon market ecosystem by tracking credit issuance, transfers, and retirements. However, they weren't designed to function as real-time inventory management systems. When credits are issued, they appear on registries as "unretired". 

But, crucially, this status tells you nothing about whether those credits are actually for sale.

The gap between registry data and market reality creates several problems:

For buyers, registry data often leads to dead ends. They spend valuable time and resources researching and pursuing credits that aren't actually available, slowing down procurement timelines and adding unnecessary complexity to an already challenging process. In a market where buyers are under increasing pressure to secure high-quality credits quickly, this inefficiency is particularly costly.

For project developers, the mismatch creates unnecessary noise and confusion. They field inquiries about credits they sold long ago, diverting resources from productive conversations with genuinely interested buyers for credits that are actually available. It’s also harder for them to signal their actual availability to the market effectively.

For the market as a whole, this opacity reduces efficiency and trust. When buyers can't easily identify genuine opportunities, it increases transaction costs and slows market development. The lack of clear supply signals also makes it harder for all participants to make informed decisions about pricing and procurement strategies.

How Known Supply brings clarity to carbon credit availability

Known Supply addresses this fundamental market inefficiency by providing verified, real-time data about which credits are actually available for purchase. Unlike registry-derived "estimated supply," (a previous iteration of supply data within the Sylvera platform), Known Supply is based on direct updates from individual project developers and trusted market partners who have confirmed availability.

The feature works by aggregating supply data from multiple verified sources, primarily from two areas. Firstly, this includes supply data from individual project developers and suppliers who directly update their inventory status. And secondly, we partner with established market platforms like Cloverly, BlueLayer, Emsurge and Carbonplace. 

This multi-source approach ensures comprehensive coverage while maintaining the confidentiality and trust that makes suppliers willing to share sensitive inventory data.

Importantly, Known Supply data is only visible to buyers on the platform, never to competing developers or suppliers. This confidentiality protection is crucial for maintaining market participant trust while providing buyers with the transparency they need to make efficient procurement decisions.

How does Known Supply improve carbon market procurement?

Use cases:

Streamlined due diligence for corporate buyers

Large corporations with ambitious climate targets need to secure significant volumes of high-quality credits efficiently. Previously, procurement teams would build long lists of potential suppliers based on registry data, then spend weeks or months attempting to secure supply, only to discover that many of their targets had no available inventory.

With Known Supply, these buyers can immediately focus their efforts on projects with confirmed availability, reducing the time and uncertainty from initial research to contract execution. This efficiency is particularly valuable when buyers are working against tight deadlines or trying to secure credits from specific project types, vintages or geographies.

Critical market supply intelligence for investors

Investors need visibility into market dynamics to make strategic decisions about timing, pricing, and project selection. When supply data is murky, it's difficult to assess whether apparent scarcity reflects actual market conditions or simply poor information flow.

By providing clearer supply signals, Known Supply helps investment teams make more informed strategic decisions and better understand genuine market trends versus information gaps.

Improved resource allocation for carbon brokers

Carbon brokers and intermediaries rely on their ability to quickly match buyers with available supply. When they're working with incomplete information about what's actually available, they waste time on deals that can't close and may miss opportunities where they could add real value.

Known Supply gives brokers a clearer picture of market opportunities, allowing them to focus their efforts on viable transactions and provide better service to their clients. This improved efficiency ultimately benefits the entire transaction ecosystem.

Where does Known Supply data come from?

Known Supply's effectiveness depends on comprehensive, high-quality data from trusted market participants. 

Our multi-source approach combines direct updates from individual project developers and from partnerships with established platforms like BlueLayer, Carbonplace, Cloverly, and Emsurge to achieve the coverage and accuracy buyers need.

Their integration with the Sylvera platform helps ensure Known Supply captures availability across diverse project types and geographies.

Project developers provide the most direct and authoritative source of supply information. Through secure data sharing and direct partnerships, developers can update their inventory status in real-time, ensuring buyers see accurate availability for their specific projects. This direct channel eliminates intermediary delays and provides first-hand visibility into actual credit availability.

BlueLayer is the first end-to-end operating system for carbon project developers, used by 500+ projects globally, with $10bn+ of total carbon inventory value. BlueLayer enables developers to maximize carbon revenues, digitize their workflows, streamline carbon credit management and facilitate certification. Its latest module, Revenue Engine, enables omni-channel distribution for carbon credits, by making projects discoverable in various sales channels regardless of stage, and helping project developers manage requests and RFPs from buyers and intermediaries.  

Carbonplace is a platform that facilitates the trading and settlement of carbon credits. Founded by nine global banks, it is the leading platform for carbon credit management and trading, providing transparent and trusted access to the entire carbon market. Through a multi-registry portfolio, a Carbonplace user can have a consolidated view of their carbon credits and buy, sell, hold and retire credits across all the registries they are connected with, without the need to open a registry account.

Cloverly provides the leading software for 100+ carbon project developers to manage their sales, credits, and operations end-to-end. Cloverly provides developers commercial tools such as their own branded buyer portal, proposal tool, RFP tool, and omnichannel distribution with unmatched access to demand from sales channels around the world. Cloverly is a software solution - not an intermediary - allowing developers to have control and work directly with their buyers and intermediaries.

Emsurge Open Markets is the leading over-the-counter origination platform operated by Emstream brokers.  Over 200 market participants across 6 continents actively maintain over 50 million tonnes of bids and offers on the platform, increasing transparency and efficiency in carbon trading.  The platform is integrated with Sylvera ratings, hosts project marketing materials, and offers a range of trading options and data on spot, forward, and project finance opportunities.

Building the carbon market infrastructure for transparency and efficiency at scale

Known Supply represents an important step toward the kind of transparent, efficient market infrastructure the carbon market needs to reach its full potential. 

As the feature evolves, we'll continue expanding coverage, improving user experience, and strengthening partnerships with market participants who share our vision of a more transparent carbon market.

The carbon market's growth depends on removing friction and building trust among participants. Known Supply addresses one of the most persistent sources of inefficiency in carbon credit procurement, helping buyers and sellers connect more effectively while supporting the broader goal of scaling climate action through carbon markets.

This move also continues our evolution as far more than just a rating platform. Sylvera has become a comprehensive source of carbon data and intelligence that helps buyers navigate this complex market more effectively. It reflects our commitment to supporting the growth and development of driving real climate impact through better information and analysis.

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See Known Supply in action

Want to see how Sylvera's Known Supply and Market Data can help you navigate the carbon market with confidence? Book your demo today.