CDOP (Carbon Data Open Protocol) is an industry-led initiative that creates standardized ways to describe and share carbon credit information. It was started to create a common language for carbon market data - so that information about projects, credits, and transactions can be easily shared and understood across different platforms and organizations.

The problem: Carbon market data is fragmented. Despite growing demand for carbon credits, there is no common protocol for how carbon project data is recorded, shared, or interpreted.

The result? High transaction and administrative costs, limited interoperability, slowed market evolution.

CDOP is currently co-chaired by four organizations: GCMU, Sylvera, RMI, and S&P Global Commodity Insights. Over 50 organizations have joined the initiative, including carbon registries, buyers, ratings agencies, intermediaries, project developers, and more.

The CDOP data schema and our principles are freely available on GitHub as an open-source resource. You can also find links to the technical documentation and implementation guidance via the GitHub link.

Implementation depends on your role in the carbon market:

Registries and platforms: Integrate CDOP's data fields into your existing systems

Project developers: Use CDOP formats when submitting project information

Rating agencies and data providers: Adopt CDOP schemas for data collection and sharing

Buyers and investors: Request that suppliers provide data in CDOP-compatible formats

Detailed implementation documentation and our principles are available alongside the technical schema on GitHub.

CDOP eliminates the time and cost of cleaning and reformatting carbon project data. Instead of dealing with dozens of different data formats, market participants can use one standardized approach. This means faster transactions, easier project comparisons, better risk assessment, and ultimately streamlined investment into impactful climate projects.

Essentially any carbon market participant working with carbon credit data:

Carbon credit registries and exchanges

Ratings agencies and data providers

Carbon project developers

Corporate buyers and financial investors

Insurance companies assessing project risks

Government agencies tracking carbon markets

Lawyers running due diligence on carbon deals

CDOP has over 50 different organisations engaged as committee members. Their role is to support the development of our principles and policies and to drive forward the development and improvement of the CDOP data schema. For this V1.0 launch, we also received signatures from 37 committee members, including Verra, Kita, South Pole and Isometric, to support the adoption and development of CDOP V1.0.

Early adopters and testers include several leading carbon market organizations, including Sylvera, BlueLayer, South Pole, and more. Early adopters span the carbon market ecosystem from rating agencies and project developers, to registries and trading platforms.

As more organizations adopt the standards, it creates network effects that benefit all market participants. 

CDOP Version 1.0 focuses on pre-issuance data (location; project details and approach; disclosures; and issuances). We have already identified unit descriptions and labels/certifications as the next focus of our schema development. Future versions will expand to cover the complete carbon credit lifecycle, including post-issuance trading and retirement data.

They're designed to work together, not compete:

CCCDM (G20 framework): Sets the basic policy foundation that governments and international organizations can reference. It's like establishing minimum requirements that everyone can agree on.

CDOP (market implementation): Builds on the G20 framework by adding the technical detail and operational guidance that registries, rating agencies, and investors actually need to implement the standards in their day-to-day work.

CDOP builds on the data fields established in the CCCDM and coordinates with the G20's Climate Data Steering Committee to ensure alignment.

They serve different purposes in the carbon data ecosystem:

CAD Trust: Operates the actual database infrastructure where carbon credit information is stored and accessed publicly. It's the system that helps prevent double counting and provides transparent accounting.

CDOP: Defines how the data going into systems like CAD Trust should be structured and formatted. It's about creating consistent data standards, while CAD Trust is about operating the infrastructure where that data lives.

CDOP will embed its updated schema into CAD Trust's first round of updates, creating a robust baseline for global carbon data.

CCDF: provides detailed standardization across the carbon credit lifecycle, serving as both a working model while contributing to the broader harmonization effort of CDOP.

CDOP: leveragesthe CCDF as one of sixteen distinct schemas being unified under CDOP's coordination, with the intention that CCDF will become CDOP-compliant while potentially providing additional detail for specific use cases important to RMI's mission.

For general inquiries, or for organizations interested in contributing their data schemas or becoming formal participants, please email: support@cdop.info