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 V2.0 data schema and our principles are freely available on GitHub as an open-source resource. Organizations currently on V1.0 can find the migration guide alongside the technical documentation and implementation guidance via the same GitHub link. The technical migration guide has also been broken down into two infographics: one for technical and another for non-technical audiences. 

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 

If you're already integrated with CDOP V1.0, migrating to V2.0 doesn't require re-architecting your internal systems — only the integration boundary that exports data to CDOP needs to change. The migration guide walks through building a translation layer, validating against the new schema, and cutting over on your own timeline. 

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. With Version 2.0's move to an auditable, versioned status history, CDOP also gives registries, raters, and buyers a shared way to see how and when a project's or credit's status changed — supporting the kind of transparent accounting that helps guard against issues like double counting. 

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 75 organizations 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. 

At the V1.0 launch, CDOP received signatures from 37 committee members, including Verra, Kita, South Pole and Isometric, to support the adoption and development of CDOP V1.0. Since then, adoption has continued: several member organizations — spanning project developers, ratings agencies, registry service providers, and legal firms — have already adopted V2.0 and are integrating it into their internal systems. 

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

CDOP Version 2.0, launched at Climate Week NYC 2026, expands coverage to 11 data categories across the credit lifecycle — including crediting period, estimations and forecasts, co-benefits, durability and permanence, and project finance, on top of V1.0's pre-issuance foundations (location, project approach and details, disclosures, and issuance). CDOP's next focus is on covering the complete carbon credit lifecycle. 

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 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 public digital infrastructure enabling easy access and reconciliation of carbon credit information from different registries. It's a global platform for preventing double counting and supporting transparent accounting of credit impact. As such, CAD Trust plays a key role in developing and testing data interoperability standards for the market. 

CDOP: Defines how the data going into various systems should be structured and formatted. It's about creating consistent data standards for a variety of market applications, while CAD Trust operates the infrastructure where that data lives. 

CDOP and CAD Trust are working closely together to ensure the details of each approach are fully interoperable.

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