Article by Nicola Good, Maritime Communications Consultant, 8th Street Communications
Head of Customer Decarbonisation Maria Lacalle Muls explains how Carboninsets connects buyers and sellers of Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) while preserving trust, transparency and chain of custody.
Pairing up is rarely straightforward. Questions arise about a partner’s transparency, long-term ambitions and, ultimately, whether the relationship is the right fit. While these real-world dating challenges are unlikely to disappear any time soon, for supply chain companies focused on a sustainable future, there is now a matchmaking solution.
‘We often laugh with clients that refer to us as the Tinder of sustainable supply chains, says Carboninsets Head of Customer Decarbonisation Maria Lacalle Muls, a logistics and sustainability veteran, who herself admits to rigorous vetting when choosing business partners and employers.
Founded in 2025, Carboninsets launched its marketplace during April’s Smart Freight Week. The marketplace is a digital platform where buyers can compare available, multimodal and global EAC offers. It is designed not only to connect buyers and sellers, but also to aggregate supply (from carriers and fuel suppliers) and, over time, make that supply accessible through other marketplaces and procurement channels.
According to Muls, in a traditional trading model, an intermediary like a trader or broker may buy certificates from the party that generated the emission reduction and then resell them, but that creates quality issues as the chain of custody is broken. In Carboninsets’ model, they identify what the buyer needs in terms of sector, geography, quality, volume, and price (among other factors), and then connect them directly with the most suitable seller. Once both sides agree, the contract is signed directly between buyer and seller, which helps preserve auditability and reporting integrity. Moreover, Carboninsets works closely with established registries such as 123Carbon to help ensure transparency and traceability.
So what exactly is the difference between insetting instead of offsetting? Although both, says Muls, support climate action, they operate very differently. Offsetting takes place outside a company’s value chain, whereas insetting is directly linked to emissions reductions within its own value chain. Within supply chain, insetting is emerging as the relevant market-based mechanism because it supports emissions reductions within the transport value chain (e.g. Sustainable Aviation Fuels in air transportation), whereas offsetting relies on projects outside that value chain and may be based on either emissions reduction or carbon removal activities (e.g. reforestation).
In logistics, that distinction matters a great deal, she explains. If a company buys an inset linked to biofuel use in transport, for example, it is investing in decarbonisation within the same supply chain where its emissions arise. That is fundamentally different from buying an offset such as reforestation, which may have climate value but no operational connection to the company’s logistics activity.
She adds that insetting is also attractive because, if the relevant rules are followed, it can contribute to Scope 3 emissions reduction claims and reporting. In logistics, that means the certificate must match the mode and activity being reported: for example, ocean-related activity must be matched with an ocean-related inset. Other requirements include additionality, timing, registry issuance, auditing, and broader compliance checks. That is why many logistics companies see insetting as a practical way to support Scope 3 goals in hard-to-abate supply chains, whereas offsets sit outside direct emissions reporting.
According to Muls, confidence in this market for EACs depends on avoiding the problems that have affected some parts of the offset market, particularly the double counting and weak documentation. That is why buyers focus on EACs issued within a recognised book and claim registry and independently verified by a third party. That level of scrutiny, says Muls, is there to give buyers confidence that the certificate is real, compliant, and suitable for use in reporting.
At present, the main buyers of EACs include cargo owners, corporates, and freight forwarders seeking to reduce logistics-related Scope 3 emissions. Some are already experienced purchasers who have been using EACs for several years; others are newer entrants who are exploring insetting because they realise they are not going to meet their decarbonisation goals through internal measures alone, she adds.
One of the key drivers behind this growing demand is the increasing adoption of science-based emissions reduction targets. Thousands of companies have now committed to targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), many of which require significant reductions in Scope 3 emissions across their value chains. For businesses where logistics represents a substantial proportion of those emissions, insetting and Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) are increasingly being viewed as practical tools to help bridge the gap between operational decarbonisation and long-term net-zero commitments. As corporate climate targets become more ambitious, demand for high-quality, independently verified EACs is expected to continue growing.
The market is still relatively young, but it is maturing quickly. ‘We see both spot requests (e.g. 500 tCO2e of road EACs) and also much more structured procurement processes, including RFPs for large multi-year contracts (even from 2027 to 2035). Some spot deals can sometimes be concluded in days, while larger, data-heavy RFP processes can take months.’
Carboninsets’ digital marketplace for multimodal EACs enables buyers to access certificates across multiple regions through a single platform. Rather than approaching suppliers individually, companies can compare opportunities, improve price discovery, increase transparency and streamline procurement while preserving direct contractual relationships with suppliers or sellers.
Just how large could the market for EACs become? Although the market remains difficult to quantify precisely because of limited public data, Muls believes the growth trajectory is clear. Thousands of companies have now adopted science-based emissions reduction targets, and for many of them supply-chain emissions represent the largest share of their carbon footprint. As those organisations move from setting targets to delivering measurable reductions, demand for credible, independently verified insetting solutions is expected to increase substantially.
‘Even relatively modest annual purchases scale quickly when multiplied across many companies,’ she says. ‘That is one reason Carboninsets exists: to bring greater transparency to a market that has often been opaque. We aim to simplify EAC offer comparability, contracting, enhance transparency, and help buyers and sellers transact with greater confidence.’
