SustainCERT: Climate Impact Verification Company Raises $37 Million

By Noah Long • Jun 20, 2023

SustainCERT – a Luxembourg-based climate impact verification company – announced recently that it raised $37 million in Series B funding for supporting global expansion. The funding was provided by Partech, Hartree Partners, Citizen Capital, Innovacom, and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.

This year SustainCERT plans to launch the world’s first climate impact verification platform to enable companies to bring credibility to their climate impact claims. And the Series B funding will support the scaling of its recently launched value chain decarbonization impact solution for Scope 3 emissions and the soon-to-be-launched digital verification solution for carbon markets.

Since 2018, SustainCERT has been focused on bringing credibility to climate impact claims through its unique offer of independent impact verification, combining climate expertise with innovative, cutting-edge digital solutions.

To limit global warming to no more than 1.5°C and to reach Net Zero by 2050, there is a 45% reduction in emissions is required by 2030. And such a transition requires substantial scaling of market and policy mechanisms that incentivize decarbonization. Effective carbon markets and action to reduce Scope 3 (value chain) emissions, which represent the majority of companies’ emissions, are vital components of this transition.

Greater transparency and integrity are necessary if carbon markets are to be successful, and as regulations grow around Scope 3 emissions reporting, independent verification will play a key role in ensuring climate impact claims are accurate and trustworthy. And all credible carbon standards require verification, and digital innovations are emerging as key drivers to scaling carbon markets with integrity.

Verifying against globally recognized standards, SustainCERT’s solutions are going to accelerate the speed, accuracy, and quality of data measurement used for carbon credits and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) impacts.

The funding will be used to invest in the acceleration of the commercial, organizational, and technology scale-up to support the growth of SustainCERT’s pioneering digital climate impact verification platform. And the funding will continue to scale the reach of the Value Change Initiative, a multi-stakeholder forum bringing together some of the world’s largest companies, leading civil society actors, and internationally recognized frameworks to focus on defining best practices for Scope 3 emission reductions at scale.

This funding convenes new investors Partech, the global technology investment firm, and Hartree Partners, a global leader in voluntary and compliance carbon markets. And SustainCERT is the first investment of the new Article 9 Partech Impact Fund, focused on investing in European impact-native technology companies that are addressing fundamental environmental & social challenges.

Existing shareholders Citizen Capital, Innovacom and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund have reinvested in this capital raise.

KEY QUOTES:

“We exist to bring credibility to climate action; and this investment – our largest fundraising to date – will enable us to continue increasing the speed and accuracy at which climate impacts can be verified. I am hugely excited about our growth opportunities and the scaling of our innovative climate impact verification solution for carbon markets and Scope 3 emissions.”

“We welcome Partech and Hartree as new investors and look forward to working with them and our existing investors Citizen Capital, Innovacom and Microsoft on building our pioneering position in the market with the world’s first digital verification platform.”

– Marion Verles, CEO of SustainCERT

“Partech Impact’s objective is to scale up tech impact native companies into global leaders.” 

“We truly believe that SustainCERT, with the combination of its world-class climate expertise, its unique digital platform, its deep understanding of standards and regulations, its already landmark client portfolio and its experienced, talented and ambitious management team, is very well positioned to become a carbon global champion. This market will need strong companies like SustainCERT to drive transparency and accuracy. We are very honored and glad to be part of the SustainCERT journey and have the opportunity to scale-up SustainCERT successfully in the coming years.”

– Rémi Said, General Partner at Partech

“Since our initial investment in 2021, we have been impressed by the growth SustainCERT has delivered, and we are confident in its ability to foster more ambitious climate action through reliable and scalable climate impact verification.”

– Jonathan Piquet of Citizen Capital

“Since our initial investment in 2021, the need to improve measurement, reporting and verification of GHG emissions reduction and removal has only continued to grow as the world looks to reach net zero. This follow-on investment represents our continued commitment to SustainCERT’s mission of bringing credibility to climate action.”

– Brandon Middaugh, Director, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund

“In the context of the increasing urgency of climate action, we welcome the arrival of new investors to support the acceleration of SustainCERT’s strategy to bring transparency, credibility, and accuracy to climate claims.” 

– Jérome Faul from Innovacom