By Riley Kaminer
Offsetting carbon emissions is one of the key strategies we can employ to mitigate the effects of climate change. Spanish startup ClimateTrade, which established its US headquarters in Miami last year, is developing tools to unlock decarbonization at scale.
The company, which was founded in 2017, has built a blockchain-based marketplace for companies to offset their climate impact by purchasing carbon, plastic, and biodiversity offsets, as well as renewable energy certificates directly from project developers.
Since 2019, the company reports that it has offset 5.5 million tons of carbon emissions. For context, the average American emits just over 14 tons of carbon dioxide each year. Its platform now has more than 3,000 registered users, but indirectly works with upwards of 13,500 people through its API.
“Our company has the biggest catalog for carbon credits and climate related assets worldwide,” Francisco Benedito, ClimateTrade’s co-founder and CEO, told Refresh Miami. Miami-based Benedito was on the move when we spoke with him, picking up his luggage at an international airport. And that makes sense, considering that he and his executive team have attended 120 worldwide climate and sustainability-related events over the last year alone. (Benedito added that he offsets the carbon emitted from each of his flights.)
This deep involvement in the space is a key ingredient to ClimateTrade’s success. “We have found the best high quality products, and we have a very good background and expertise in the sector,” Benedito asserted. “That’s why people trust us: because they make good decisions whenever they are with us.”
ClimateTrade’s long list of high-profile clients supports this claim, including household names such as Lavazza, Telefonica, and Cepsa. In many cases, ClimateTrade’s services can be described as B2B2C. For instance, it enables Santander customers to offset the CO2 from each of the purchases they make on their credit card.
On the whole, Benedito is optimistic about the trend of corporations being increasingly aware of – and interested in offsetting – their carbon emissions. He did note that ClimateTrade makes a point of ensuring that their customers aren’t “greenwashing,” or making an environmental claim about something the organization is doing that is intended to promote a sense of environmental impact that doesn’t exist.
The US provides a strong opportunity for ClimateTrade, in Benedito’s opinion. Already two of their 45 employees are based in Miami, with imminent plans to employ a further three locals. “Now it’s about evangelizing our solution, and sustainability in general, and engaging with the right partners.” Benedito said that we can expect to hear about some high-level partnerships with major companies to be announced in the near future.
Miami has played a key role in ClimateTrade’s growth trajectory. “Miami is great logistically, as it is near our priodivers in Latin America, and there are a lot of decision makers that live here,” said Benedito. He also praised Florida’s business-friendly tax environment.
“My passion is now about seeing how we can crack the code and make people understand that this is so important. That we have to do this. That this has to be one part of our daily focus,” said Benedito of ClimateTrade’s mission. But what really drives Benedito is the following question: “How do we do something for our planet and for our future generations?”
READ MORE ON REFRESH MIAMI:
- South Florida is a hotbed for climate tech innovation. Here are 5 reasons why
- ClimateTrade establishes Miami HQ to expand decarbonization platform stateside
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