Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Carbon credits · United Kingdom · 2022–2026

Carbon credit rating agencies and Space Intelligence rebuttal (Sylvera, BeZero)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 3 disputed See the gaps

Private firms such as Sylvera, BeZero and Calyx rate carbon credits, and sell their reports largely to credit buyers. Their investors and clients, and a company that sells monitoring to forest projects and led calls to retract a study critical of REDD+ credits, are examined in the record.

$57m and $50mFunding rounds announced by two rating firms
Sylvera, July 2023 ($57 million); BeZero, November 2022 ($50 million). Amounts as announced by the companies.

Status As of February 2026: Singapore had excluded its three tendered raters from rating projects with which they have commercial ties; no court or regulator ruling on the raters or on the Space Intelligence response was found.

What?
Private firms rating carbon credits, their investors and clients, and a monitoring company's call to retract a study critical of REDD+ credits.
Where?
Raters based in the United Kingdom; Space Intelligence in Edinburgh; Singapore as the buyer-regulator. Ecosystem Marketplace (published by Space Intelligence)
When?
November 2022 to February 2026.
Who?
Gained
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Credit buyers and project developers use ratings and monitoring to judge credit quality; the record shows commercial ties between raters, investors and clients.
How?
Rating firms sell reports largely to credit buyers; Space Intelligence sells verification to developers and its chief scientist led a response asking for retraction of a critical study.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Sylvera, BeZero and Calyx are private companies that give carbon credits quality ratings. Carbon Market Watch reported that they sell their reports largely to credit buyers, and that the same Amazon project was rated high by Sylvera and low by Calyx and BeZero. It also reported that none of the four raters it examined includes human-rights safeguards in its ratings.

In January 2023 a nine-month joint investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and SourceMaterial reported that more than 90% of Verra's rainforest credits were likely to be phantom credits. Sylvera responded on 19 January 2023 that, of the REDD+ projects it rates, 31% were high quality and 25% were effectively junk; it said it had a team of about 150 people and had rated more than 85% of REDD+ credits.

BeZero announced a $50 million funding round on 14 November 2022. It was led by Quantum Energy Partners, with the venture arm of EDF, Hitachi and ICE (Intercontinental Exchange, which also operates a carbon-credit exchange); BeZero's total funding exceeded $70 million. Sylvera announced a $57 million Series B round on 18 July 2023. Press reports said that the consultancy Bain & Company was both a client and an investor of Sylvera.

In August 2023 West and colleagues published a study in Science that used synthetic controls on 26 REDD+ sites. For 18 projects with sufficient baseline data, developers' calculations allowed about 89 million credits, of which 6.1% could be tied to real additional reductions. In December 2023 a response led by Ed Mitchard, chief scientist of Space Intelligence, asked for the study to be retracted. Space Intelligence sells monitoring and verification to nature-based project developers, and the company published the bulletin carrying the response. Its customers include Apple and The Nature Conservancy.

On 3 February 2026 Singapore, which had chosen the three rating firms by tender to assess credits eligible against its carbon tax, announced that they were excluded from rating projects with which they have commercial relationships.

  1. 2022BeZero announces a $50 million funding round led by Quantum Energy Partners (14 Nov)
  2. 2023Guardian, Die Zeit and SourceMaterial investigation (Jan); Sylvera responds (19 Jan); Sylvera announces $57 million round (18 Jul); West et al. in Science (24 Aug); response led by Space Intelligence's chief scientist asks for retraction (12 Dec)
  3. 2026Singapore excludes its three rating firms from rating projects with which they have commercial ties (3 Feb)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

How many REDD+ credits are of low quality?
Press and investigations
Guardian, Die Zeit and SourceMaterial

Reported that more than 90% of Verra's rainforest credits were likely to be phantom credits.

Company or project
Sylvera

Said 31% of the REDD+ projects it rates are high quality and 25% effectively junk.

Sylvera
Researchers
West and colleagues, Science

Of about 89 million credits in 18 projects with sufficient baseline data, 6.1% could be tied to real additional reductions.

Should the West et al. study be retracted?
Researchers
Space Intelligence, led by its chief scientist Ed Mitchard

Asked for the study to be retracted in a response published in December 2023; the company sells monitoring and verification to nature-based projects.

Ecosystem Marketplace (published by Space Intelligence)
Researchers
West and colleagues

Study stands as published in Science on 24 August 2023.

Do commercial ties compromise the raters?
Communities and civil society
Carbon Market Watch

Reported that raters sell largely to credit buyers and gave the example of one Amazon project rated high and low by different firms.

Government and regulators
Singapore

Excluded its three tendered raters from rating projects with which they have commercial relationships (3 February 2026).

Company or project
BeZero

Described its customers as energy, commodities and financial institutions.

BeZero

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • 31% of the REDD+ projects Sylvera rates are high quality and 25% are effectively junk; about 150-person team; more than 85% of REDD+ credits rated.
    Sylvera · Sylvera
  • A response asking for retraction of the West et al. study.
    Space Intelligence, in a bulletin published by the company · Ecosystem Marketplace (published by Space Intelligence)
  • BeZero's $50 million round announced with Quantum Energy Partners as lead.
    BeZero · BeZero

Recorded

  • Sylvera announced a $57 million Series B round on 18 July 2023.
    Balderton (also TechCrunch)
  • BeZero announced a $50 million Series B round on 14 November 2022; EDF's venture arm, Hitachi and ICE took part.
    BeZero
  • Carbon Market Watch reported that the same Amazon project was rated high by Sylvera and low by Calyx and BeZero, and that none of four raters includes human-rights safeguards in its ratings.
  • Sylvera and Calyx Global estimated Kariba's credits to be inflated 5 to 8 times (Bloomberg, March 2023).
  • Singapore announced on 3 February 2026 that its three tendered raters are excluded from rating projects with which they have commercial relationships.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • sylvera (2023-01-19): Said 31% of the REDD+ projects it rates are high quality and 25% effectively junk, in reply to the Guardian investigation. · Sylvera
  • space-intelligence (2023-12-12): Published a bulletin with a response, led by its chief scientist, asking for retraction of the West et al. study. · Ecosystem Marketplace (published by Space Intelligence)
  • bezero (2022-11-14): Announced a $50 million round led by Quantum Energy Partners. · BeZero

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Share of Sylvera-rated REDD+ projects called high quality
31%
Sylvera, January 2023
Share called effectively junk
25%
Sylvera, January 2023
Additional share of about 89 million credits in 18 projects
6.1%
West et al., Science, August 2023

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court caseKey earnings undisclosed

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Court

Accounts

  • Disputed How many REDD+ credits are of low quality?
  • Disputed Should the West et al. study be retracted?
  • Disputed Do commercial ties compromise the raters?

Record

  • None on record No record in the sources reviewed shows that Verra commissioned the Space Intelligence response to the West et al. study.
  • Insufficient The listing of co-authors of the Space Intelligence response is reported but not independently verified.
  • Insufficient The focus of Quantum Energy Partners on oil, gas and power plants, taken from a 2009 announcement, could not be checked and is reported but not independently verified.
  • None on record The Carbon Market Watch report on raters could not be checked against its full text.

Did the harm stop?

No stop is recorded in the sources reviewed; Singapore's February 2026 rule excludes its tendered raters from rating projects with which they have commercial ties.

Who paid?

Not established in the sources reviewed; the record concerns who funds, buys from and invests in the raters.

Sources

Voices on record: ✓ Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Company or project

  4. Bulletin carrying the Space Intelligence response to the West et al. study
    Ecosystem Marketplace (published by Space Intelligence) · 2023-12-12

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Carbon and conservation finance

Baseline
The projected scenario of what would have happened without a project, such as an expected rate of deforestation. Credits are issued for the difference between the baseline and what actually happened, so an inflated baseline produces more credits.
Buffer pool
A reserve of credits held back from sale by a carbon programme to cover future losses, such as forest burned or logged after credits were issued. It works as the programme's own insurance.
Carbon credit
A certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) that a project says it reduced, avoided or removed. Buyers use credits to balance their own emissions in climate claims.
REDD+
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. A UN framework under which forest projects earn carbon credits for deforestation they say they prevented, measured against a projected baseline.
Standard-setter and registry
An organisation that writes the rules for carbon credits, approves projects, and records when credits are issued and retired. Such bodies typically charge fees per credit.

Places and local terms

Conservancy (Kenya)
In Kenya, land managed by a community or private owners for wildlife alongside grazing, often with outside partners.