The Digital Carbon Group.

Energy and environmental markets · Market infrastructure · Digital asset law

Minding the gaps and points of interconnection between digitization and decarbonization.

Underpinning both carbon accounting and environmental market systems sit a data layer, where the collection, measurement and verification is quickly evolving to allow companies and their agents to manage environmental performance on the basis of interoperable data models and protocols.

Above that data layer sits an accountability and reporting framework layer that attempts to contextualize and use information as fodder for policy-based objectives. Between the two there is no joint and common market coordination architecture — no institutional system of record capable of enabling verifiable attribute and performance information to transact and clear the rights to those attributes and performance claims across every sector at scale. That structural gap is not just a data problem or an environmental integrity problem. It is a social network, information coordination, and market design problem. The transition economy is missing a market governance layer that all mature markets build.

D. Cameron Prell · Managing Partner

Section drawing: a market in three floors An architectural section through three floors. The bottom floor, data and measurement, is built. The top floor, carbon accounting and disclosure, is built. The middle floor is the market layer that constitutes and transfers rights; it is drawn in dashed outline and stamped Never Built. THIRD FLOOR Carbon accounting, net zero targets and disclosure — frameworks, e-liability, reporting NEVER BUILT SECOND FLOOR Market layer — system of record, title, exclusive control, clearance FIRST FLOOR Data and measurement — sensors, MRV, verification
  • Third floorCarbon accounting, net zero targets and disclosure — frameworks, e-liability, reporting
  • Second floor — never builtMarket layer — system of record, title, exclusive control, clearance
  • First floorData and measurement — sensors, MRV, verification
Fig. 1 — Section through a market for digitized attributes. The first and third floors were built by different people for different purposes and were never designed to bear on each other. The second floor is what a market is. The section holds for any market digitizing its attributes in order to transact them.

What I do

Current areas of work

  • Market infrastructure design and governance
  • Energy and environmental commodities and derivatives transactions
  • Digital asset law
  • Sovereign and multilateral institutional advisory
  • Agentic AI platform development

More about the practice →

Notes by email · no more than monthly