5. Stakeholders Ecosystem in Offtake Agreements
Stakeholders involved in CDR play roles essential for successful Offtake Agreement deployments and may have different requirements to ensure Offtake Agreements are meeting their respective standards at each activity level.
In the architecture of carbon removal markets, buyers and suppliers deserve equal weight. Treating them as counterparties of equal primacy underscores the balance of the market.
Beyond this dyad, the stakeholder landscape becomes more complex. Aside from buyers and suppliers, stakeholders include accredited carbon removal standard bodies, registries, investors, verifiers, legal experts, and researchers, among others.
A list of relevant stakeholders and their role in Offtake Agreement deployments is provided below, divided by three classification types (primary, secondary, and case-specific):
Primary
Buyers: entities purchasing CDR credits.
Suppliers: entities implementing CO₂ capture projects, generating CDR credits.
Verifiers: third parties responsible for verifying that the CDR process follows an established protocol.
Standard Operators: define methodologies, MRV requirements, and CDR credit specifications.
Standard Setters: These ultimately define what a CDR credit is (attributes, permanence, eligibility). Their role is quasi-legislative in the VCM and needs explicit recognition in stakeholder maps.
Registries: institutions that grant, track, and retire CDR credits. They are sometimes the same entity as the standard operator, but not always. This means contracts need to distinguish between "issuance risk" (standards) and "custody/retirement risk" (registries).
Secondary
Rating Agencies: If a buyer requires, say, a BeZero or Sylvera minimum rating, this creates a new category of case-specific stakeholders. Including rating agencies clarifies that the transaction's success may depend on external benchmarks outside the control of the buyer or the supplier.
Investors / bankers: institutions able to provide capital for the procurement, development, and operation of CDR projects.
Brokers: intermediary between suppliers and registries, as well as between registries and buyers. Facilitate transactions by matching buyers and suppliers, but do not themselves hold the CDR credits. Their liability is generally limited, but contracts should clarify agency vs. principal roles.
Marketplaces: Differ from brokers in that they often provide infrastructure for trading, custody, and retirement. Marketplaces may impose additional contractual frameworks on suppliers and buyers, which can conflict with or supersede bilateral agreements. This creates a new category of stakeholder that is distinct from traditional brokers.
Case-Specific
Researchers: academics and experts in science, engineering, policy, and social impact, actively working to advance CDR technologies or markets.
Legal experts: lawyers with experience in contracting in CDR.
Insurers: entities providing CDR-specific risk-protection mechanisms to both the supplier and the buyer.
Successful establishment of Offtake Agreements requires thorough engagement of multiple stakeholders. It is important to distinguish between credited carbon removal standard bodies (which OSCAR defines as the "Carbon Standard Body") and carbon registries (which OSCAR defines as the "Registry"). While in many cases, they are housed within the same organization, their functions differ in meaningful ways. The role of issuing an asset—essentially bringing a CDR credit into existence—carries different responsibilities and risks than the ongoing task of holding, transferring, or retiring that asset in a Registry.
The influence of standard setters must also be acknowledged. They define the specifications of a CDR credit and its intended purpose, thereby shaping both the supply and demand sides of the market. Looking ahead, rating agencies may also become relevant stakeholders where a minimum rating or quality level is required for certain transactions.
To bring order to this increasingly diverse ecosystem, it may be useful to classify stakeholders into three categories: primary (buyers, suppliers, standard operators), secondary (registries, rating agencies, auditors), and case-specific (public authorities, philanthropic actors, insurers).
Securing financing partners beyond the offtaker is key for project scalability, and these partners also rely on the Offtake Agreement to assess bankability. Verifiers receive project data from the supplier for auditing and ensuring compliance with the agreed protocol and feed this verified data into the registry, which issues and tracks CDR credits.
Engaging with government officials and regulators is also necessary to comply with permitting regulations and overarching requirements for transaction and verification. Local organizations should also be engaged to disseminate information related to the project and mitigate any major public opposition around the deployment site.
Legal experts play a key role in shaping the Offtake Agreement for each specific case, managing both sides' interests and needs. Other stakeholders, such as researchers, subject matter experts, and EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) firms, can be consulted and engaged as necessary, where their advice and expertise are necessary.