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Auditable, Additional, Assured
The Carbon Foundation’s proprietary AAA Rating System is a high-integrity overlay that sits on top of existing compliance standards such as CORSIA, assessing not only carbon performance but also environmental, social, economic and governance impacts.
Using our own protected methodology, each project is rigorously scored across these pillars to distinguish truly high-impact climate action and, where applicable, to generate additional impact attributes that can be recognised and rewarded alongside the underlying carbon credits.
purpose
AAA is not another ESG score – it is an integrity standard.
The AAA System evaluates each project against a defined scope, governing standard and rigorous MRV requirements, then layers in additional ESG metrics to produce a transparent, evidence-based rating.
A project must demonstrate measurable, independently verified real-world impact across relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals before it can qualify for an AAA rating; positive intent or narrative alone is not sufficient.
In this way, every AAA-rated unit reflects a documented chain of compliance, performance and co-benefits, providing regulators, auditors and investors with a more reliable indicator of climate value
benefit
Benchmark
While ESG ratings vary wildly between providers, AAA uses one ruleset applied consistently across projects and jurisdictions allowing for investors auditable deliverables as the benchmark.
Delivery
Clearly published rules, third-party verification requirements and data trails, either a unit meets the AAA standard or it does not; there is no “greenwashing by grade inflation” ensuring delivery.
Permanence
Only where emissions reductions or removals can be credibly maintained over the relevant horizon, and supported by robust ESG safeguards across environmental, social and governance dimensions, can a project reach AAA – aligning investor exposure with genuinely lasting climate and sustainability outcomes
Real change, quantified
01
Integrity
AAA Rating System sits on top of existing compliance standards (such as CORSIA) to independently test integrity, safeguards and impact.
03
Compliant
Built for for the compliant market, AAA helps projects exceed the due-diligence expectations of institutional buyers and governing bodies
05
Governance
Embedded safeguards, equity and stakeholder criteria help avoid weak projects, protecting corporate reputation while rewarding genuinely high-impact activity.
02
Additionality
AAA-rated credits measure every material impact, not just emissions, maximising the integrity and decision-useful value of each unit.
04
Impact
AAA translates SDG outcomes into clear, verifiable metrics, giving clients defensible impact evidence that withstands board, auditor and investor scrutiny
06
Capital Access
AAA scores create usable impact metrics for green bonds, sustainability-linked finance and performance-based structures, helping projects secure additional capital for projects
Value
The Carbon Foundation’s proprietary AAA Rating System turns vague ESG promises into quantified, decision-ready impact. For every compliance-grade carbon credit, AAA measures and scores the full spectrum of outcomes – environmental, social, economic and governance – creating a single, comparable view of integrity and performance over time. This gives companies, governments and project developers a way to monitor and manage real change – from air quality and water access to jobs, governance and equity – with metrics that can genuinely withstand scrutiny from boards, auditors, regulators and civil society.
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The AAA rating enables new revenue streams through impact tokenisation. By converting verified impact into digital tokens linked to the underlying credits, projects can access additional value from the outcomes they deliver, not just the emissions they reduce.
For impact investors operating in crowded, often opaque markets, this is a clear advantage, they gain traceable units of ESG performance that can be priced, reported and structured into green bonds, sustainability-linked instruments and outcome-based finance.
AAA is a practical solution to the core problem in today’s impact markets – The Carbon Foundation monitors, manages and then monetises real, verifiable change that is Auditable, Additional and Assured