This is a bet on market infrastructure, not another carbon-credit originator, because Equitable Earth is scaling the certification rails that buyers are increasingly demanding.
UK-based Equitable Earth, formerly ERS, has raised EUR 12.6 million in funding from AENU, noa and LocalGlobe, according to FinSMEs. The company will use the proceeds to expand its certification programme for nature-based carbon projects.
Why this round matters
The voluntary carbon market has spent the past two years correcting for weak governance and uneven quality. In that environment, the scarcity is shifting from project pipelines to standards and verification frameworks that can survive buyer scrutiny.
Equitable Earth is positioning itself directly in that gap. Its certification programme has been formally approved as eligible under the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles (CCP) as of 3 June 2025, placing it in what the ICVCM describes as a small group of standards meeting requirements around governance, transparency, tracking and robust third-party verification.
That approval is a practical commercial signal: many corporate buyers and intermediaries are tightening procurement rules, and CCP alignment is becoming a shorthand for “investable” integrity. For a certification provider, it can shorten sales cycles and improve acceptance across marketplaces and counterparties.
What Equitable Earth is selling
Founded in 2020, Equitable Earth describes itself as “the global standard for conservation and restoration projects on the carbon markets.” Its standard is built around strict eligibility criteria, rigorous measurement protocols and modern verification procedures, including centralised carbon accounting and contracted independent verification bodies.
On methodology, Equitable Earth’s Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) approach has been cited by ratings agency Sylvera as “among the most rigorous and trustworthy in the market.” While ratings opinions are not the same as regulatory endorsement, they matter because many credit purchasers now use third-party ratings as a filter before allocating budget.
Investor rationale: scaling supply, not just claims
The investors are underwriting expansion at the moment high-integrity supply is constrained. Equitable Earth has said it plans to increase the market’s supply of high-integrity nature-based carbon credits by certifying millions of additional hectares.
One backer, Arjun Jairaj, framed the round as helping the business meet demand and “cementing its position as a market leader in high-integrity, nature-based certification.”
Execution risks to watch
The opportunity is clear, but so are the operational hurdles:
- Scaling without dilution: Certification businesses live or die by consistency. Expanding coverage while keeping audit quality uniform is the core execution risk.
- Market dependence: Even with stronger integrity frameworks, demand for voluntary credits can remain cyclical and sensitive to corporate sentiment and policy signals.
- Competitive pressure: As CCP-aligned standards remain limited, competition will intensify around project onboarding, verifier capacity and data systems.
Outlook
If Equitable Earth can translate ICVCM CCP eligibility into faster adoption by major buyers and platforms, this funding round should accelerate its role as a “picks-and-shovels” provider to nature-based carbon markets. The near-term test is whether it can scale throughput while preserving the rigour that earned approval in the first place.