4.5 minutes

On Shopify’s ecommerce technology platform, carbon-removal company Graphyte and ranching business Sneary Cattle are selling carbon-removal credits to other businesses, households and individuals.

Shopify Inc. sees a robust future in the business of buying and selling carbon credits online.

Last week it introduced Carbon Commerce, which “is a new way for climate tech companies, project developers, and brokers to manage and sell carbon credits,” David Vranicar, Shopify’s product operations lead for sustainability, announced on LinkedIn.

We’re committed to empowering buyers at companies of all sizes with access to affordable, high-quality credits, and Shopify helps us do exactly that.
Barclay Rogers, CEO
Graphyte Inc.

Carbon Commerce enables sellers on the Shopify ecommerce platform “to manage various transaction types, including pre-purchase agreements, long-term offtakes, and spot purchases,” Shopify says. It adds that the platform also provides inventory management tools that “project evolving stock levels, ensuring sellers can confidently match supply with demand.”

The platform integrates with CRM and ERP systems, such as HubSpot and Salesforce, as well as carbon-specific management companies including carbon storage provider Frontier Carbon Solutions, data management firm Alcove, and Isometric, which certifies carbon credit sales transactions.

Shopify’s carbon credit platform attracts buyers and sellers

Early users of Shopify’s online carbon credit-selling technology include carbon-removal company Graphyte Inc. and Grassroots Carbon Public Benefit LLC, a Texas-based soil carbon credit company that connects American ranchers with companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

Barclay Rogers_Graphyte

Barclay Rogers, CEO, Graphyte Inc.

“Shopify makes it simple to sell carbon credits to customers of any size,” Graphyte CEO Barclay Rogers says, adding, “We’re committed to empowering buyers with access to affordable, high-quality credits.”

Grassroots Carbon says it has released over $200,000 in payments to Texas ranchers for soil carbon credits. “The ranchers are paid for capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide in their healthy soils, which they achieved through the use of regenerative grazing practices,” Grassroots says.

A cattle ranch finds broad value in Shopify’s Carbon Commerce

At the Sneary Cattle ranch, a Grassroots Carbon client, the ability to sell carbon credits online has bolstered Sneary’s regenerative management business model, rancher Loy Sneary says.

“For ranchers who are considering the type of regenerative grazing management we are doing, this payment could very well give them the impetus to move into this type of grazing management,” he says. Regenerative grazing involves maintaining healthy soil with mixtures of water and carbon to support plant life.”

“The other thing that is exciting about it is seeing the companies buying the carbon credits from Grassroots Carbon and their commitment to actually reducing their carbon footprint,” adds Sneary, who is also the president and CEO of Gulf Coast Green Energy. “This is more than just a paragraph on their website that says they are being good stewards of the environment; these folks are actually putting their money where their mouth is, and I really appreciate that.”

Shopify says its technology partners, including carbon credit transaction certifier Isometric, add critical value to online carbon credit transactions.

“We’re pleased to verify Graphyte’s innovative carbon removal activities and to enable access to our scientifically rigorous verification services for all buyers,” says Lukas May, Isometric’s head of expansion and policy. “With the launch of this Shopify store, you no longer need to be a large corporation to be confident in purchasing carbon removal.

“Small businesses and individuals can now incorporate carbon removal credits into their sustainability plans. And no matter the size of their purchase, they can benefit from the highest quality independent verification available on the market. This is a critical step to unlocking new demand and therefore helping carbon removal reach the gigatonne scale that the planet needs.”

Isometric has strong ties with Shopify. Stacy Kauk, Isometric’s head of science, was Shopify’s head of sustainability between 2020 and 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Shopify says it is also “empowering sustainable commerce and has made significant impacts on the carbon removal market” through its Sustainability Fund, which it launched in 2020. Since then, the ecommerce technology company says it has committed over $30 million for sustainability projects to more than “20 companies across nine different verticals, from ocean-based removal to direct air capture to soil carbon storage.”

In Shopify’s most recently reported quarter, the company said gross merchandise volume rose 22% year over year to $67.2 billion as revenue grew 21% to $2.0 billion.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].

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