ClimeFi Co-Founder Paolo Piffaretti On The Growing CDR Asset Mgmt Opportunity

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Q: You’re a Co-Founder of ClimeFi — what led to starting the company?

A: Before we founded ClimeFi, I worked as Head of Net Zero for Algolia. As a corporate buyer of CDR at the time, I felt there were no organizations that exclusively represented the corporate buyer’s interests, facilitating and de-risking the procurement of CDRs without any conflicts of interest. 

The market is highly complex and comes with certain risks. ClimeFi addresses the need for a company to provide corporate buyers with the guarantees and de-risking capabilities to rationalize and streamline the procurement of CDR. 

Q: What does ClimeFi offer, and what makes it stand out?

A: ClimeFi is the leading portfolio manager for durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) assets. We provide businesses with the tools, insights, and access they need to integrate carbon removals into their climate strategy, ensuring credibility, transparency, and long-term value creation. ClimeFi helps companies to ensure that they are allocating their resources in the best possible way, and maximizes the delivery probability of CDR credits. 

Our unique business model is what truly sets us apart. We exclusively focus on the buy-side, only taking fees from our buyers and never from the supplier. In this way, we ensure that the buyer’s best interests are at the heart of everything that we do. At the same time, we exclusively focus on durable CDR. This combination translates into the highest level of sophistication on the market.

Q: Where do you think ClimeFi will be in 3 years — and what product innovations are coming soon?

A: In three years, I believe ClimeFi will have consolidated its position as the leading CDR asset manager. 

We look to be at the forefront of facilitating compliance markets, including International Transfer Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, building on our historic pilot deal between Norway and Switzerland.

In terms of product innovation, we’re focused on building technology that enhances market transparency. We recently launched our Analyst Rating — a first-of-its-kind innovation inspired by the financial sector’s equity and credit analysis — to help inform portfolio management decisions. We will continue to expand on our market intelligence tools as the market develops.

Q: What are the main unsolved questions in the carbon and carbon removal sector of the future, in your opinion?

A: The main unsolved questions are primarily centered around policy and standardization. 

How will domestic and international policies be fully operationalized to create clear, long-term market signals for project developers and buyers? And how can we unlock the massive amounts of capital needed to scale these projects from a megaton to a gigaton scale? 

Q: If you were not dedicating so much resources to carbon removal, where else would you dedicate them?

A: I would dedicate resources to try and solve the energy crisis that we are facing, working on different ways to develop abundant, affordable green energy across the globe, helping to power the green transition.

Q: What trends are you most excited about? 

A: The momentum behind durable CDR is very exciting. There is a growing consensus that emissions reductions alone will no longer be enough, and corporate buyers and policymakers are increasingly prioritizing durable, verifiable carbon removal that stores CO₂ for centuries. This is a game-changer for the market.

In recent months, we have seen a number of very exciting new developments in the CDR space. The volume of available CDR is increasing, we are seeing a growing number of purchase commitments stemming from a broadening range of buyer profiles — including some of the heavier emitting industries — and, perhaps most importantly, we are seeing the emergence of regulation enforcing CDR. 

Q: Where is your company located, and how do you feel its location is impacting your trajectory and product?

A: The ClimeFi team is spread across Zurich, Paris, London, New York, and more recently, Singapore.  

All of our locations have proved a major advantage. Zurich is a global hub for finance and climate innovation, providing us with access to world-class talent and a strong ecosystem of partners. Being in France and Europe more broadly has given us a front-row seat to watch CDR policy developments unfold, and London is quickly emerging as a leader in CDR, with exciting new companies appearing all over the city. 

Feet on the ground in New York has also allowed us to stay on top of the ever-changing market landscape in the US, while our strategic move into Singapore has been timed to coincide with the promising signals coming from APAC. 

Q: What are overlooked opportunities in cleantech, or carbontech more specifically?

A: The CDR market is new and highly fragmented. Investors and corporations face significant risk and uncertainty when committing to a project, particularly in long-term contracts. 

There is certainly a need to benchmark CDR projects in a standardized way, that makes it easy for the buyer to identify CDR category leaders. We have recently launched our Analyst Ratings, and are looking to fill this gap in the future.

Q: If you were to found ClimeFi again, what would you do differently? And what makes you proud looking at where ClimeFi is today?

A: I am very proud that ClimeFi is where it is today. We have already been a pioneer in a number of ways: we facilitated the first-ever transfer of ERW credits, as well as first-ever CDR-backed ITMO transfer. ClimeFi is now firmly one the leading CDR asset managers, boasting the strongest team on the market. 

In terms of doing things differently, I am very happy with the decisions that we have made as we have grown — although, I do have a growing interest in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which we are now following closely at ClimeFi.

Q: And lastly, if you could enact one policy for climate, what would it be?

A: The single most impactful policy for climate would be to mandate the integration of high-integrity, durable CDR credits into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). This policy is not just about adding a new tool to the climate toolbox; it’s about fundamentally redesigning the market to drive both emissions reduction and carbon removal simultaneously.