FAQs

The Center for Green Market Activation (GMA) is a US-based, globally-focused nonprofit dedicated to decarbonizing the hardest to abate sectors of the economy. We catalyze markets for low-carbon fuels, materials and services in heavy transport and industry by standing up systems that activate and aggregate currently untapped corporate demand.

Currently, GMA has sector-specific programs in aviation, maritime shipping, heavy-duty trucking, cement & concrete, and chemicals. We also have a program dedicated to GHG accounting and target-setting standards, which primarily supports the AIM Platform.

A book and claim system is a chain of custody model that separates, or decouples, a physical good or service from its environmental benefits (for example, emission reductions).  Those benefits are “booked” as environmental attribute certificates (EACs) on a registry and can then be transferred to an organization and claimed towards a climate target.  Book and claim systems allow organizations to support decarbonized goods and services (like sustainable aviation fuel or zero-emission trucking) even when they can’t physically access the product, for example, due to availability in a specific location.

An environmental attribute certificate (EAC) represents the emission reductions or low emissions profile of a low carbon good or service, separated from the physical good or service. Within a book and claim system registry, EACs are issued, tracked, and eventually retired by a buyer and used towards a climate target. By purchasing an EAC, buyers support low carbon technologies even when physical delivery of the product or service is not feasible.

Book and claim systems are sector-specific and therefore attractive to organizations with the goal of driving decarbonization of particular sectors. They are most often utilized by companies with “Scope 3” or “value chain” targets validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), since SBTi does not allow the use of carbon offsets to meet SBTs. By contrast, carbon offsets allow companies to support emission reductions projects not associated with their value chain.

Demand aggregation is one of GMA’s primary tools to achieve impact. By pooling demand for low carbon goods and services among multiple companies through a GMA-managed buyers alliance, we send a significant signal to the market, capture economies of scale, and provide suppliers with confidence to scale production of low carbon products and services.

Our buyers’ alliance members include corporations and other organizations who want to address and mitigate their value chain emissions from heavy transport and industrial sectors. Access to our collective procurements, expert resources and other benefits is open to organizations who are supportive of GMA’s mission, have engaged with one or more of GMA’s programs, and have paid applicable membership fees. Note that there is no cost for suppliers to respond to our RFPs or otherwise participate in our procurements.

Because book and claim drives investment into sectors within a company’s value chain (as opposed to carbon offsetting, see above), some refer to this as “insetting.” Since the term insetting is used to mean slightly different things by different organizations, GMA tends to avoid its use and refer, instead, to value chain mitigation or abatement.

Book and claim systems expand access to low-carbon products by allowing companies to invest in sustainable options, like electric vehicles or low-carbon cement, even when those options aren’t physically available to them, or when their supply chain cannot be fully traced. They expand the population of potential buyers in nascent markets that need demand most.