CoreZero serializes carbon credits from food waste diversion

CoreZero, a Miami-based climate-tech company, in partnership with The Mexican Foodbanking Network (Red BAMX), Mexico City, has quantified the prevention of 221,800 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent being released into the atmosphere and transformed this into 221.800 carbon credits.

These are the world’s first carbon credits from food rescue, representing the start of an approach to offsetting that turns waste into value.

In the United States alone, the carbon dioxide emissions that food waste generates are equivalent to those of 42 coal-fired power plants. Additionally, the waste sector is accountable for about 20 percent of human-driven methane emissions globally, and methane has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over 20 years. CoreZero is helping accelerate initiatives, such as BAMX, to create an actionable impact in both food waste reduction and valorization.

This marks a turning point in the way that waste and offsetting are perceived not only by individuals but also by nongovernmental organizations and businesses. CoreZero’s methodology quantifies the impact that reducing and transforming waste has on tackling climate change. Through quantification and monetization, companies and NGOs can turn their positive impact into monetary value through carbon credits. The credits are acquirable for companies that want to offset their carbon footprint.

“We are excited to assist in driving incremental value out of waste and monetizing efforts to scale up social and environmental impacts, saving more products and reducing the food gap for those in need while contributing to climate change mitigation,” CoreZero Sustainability Director Nicolás Dobler says. “Our model can be replicated to scale the impact of zero-waste projects globally, enabling a new and disruptive vertical of offsetting that provides social, economic, and environmental benefits.”

With this approach to climate innovation, CoreZero aims to transform the 1.3 billion tons of food that is wasted every year by quantifying and monetizing the positive environmental impact of food waste minimization and valorization initiatives. The company does this by integrating into a company’s operations, measuring its positive impacts and then converting them into carbon reduction units that are tracked. These are then verified and transformed into tradable carbon credits that are monetized on the voluntary carbon market.

With more than 12 years of experience in waste management, CoreZero founder and CEO Jean Pierre Azañedo understands the responsible waste approach as a way to tackle both the climate and the hunger crisis.

“I hope this turning point contributes to a change of perspective towards waste and its value,” he says. “We designed a way to accelerate waste avoidance and valorization to tackle climate change. The potential of waste is boundless, so let’s, as a society, choose not to be wasteful with waste.”