How CitizenClimate dMRV Supports Carbon Standards International
The C-Sink Standard Built for Smallholders Needs a Monitoring Platform Built for Smallholders
Carbon Standards International's suite of C-Sink standards spans everything from Kon-Tiki biochar kilns on smallholder farms in Kenya to industrial pyrolysis plants in Europe and rock powder spread across agricultural fields in Asia. CitizenClimate is designed to serve that entire spectrum — with smartphone-based community monitoring at the artisan end and API integration with pyrolysis systems, weighbridges, and the Global C-Sink Registry at the industrial end.
Carbon Standards International (CSI) occupies a distinctive position in the CDR certification landscape. Based in Switzerland and developed in close partnership with the Ithaka Institute for carbon strategies, CSI has built one of the most scientifically rigorous and practically grounded suites of carbon sink certification standards available — covering biochar at every scale of production, tree-based sinks, enhanced rock weathering, biomass-in-construction, and a structured framework for accounting the global cooling effect of temporary carbon sinks.
What sets CSI apart is the deliberate breadth of its coverage. The Global Artisan C-Sink Standard is specifically designed for smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries using low-tech Kon-Tiki kilns or TLUD cookstoves, where annual biochar production might be as little as a few cubic metres. The Global Biochar C-Sink Standard, at the other end of the scale, serves industrial pyrolysis operations in Europe and North America with full EBC or World Biochar Certificate compliance and advanced chain-of-custody requirements. The Global Tree C-Sink explicitly calls for dMRV systems as the backbone of its monitoring approach, even requiring an API connection to the Global C-Sink Registry. And the Global Artisan C-Sink standard explicitly requires a certified smartphone application — and has a formal pathway for third-party dMRV providers to apply for CSI endorsement.
CitizenClimate is built to serve the full spectrum.
THE GLOBAL C-SINK REGISTRY — AND WHERE CITIZENCLIMATE CONNECTS
Every C-Sink certification under the CSI standards ultimately flows into the Global C-Sink Registry — a public, transparent registry that tracks the amount and location of each certified carbon sink, the carbon persistence, the vintage, and the ownership of each C-Sink unit (CINK).
The Global Tree C-Sink Standard goes further: it explicitly requires that each project's monitoring database has an API connection to the Global C-Sink Registry, ensuring that quantified C-Sink data is seamlessly transferred without manual entry gaps. This isn't a recommendation — it's a requirement.
CitizenClimate's open API is designed for exactly this kind of integration. Our platform can be configured to push verified field data — batch records, production volumes, GPS-tagged application locations, biochar quality parameters — directly to the Global C-Sink Registry in formats aligned with CSI reporting requirements. The result is an end-to-end digital data chain from field or factory to registry, with no data leakage and a clean audit trail at every step.
For projects using the CSI Biochar Tool and other online tools in the CSI ecosystem, CitizenClimate provides the field data collection layer that feeds into those calculation and reporting systems.
CITIZENCLIMATE AS AN ENDORSED dMRV PROVIDER
The Global Artisan C-Sink Standard explicitly establishes a formal pathway for dMRV providers to become endorsed by Carbon Standards International. There is an increasing demand for digital Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (dMRV) providers in the biochar production sector, particularly focusing on smallholder farmers. CSI has published formal requirements for dMRV provider endorsement, and endorsed providers gain the ability to offer their platforms to Artisan C-Sink Managers as the certified monitoring backbone for their projects.
The Global Artisan C-Sink standard states directly that its certification procedure is technically based on a digital monitoring, reporting, and verification tool — usually a dedicated smartphone application — and that Carbon Standards provides the backbone for endorsed Artisan Apps to automate data exchange to the Global C-Sink Registry.
CitizenClimate's platform architecture aligns closely with the CSI dMRV endorsement requirements. We are actively engaging with Carbon Standards International to formalise this alignment.
CSI'S FULL STANDARD SUITE — AND WHERE CITIZENCLIMATE FITS
Carbon Standards International currently operates the following active standards, covering biochar production quality, carbon sink certification, global cooling accounting, and carbon footprinting for farms and projects.
BIOCHAR PRODUCTION STANDARDS
Before carbon sinks can be certified, the biochar itself must meet quality requirements. CSI's biochar production standards ensure that pyrolysis processes are safe, that feedstocks are sustainable, and that biochar properties — carbon content, H:Corg ratio, heavy metal concentrations, PAH levels — are verified against relevant thresholds.
European Biochar Certificate (EBC)
The foundational biochar quality standard, developed by the Ithaka Institute and one of the most widely recognised biochar certification frameworks globally. EBC certification covers the entire production process — feedstock eligibility, pyrolysis parameters, biochar quality analysis in endorsed laboratories, and sustainability documentation. EBC is a prerequisite for Global Biochar C-Sink certification at the industrial scale. CitizenClimate's feedstock intake surveys and production batch documentation tools directly support the ongoing monitoring that EBC certification requires.
World Biochar Certificate (WBC)
The WBC is CSI's globally applicable companion to the EBC, designed for biochar producers outside the European context and for projects using the Global Biochar C-Sink standard. Like EBC, WBC requires endorsed laboratory analysis, sustainability documentation, and documented pyrolysis compliance. CitizenClimate supports WBC projects through feedstock chain-of-custody surveys and API integration with production facility monitoring systems.
CARBON SINK STANDARDS (GLOBAL C-SINK SUITE)
These standards certify the carbon removed from the atmosphere and stored in various physical sinks — from biochar in soil to rock powder weathered to bicarbonate, trees growing in a plantation, or biomass embedded in a building. All certified sinks are registered in the Global C-Sink Registry and issued as CINK credits.
Global Artisan C-Sink Standard, v2.1 (For smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries using Kon-Tiki or TLUD pyrolysis)
This is the CSI standard most directly aligned with CitizenClimate's core mission — and arguably the best fit of any standard we work with for what our platform does.
The Global Artisan C-Sink is designed specifically for smallholder farmers in low and lower-middle-income countries who produce biochar using low-tech Kon-Tiki flame curtain pyrolysis or TLUD cookstoves. Individual C-Sink Farmers can produce up to 100m³ of biochar per year; Artisan Pro producers up to 1,500m³. Networks of up to 1,000 C-Sink Farmers in a given region can be certified together under a single C-Sink Manager organisation.
The standard's monitoring requirements are explicitly designed around smartphone-based data collection. Artisan biochar producers capture GPS coordinates of biomass origin, biochar production sites, and soil application sites, alongside documentation of feedstock type, technology used, and biochar quality measurements. All of this is entered through a dedicated smartphone application. Carbon Standards itself provides the backbone for endorsed Artisan Apps to automate data exchange to the Global C-Sink Registry.
CitizenClimate is purpose-built for exactly this workflow. Our platform:
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Guides farmers through structured production logs with photo documentation requirements aligned to Artisan C-Sink data fields
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Captures GPS-tagged biomass origin, production location, and application site records
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Documents technology type, kiln dimensions, feedstock moisture, and batch volumes
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Records biochar application — to soil, compost, animal feed, or construction matrices — with GPS and photo evidence
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Supports multilingual interfaces for deployment across diverse farming communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
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Works fully offline for areas with poor connectivity, syncing records when connectivity is restored
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Connects to the Global C-Sink Registry via API for seamless data transfer
The standard also requires ongoing community engagement and training for C-Sink Farmers, including documentation of the transition away from open field burning where applicable. CitizenClimate's community survey tools capture this behavioural change data systematically — providing the longitudinal evidence that C-Sink Managers need to demonstrate farmer compliance over time.
For TLUD cookstove biochar production, CitizenClimate's household survey capabilities are directly applicable — capturing stove usage data, biochar output per cooking session, and soil application records at the household level.
Global Biochar C-Sink Standard, v3.2 (For industrial biochar producers holding EBC or WBC certification)
The Global Biochar C-Sink is CSI's flagship industrial-scale biochar C-sink certification, replacing the earlier EBC C-Sink standard from July 2024. It requires EBC or WBC certification of the production facility as a prerequisite, ensuring that biochar quality and process sustainability are independently verified before carbon sink credits can be issued.
At the industrial scale, CitizenClimate's primary contribution is through API integration with production facility systems. Our platform connects with pyrolysis plant monitoring software, weighbridges, and LIMS to pull batch-level data — feedstock throughput, reactor parameters, biochar yield, carbon content, H:Corg ratio — into a unified monitoring record. This creates the mandatory tracking system the Global Biochar C-Sink Standard requires: meticulous traceability of every carbon unit sequestered, from biomass intake to biochar application or permanent storage.
For non-soil applications — biochar in concrete, asphalt, composite materials — CitizenClimate's construction tracking tools and API integrations with project management systems can document the incorporation of biochar into building materials, supporting the cross-referencing with the Global Construction C-Sink Standard where applicable.
Global Tree C-Sink Standard, v2.0 (For afforestation, natural regeneration, and tree planting projects including urban forestry)
The Global Tree C-Sink explicitly places digital MRV at the centre of its certification framework, describing dMRV systems as essential to ensuring accuracy, transparency, and scalability. Each certified CO₂ unit is linked to a specific geolocation, with individual tree-level traceability where applicable. And the standard explicitly requires that each project's database maintains an API connection to the Global C-Sink Registry.
This is one of the most natural alignments for CitizenClimate's feature set in the entire CSI portfolio.
Our platform supports Global Tree C-Sink projects through:
Tree planting and survival monitoring — GPS-tagged planting records, species documentation, and periodic survival surveys across project plots. Community monitors document tree growth, canopy development, and any mortality events using structured surveys with photo documentation.
Biodiversity monitoring — the Global Tree C-Sink requires biodiversity protection and sustainable forestry management. CitizenClimate's AI-powered species identification feature enables community monitors to document flora and fauna observations across project areas, building the biodiversity evidence base that the standard requires.
Annual aerial monitoring support — the standard calls for annual aerial monitoring as a security measure. CitizenClimate's GPS-tagged ground surveys provide the complementary ground truth data that validates remote sensing interpretations and supports third-party verification.
API connection to the Global C-Sink Registry — CitizenClimate's open API pushes project-level monitoring data directly to the Registry in real time, meeting the explicit connectivity requirement the standard mandates.
Community engagement documentation — tree planting projects that involve local communities need ongoing evidence of farmer and community participation. CitizenClimate's community survey tools document landowner consent, management activity, and community benefit-sharing throughout the project lifetime.
Global Rock C-Sink Standard (For enhanced rock weathering projects applying silicate rock powder to agricultural or other land)
Enhanced rock weathering distributes finely ground silicate rocks — typically basalt — across agricultural fields, where the rock reacts with water and CO₂ to form bicarbonates, drawing carbon from the atmosphere and ultimately sequestering it in soils and waterways. The Global Rock C-Sink Standard provides the certification framework for this process, including soil chemistry monitoring, sampling protocols, and C-sink curve calculation.
CitizenClimate's role in Global Rock C-Sink projects mirrors our approach to Puro Standard ERW verification:
Rock powder application tracking — GPS-tagged field surveys documenting application site, volume per hectare, rock type and particle size, and application date. For large-scale programmes with multiple participating farms, CitizenClimate is the most practical way to collect this data at scale without gaps in the field record.
Soil sampling coordination — CitizenClimate surveys schedule, document, and track soil sampling activities, linking samples to GPS coordinates, field photos, and timestamped records for laboratory analysis traceability.
API integration with spreading equipment — where GPS-tracked lime spreaders or other application equipment generate telemetry data, CitizenClimate ingests these records via API, cross-checking machine-recorded application volumes against field-observed conditions.
Farmer and community engagement — many ERW projects involve participating farmers who host rock powder applications.
CitizenClimate surveys document farmer participation, application compliance, and observed crop and soil condition changes — providing ongoing community engagement evidence and agricultural co-benefit data.
Global Construction C-Sink Standard, v1.0 (Active August 2025 — for buildings and infrastructure containing certified biomass-derived carbon)
A Construction C-Sink is a building or infrastructure project that contains a validated and verified amount of biomass-derived carbon protected from oxidation for verifiable periods — typically the building's lifetime of around 60 years. The standard requires lifecycle assessment of the construction, GHG emission accounting for all production steps, and ongoing monitoring of the construction's existence as a registered carbon sink.
CitizenClimate supports Global Construction C-Sink projects through:
Biochar and biomass material tracking — API integration with procurement and project management systems to document the specification, volume, and destination of Construction C-Sink Materials within a building project.
Construction site monitoring — structured survey tools documenting the incorporation of C-Sink Materials at key construction stages, with GPS and photo evidence that links physical installation to registry records.
Building condition monitoring — annual verification that the construction continues to exist as a registered carbon sink can be supported by structured periodic inspection surveys, supplementing the automated monitoring the standard describes.
ADDITIONAL CSI STANDARDS AND TOOLS
Global Cooling Standard CSI's Global Cooling framework provides an innovative approach to accounting for the climate impact of temporary carbon sinks. Rather than requiring permanent storage, Global Cooling correctly accounts for the time-dependent cooling effect of any verified C-sink — recognising that a carbon sink held for 20 years provides a genuine and measurable climate cooling benefit even if it is ultimately released. CitizenClimate's monitoring data contributes to Global Cooling accounting by providing the ongoing evidence that registered temporary sinks continue to exist and function as documented.
World-Climate Farm Tool CSI's World-Climate Farm Tool calculates the carbon footprint of farms and agricultural operations, providing the baseline emissions data against which C-sink performance is measured. CitizenClimate's farm-level survey tools can collect the agricultural activity and management data that feeds into farm carbon footprint calculations — bridging the gap between field-level observations and the World-Climate Farm Tool's computational framework.
WHY THE ARTISAN C-SINK IS SUCH A STRONG CITIZENCLIMATE FIT — AND WHAT MAKES IT WORK IN THE FIELD
The Global Artisan C-Sink Standard is genuinely unlike any other C-sink certification in its approach to the monitoring problem. It doesn't pretend that smallholder farmers in rural Kenya or coastal Indonesia have access to industrial monitoring infrastructure. Instead, it has built a certification framework explicitly around smartphones and community-level data collection — and has created a formal ecosystem of endorsed dMRV providers to deliver it.
Artisan biochar producers capture crucial data such as GPS coordinates of biomass origin, biochar production and soil application sites, crop rotation and harvest data, and quantification of biomass residues used for biochar making. All of this flows through a certified smartphone application.
What makes this work in practice requires careful thought about community engagement, training, and sustained participation. Farmers who are producing small volumes of biochar, managing their normal agricultural activities, and learning a new documentation practice simultaneously need a monitoring system that feels natural rather than burdensome. CitizenClimate's gamification features, badge systems, and multilingual interface are designed precisely for this context.
The standard also requires that C-Sink Managers go beyond app-based declaration to verify that registered carbon sinks were actually set up in the declared quality and quantity. CitizenClimate's bidirectional survey design — which includes mechanisms for community monitors to flag anomalies and exceptions — supports this independent quality assurance layer, complementing rather than replacing the physical inspection requirements the standard mandates.
API INTEGRATION FOR CSI INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS
For Global Biochar C-Sink and Global Construction C-Sink projects operating at industrial scale, CitizenClimate's API integration capabilities cover the same ground as we described for Puro Standard projects — and with the additional context that many CSI-certified industrial producers also seek EBC or WBC certification, which requires detailed production records that industrial monitoring systems generate automatically.
CitizenClimate integrates with:
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Pyrolysis plant monitoring systems — pulling reactor parameters, feedstock throughput, biochar yield, and energy data directly from SCADA or PLC systems into a unified C-sink monitoring record
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Weighbridges — logging feedstock intake and biochar output batch weights with timestamps, creating the mass balance records that VVB audits require
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Laboratory information systems (LIMS) — ingesting biochar quality analysis results (carbon content, H:Corg, heavy metals, PAH) and linking them to the production batches they relate to
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The Global C-Sink Registry — pushing verified monitoring data to the registry via API, meeting the connectivity requirement explicitly stated in the Global Tree C-Sink Standard and valuable for all other CSI standards
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Logistics and delivery systems — tracking biochar from production facility to application site, creating the chain-of-custody records that document eligible end-use application
This integrated architecture means that a CSI-certified producer — whether a small NGO running an Artisan C-Sink network in Malawi or an industrial biochar facility in Germany — can manage their entire MRV workflow through a single connected platform.
From Kon-Tiki Kilns to Industrial Reactors — CitizenClimate Covers the Full CSI Spectrum
Whether you're a project coordinator running a smallholder biochar network in the Global South, an industrial biochar producer seeking to streamline your Global Biochar C-Sink verification, or a project developer looking at Global Tree or Rock C-Sink certification, CitizenClimate can provide the dMRV infrastructure you need — and the API connections to back it up.
We are also actively engaging with Carbon Standards International about formal dMRV provider endorsement under the Global Artisan C-Sink Standard. If you're interested in joining that conversation, we'd love to hear from you.
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