Global Carbon Reward

What Global Carbon Reward does

Global Carbon Reward is a non-profit climate policy initiative founded in 2013 by Dr. Delton Chen and operated under the fiscal sponsorship of Inquiring Systems Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization based in Santa Rosa, California. The organization's core offering is the Carbon Reward (XCR) — a proposed sovereign-backed financial asset class designed to fund climate mitigation at scale. Unlike carbon credits, offsets, bonds, futures, or cryptocurrencies, the XCR represents verified mitigation outcomes and operates through a dual-market structure: a primary market where qualifying projects receive XCR as conditional grants for emissions reductions, renewable energy transitions, and carbon dioxide removal, and a secondary market where XCR trades among financial institutions, retail investors, and central banks with a central bank-backed price floor guarantee.

The organization's business model is entirely non-commercial, relying on donations through PayPal, credit card, checks, and donor-advised funds. It operates with approximately 20 team members, mostly on a voluntary basis, distributed globally across the USA, Australia, Thailand, Sweden, Germany, UK, Brazil, China, and Colombia. Its go-to-market is policy advocacy and academic engagement — it presents at international conferences (COP28, COP30, VERGE, SOCAP, Bank of England), publishes peer-reviewed papers, and engages directly with central banks, national governments, and multilateral institutions like the World Bank and IMF. The ultimate goal is global adoption of the XCR mechanism through UN frameworks, with the organization positioning itself as the intellectual originator of the policy framework rather than a commercial vendor.

The underlying intellectual property consists of a novel economic theory extending the concept of carbon pricing through a 'risk cost of carbon' metric, a Carbon-Balanced A-Growth development pathway, and Carbon-Quantitative Easing (CQE) as a proposed monetary policy mechanism. All mitigated carbon under the proposed framework would be owned and retired by the issuing authority, avoiding carbon offsetting and greenwashing. The organization claims the mechanism could mobilize over $3 trillion annually for verified climate mitigation without imposing costs on governments, businesses, or households or creating new public debt.

Name

Global Carbon Reward

Legal name

Inquiring Systems Inc.

Website

https://globalcarbonreward.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Global Carbon Reward is a non-profit climate policy initiative proposing XCR, a sovereign-backed financial asset class for funding verified climate mitigation through central bank price floor guarantees and conditional grants, targeting UN adoption.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Climate Finance Policy

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Exchanges (52321)

SIC

Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers (6221)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSAAALAH

Carbon Markets & Climate Finance (Offsets, Allowances, Carbon Funds)

Financial & Insurance/Asset & Wealth Management/Asset Management — ESG/Sustainable & Impact Investing

SECONDARYEUAGAIAC

Project-Originated Carbon Credit Marketing & Offtake (Primary Market)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Energy Trading, Marketing & Retail Supply/Environmental Commodities Trading (Emissions Allowances, Offsets)

SECONDARYEUABAAAB

Carbon Exchanges & Trading Venues (Spot, forward, auction platforms)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Carbon & Climate Solutions (Carbon Markets, Offsets, CCS/CCUS)/Carbon Markets Infrastructure (Registries, Exchanges, Clearing & Settlement)

SECONDARYEUABAAAE

Tokenization, Digital MRV-Linked Credits & On-Chain Carbon Infrastructure (Digital assets, provenance)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Carbon & Climate Solutions (Carbon Markets, Offsets, CCS/CCUS)/Carbon Markets Infrastructure (Registries, Exchanges, Clearing & Settlement)

Keywords

• Climate policy advocacy
• Carbon finance mechanism
• Central bank asset class
• Climate mitigation funding
• Sovereign-backed carbon asset

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Rosa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: As a non-profit initiative, Global Carbon Reward operates on donations and grants. The organization accepts PayPal donations, credit card donations, checks, and donor-advised fund contributions. No commercial revenue model exists as this is a policy proposal, not a commercial product.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Global Carbon Reward is a non-profit climate policy initiative that proposes a new sovereign-backed financial asset class called XCR (Carbon Reward) to fund climate mitigation at scale. The XCR is issued as conditional grants to qualifying mitigation projects in a Primary Market and traded among financial institutions, retail investors, and central banks in a Secondary Market, where central banks act as buyers of last resort providing a price floor guarantee. The initiative operates through policy advocacy, academic publications, and international conference engagement aimed at securing UN adoption and central bank implementation.

Product overview

Global Carbon Reward is a policy initiative rather than a traditional software product company. The core offering is the Carbon Reward (XCR) — a new sovereign-backed financial asset class designed to fund climate mitigation at scale through a dual-market mechanism. The XCR Primary Market issues XCR as conditional grants to qualifying mitigation projects for verified outcomes (emissions reduction, renewable energy transition, carbon removal). The XCR Secondary Market enables trading among financial institutions and retail investors, with central bank price floor guarantees providing market stability. The initiative also produces annual policy papers (2025, 2026) documenting the economic framework and implementation methodology. The organization is non-profit, fiscally sponsored by Inquiring Systems Inc. (501(c)3), and operates through international presentations, policy advocacy, and partnership outreach rather than commercial product delivery.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Carbon Reward (XCR) Policy Framework

Quantifiable outcome

• Potential to mobilize over $3 trillion annually for verified emissions reductions and carbon removal
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Inquiring Systems Inc. (ISI)coreOthersInquiring Systems Inc. (ISI) 501(c)(3) is the fiscal sponsor for the Global Carbon Reward Project. ISI is a non-profit organization based in Sonoma County, California, founded in 1978. ISI provides administrative, legal, and financial infrastructure for the GCR Project.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• International Emissions Trading Association (IETA): IETA is a trade association for emissions trading markets. It is comparable because GCR's proposed secondary market for XCR functions analogously to emissions trading venues, and both organizations advocate for market-based mechanisms engaging financial institutions and policymakers.
• Climate Bonds Initiative: Climate Bonds Initiative promotes investment in climate solutions through standards and labels for green bonds. It is comparable because it works in the same space of mobilizing large-scale private climate finance via innovative financial instruments, though it focuses on debt markets rather than a new asset class.
• Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS): The NGFS is a network of central banks working on climate risk management in the financial system. It is directly comparable because GCR's proposed mechanism specifically relies on central banks adopting an expanded climate finance mandate — the same constituency NGFS organizes and represents.
• Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition: The Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition is a World Bank-hosted initiative advancing carbon pricing policies globally. It is directly comparable as both organizations operate at the intersection of climate policy, finance, and government/central bank engagement, though CPLC focuses on pricing rather than rewards.

Emerging players

• Toucan Protocol: Toucan Protocol builds blockchain infrastructure for tokenized carbon credits. It is comparable because GCR's framework contemplates potential blockchain-based implementation of XCR, making Toucan a thematic peer in the digital/on-chain carbon infrastructure space.
• Stripe Climate: Stripe Climate is a carbon removal purchase platform funding frontier removal technologies. It is comparable as an emerging private-sector mechanism for channeling capital toward carbon mitigation and removal, though it focuses on voluntary purchases rather than sovereign-backed instruments.
• South Pole Group: South Pole is a climate solutions provider offering carbon advisory, project development, and climate finance services. It is comparable as both work on connecting climate projects with financing, though South Pole operates commercially in existing carbon markets while GCR advocates for a new asset class.

Broad incumbents

• Gold Standard: Gold Standard is a certification body for carbon credits and sustainable development projects. It is comparable as both organizations focus on verification of climate mitigation outcomes, though Gold Standard is established in the voluntary carbon market while GCR proposes sovereign-backed grants.
• Climate Action Tracker: Climate Action Tracker is an independent research consortium tracking government climate action and policies. It is comparable as a climate policy advocacy organization, though it focuses on monitoring existing policies rather than proposing new financial mechanisms.
• Verra: Verra operates the world's leading voluntary carbon credit standard and registry. It is comparable because both GCR and Verra address climate mitigation verification and issuance, though Verra is an established incumbent in carbon markets while GCR proposes an alternative asset class.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC4eUdq8PyfE3t5FJ8gHtd1w
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/global-carbon-reward

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Global Carbon Reward