Asphalt-IQ has launched CarbonVault IQ, a digital platform developed to turn real-world carbon savings from highway maintenance and infrastructure projects into traceable carbon credits-creating a new revenue stream opportunity for highways companies.
CarbonVault-IQ, developed by the founders of Hull-based Asphalt IQ, is the highways industry’s first ever fully digital carbon credit platform that turns real-world carbon savings from infrastructure and highways projects into traceable carbon credit assets.
For the first time in the highways sector, this will enable companies to develop new revenue streams each time they remove more carbon from the maintenance process. The launch of CarbonVault IQ also aligns with new government rules that will require councils to reveal exactly how well they repair their roads, letting public hold them to account long-term preventative repairs to be prioritised over costly ‘patch up’ fixes, saving motorists hundreds of pounds a year on pothole related repairs.
Carbon data is captured digitally in real time through the Asphalt-IQ apps while the work is being delivered on site. Things like treatment type, material volumes, site activity, location data, timestamps, transport information and project evidence are collected as part of the normal operational workflow. CarbonVault-IQ then compares that live project data against a detailed and defined business-as-usual baseline to calculate the carbon reduction achieved.
Once the relevant carbon credit methodology has been independently verified, and the overall system has been independently audited, those verified project reductions can be issued as digital carbon credit assets.
Money obtained from converting the carbon into credits is paid out using dynamic methods, meaning not everything is paid upfront and further payments will be related to how the road performs over the longer term. So, for example, if a road has surface dressing applied, users of CarbonVault will receive more money if the road requires no interventions after say five and then ten years. No interventions or reactive repairs on the road means no further carbon has been omitted over the lifecycle of the road.
The highways and infrastructure sector not only has a huge carbon problem, but it also has a problem with the data it collects as well.
Founder and Director of Asphalt-IQ and CarbonVault IQ, Gary Cook, said:
“CarbonVault-IQ creates a fully automated digital bridge between real infrastructure carbon reduction and real
financial value. It helps turn carbon reduction from a reporting burden into a measurable and monetisable asset that has the highest level of traceability and security. CarbonVault-IQ changes everything for the highways sector. It allows properly recorded infrastructure carbon reductions to become traceable, tradable carbon credit assets for the first time ever in the UK, creating new revenue streams for highways businesses,” he added.
(Picture: Asphalt-IQ)
