Residual Carbon has signed 25 major buyers to its new procurement portal ahead of a public launch, with subscribers spanning technology companies, banks, consultancies and commodities houses.

The New York-based carbon removal developer, founded by executives from ratings agency BeZero and carbon insurer Oka, unveiled the platform on Tuesday. It centralizes project pricing, delivery schedules and risk assessments into a single interface so prospective customers can screen Residual's portfolio before committing to a full data-room review.

"We have 25 of the top buyers in the market already subscribed to see our projects on the portal," said Ted Christie-Miller, co-founder of Residual.

Why move diligence earlier?

The platform targets a structural bottleneck in voluntary carbon removal purchasing. Buyers typically see marketing-grade project descriptions until late in negotiations, when commercial terms, delivery schedules and unresolved risks become visible. Residual says its portal publishes those commercial terms up front — a meaningful shift in a market where pricing has historically been negotiated behind closed doors.

"We spent years on the diligence side of the table, so we know where the time goes," said Dr. Laura Fritsch, co-founder of Residual. "We built the portal to put pricing, risk and delivery information in front of buyers at the screening stage, not after a project has already cleared internal hurdles."

Buyers using the portal can model larger purchases, compare available vintages and calculate blended portfolio costs across Residual's project pipeline. The company also layers in its own assessment of unresolved project risks and planned mitigations. An embedded AI assistant named Clara can search project materials and data-room appendices while citing its sources.

How concentrated is the buyer pool?

The launch lands as durable carbon removal contracting accelerates but remains structurally narrow. CDR.fyi reported 2.3 million tonnes of durable carbon removal were contracted in the first quarter of 2026, with more than 113 purchasers accounting for 1.3 million tonnes outside Microsoft's deal alone.

That concentration has shaped procurement infrastructure across the market. The European Commission's 2026 Buyers Club is designed to bring buyers and suppliers together while developing shared diligence tools and standardized contracting practices — the same friction points Residual says its portal addresses for proprietary use.

What changes for developers?

Residual's strategy reframes the company's role from project showcase to transaction infrastructure, putting bankability, delivery evidence and transparency ahead of capacity announcements. The World Economic Forum has identified fragmented standards, accounting rules and limited capital access as the principal barriers to scaling the sector, and Residual's portal sits squarely inside that conversation.

The portal could accelerate that shift in practice. Residual said one of its projects is expected to reach issuance within the next 12 months, giving the platform a potential role in converting screening-stage buyers into transacting counterparties rather than passive observers.

The next milestone to watch: whether the European Commission's Buyers Club publishes shared diligence standards that compete with — or integrate into — proprietary portals like Residual's before the close of 2026. That decision will determine whether early-stage procurement tools standardize around open protocols or fragment further into developer-controlled systems.