An AI check on carbon projects before the money moves

Due diligence on a carbon project means working through lengthy project documents, registry records, methodologies, satellite data and technical reports, Anirudh Mannattil says, and that makes it "expensive and inaccessible."

CarbonCredible is his answer. It is an AI-powered platform that helps organisations assess the credibility of carbon projects before capital is deployed. The AI reviews project documentation, pulls out key information, identifies potential gaps and structures the findings into a standardised assessment framework. The team is also exploring satellite and geospatial data to check project claims against outside evidence. The goal, he says, is to reduce information asymmetry rather than replace human experts.

“The journey is the outcome.”

Anirudh Mannattil

He started it because, he says, "I saw a major trust gap in the carbon market."

He studies on the Renaissance Engineering Programme at Nanyang Technological University, taking Computer Science and Technology Management, and co-founded CarbonCredible with collaborators across Singapore, Indonesia and Africa. It began as a hackathon idea. Since then it has achieved 21 startup and innovation competition placements, including 7 podium finishes and 4 first-place wins. He says the team has had support from Regen Network and Nestlé, from the United Nations through the UNITAR programme, and from Nanyang Technological University, the National University of Singapore and Universitas Indonesia; mentorship through KPMG; and interest from investors including Fresh Mango Capital, 1752 VC and LVLUP Ventures. The team also widened its reach through the Founders for Founders programme under s16vc, for which he was selected as the only undergraduate from Singapore, and where he met another team member, from the Netherlands.

Two other projects have started since. SteadyStep is an AI-based gait monitoring tool, which took a SGD 3,000 prize at the NUS Medical Grand Challenge. PRESSWISE is a smart bedsheet for detecting bed sores in elderly patients, which won a SGD 3,000 grant from Nanyang Technological University.

The competitions are not what he values most. That, he says, has been "learning directly from industry practitioners."

"I care about CarbonCredible because climate finance only works when people can trust where money is going," he says. "Better transparency means more capital can reach high-quality projects that deserve it."

Today CarbonCredible is in the validation and product development stage, with working prototypes built. He says proxy users and prospective clients are waiting to test the platform, and that the team is partnering with NGOs in Indonesia, Singapore and the United States. The current focus is on making the scoring framework more robust, expanding the data sources and keeping every assessment explainable.

"At its core, CarbonCredible is about trust," he says.