Verified Carbon Files Patent for AI Platform That Gives Carbon Storage a Credit Rating

Verified Carbon has filed a US provisional patent for CarbonIQ, an AI-driven platform that scores and rates geologic carbon storage projects on a standardized scale from AAA to D, the same rating system capital markets already use for bonds, pipelines, and other traded assets.

The Texas-based company, founded by University of Texas at Austin researchers, is making a direct argument that carbon storage's biggest obstacle isn't technology. It's the absence of financial infrastructure.

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Right now, technical due diligence on a single CO2 storage project can take months, sometimes years. Every project is reviewed individually, by different reviewers applying different methodologies. The result is a confidential PDF, not a comparable or tradable score. That makes it nearly impossible for banks to underwrite, insurers to price, or commodities traders to build positions around carbon storage assets. CarbonIQ is designed to fix that.

How the platform works

The system converts raw subsurface monitoring data into a composite verification score using ensemble reservoir modeling, statistical scoring, agentic AI orchestration, and cryptographic audit trails. Each project gets a single score built from 17 metrics, compressed using principal component analysis for comparability across basins.

Every score is cryptographically committed to an immutable record, making it independently verifiable and tamper-proof. Verified Carbon says the platform can compress verification timelines from years to hours.

Ratings from AAA to BBB represent investment-grade geologic storage with high containment confidence and low leakage risk. Anything below that sits outside the investment threshold, with D assigned to unrated or at-risk projects.

The provisional patent, filed April 28, 2026, under UT Austin Provisional Application No. 64/051,494, covers 59 claims across the platform's methodology and architecture.

Coleman White, co-inventor of CarbonIQ and co-founder of Verified Carbon, said: "Carbon is becoming a commodity and it should be treated like one. If carbon markets are going to scale globally, projects need standardised ratings, independent audits, and transparent risk profiles."

Dr. Tip Meckel, Research Professor at the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, added: "Subsurface storage verification has historically been a non-unique problem. CarbonIQ introduces a quantitative and reproducible framework for ranking storage performance, uncertainty, and geologic reliability across projects."

What standardized ratings unlock

A rated carbon storage project becomes a financeable one in the same way a rated bond becomes a tradable one. Banks could underwrite carbon storage using the same risk metrics they apply to pipelines. Insurers could stratify containment risk across portfolios. Traders could build derivatives and speculate on carbon storage performance.

The platform could also support 45Q tax credit substantiation and EPA Class VI permitting compliance by providing a transparent, reproducible audit trail, regulatory touchpoints that are increasingly critical as more CCS projects come online.

About Verified Carbon

Verified Carbon is a Texas-based carbon infrastructure company founded by University of Texas at Austin researchers. It develops CCS, CCUS, and direct air capture projects, with a focus on building the capital markets infrastructure needed to scale permanent CO2 storage. CarbonIQ is designed to serve CCS developers seeking investment-grade certification, carbon registries integrating standardized scoring, and fund managers deploying capital into verified geologic storage.