API-driven Carbon Removal Infrastructure
Paul Gambill, CEO of Nori, on tokenized projects for social good
This shows Nori was trying to turn carbon removal into a default software feature, not a one off consulting purchase. The Stripe analogy matters because the hard part in carbon is not taking a payment, it is hiding the contracting, project sourcing, verification, and retirement work behind a simple API so a carbon accounting app, checkout flow, or crypto product can trigger purchases in the background.
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Nori described itself as a price discovery company, with a 15% fee on top of the removal price and a token meant to act like a reusable pricing instrument for future purchases. In practice, the API vision was tied to making carbon buying continuous and programmable, not brokered deal by deal.
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Patch was building the closest Web2 version of this model. It sold an API and dashboard that let partners like Afterpay embed carbon removal into existing products, while abstracting away supplier contracting, portfolio construction, and post purchase retirement. That is the operating model Nori was pointing toward on the demand side.
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The clearest complement was carbon accounting software like Persefoni. These tools help a company calculate emissions, but procurement of removals is usually a separate step. Both Patch and Persefoni framed removals as a must have feature that accounting platforms would often outsource through integrations rather than build themselves.
The market has kept moving toward embedded procurement. Stripe Climate now offers Climate Orders through a dashboard and API, which confirms the shape of the category. Going forward, the winners in carbon payments will look less like registries and brokers, and more like infrastructure that sits underneath accounting software, commerce flows, and procurement systems.