Carbon markets face a credibility crunch. Manual MRV is slow, costly and prone to error. Digital MRV (dMRV) promises transparent, near‑real‑time proof of impact—yet many solutions lack on‑ground validation at scale. Anaxee Digital Runners bridges this gap with a 40,000‑member field force synced to an AI‑driven data cloud, slashing verification costs by up to 70 % while empowering smallholders across 120,000 Indian villages.
1 The Trust Deficit in Carbon Markets
By 2025 the voluntary carbon market (VCM) surpassed USD 2.1 billion in annual value. Yet credibility lags. A 2024 Guardian investigation found that nearly 30 % of issued credits showed overstated impact or dubious baselines. Corporations—fearful of greenwashing headlines—now demand bulletproof data trails.
Traditional MRV, built on sporadic field visits and manual paperwork, simply cannot meet today’s expectations for timeliness, granularity or transparency. Verification invoices often exceed USD 6–8 per tCO₂e for small projects, eroding developer margins.
dMRV has emerged as the antidote: integrate satellites, sensors and secure ledgers to automate evidence gathering. But technology alone does not solve the “ground truth” gap—the need to confirm that what the pixels show, actually exists.
That is where Anaxee stakes its claim.
2 dMRV 101: Components, Standards & Jargon Busting
Digital Measurement, Reporting & Verification (dMRV) layers tech across the classic MRV triad.
| Pillar | Digital Enhancer | Examples |
| Measurement | Remote sensing, drones, IoT |
Sentinel‑2 imagery; smart stove meters
|
| Reporting | Cloud dashboards, APIs |
JSON data feeds to Verra’s Climate Check
|
| Verification | Immutable ledgers, AI anomaly detection |
Hyperledger‑fabric records; ML leakage alerts
|
Key Standards to Know
-D‑VERA: Digital Guidance under Verra’s VM0047 methodology.
-Gold Standard Digital MRV Sandbox: Fast‑track protocols for tech‑enabled projects.
-ISO 14 064‑1:2023: Introduces digital data assurance clauses.
Tip for developers: Align your data schema with emerging open‑source ontologies like dMRV‑O to future‑proof registry integration.
3. Anaxee’s Origin Story: From Digital KYC to Climate KYC
Founded in 2016, Indore‑based Anaxee Digital Runners originally performed doorstep KYC verifications for banks and telecoms. By 2020 the company had assembled India’s largest gig‑enabled field network—Digital Runners—covering every second village.
In the same period, climate developers struggled to monitor dispersed assets such as agroforestry plots or rural cook‑stoves. Anaxee spotted the adjacency: replace KYC forms with “Climate KYC” tasks—geotagged photos, sapling girth measurements, sensor swaps—synced via the existing mobile app.
Pivot Year (2021): Anaxee signed its first carbon client—a 5,000‑ha bamboo agroforestry venture in Madhya Pradesh. The pilot cut verification time from 14 months to 6 months, attracting more projects and sparking a dedicated Climate Tech division.
4 Building the Tech Stack: Acquisition → Processing → Ledger → Insights
4.1 Data Acquisition Layer
- Satellites – 10‑m Sentinel‑2 and PlanetScope streams ingested via AWS Open‑Data.
- Drones – Hire‑per‑day VTOL drones capture <5 cm ortho‑mosaics for baseline plots.
- IoT Sensors – LoRaWAN soil‑moisture probes; GSM cook‑stove meters.
- Mobile Surveys – Runner app enforces photo+video evidence with AI on‑device QC.
4.2 Processing Layer
-AI Biomass Engine – CNN models classify tree species & diameter at crown spread with 92 % precision.
-Leakage Detector – Multi‑temporal NDVI change triggers human audit within 72 h.
-Sensor QA/QC – Dual‑channel median filters catch drift; flagged outliers auto‑dispatch a Runner.
4.3 Ledger Layer
-Hyperledger Fabric – Permissioned consortium chain co‑run with registry auditors.
-IPFS Storage – Stores raw imagery hashes for audit reproducibility.
4.4 Insights Layer
–Custom dMRV Dashboard: Climate KPIs, geospatial heatmaps, CO₂e ticker.
-API Kit: Plug‑and‑play endpoints for Verra, Gold Standard, SAP Sustainability Control Tower.
5. Human‑in‑the‑Loop: Why Last‑Mile Validation Still Matters
Purely remote dMRV solutions often stumble on:
-Occult Tree Loss – Under‑storey sapling mortality invisible to satellites.
-Device Tampering – Stove users might remove SIM modules to save power.
Anaxee’s Digital Runners close these gaps:
-Presence Proof – Runners geotag each sapling, capturing 360° imagery.
-Sensor Integrity – Monthly field visits include QR‑coded photos, preventing ghost devices.
Each Runner earns ₹25–40 per task, converting idle time into income while ensuring data fidelity.
6. Navigating the Regulatory Maze: Article 6, NAPCC & Beyond
6.1 Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
UN supervisory bodies have signalled that digital reporting templates will become default. Anaxee’s ledger design aligns with the Article 6 Information Matrix, mapping every credit to a unique digital asset.
6.2 India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)
Eight sub‑missions now encourage digital transparency. Anaxee’s APIs feed directly into the National Carbon Registry sandbox run by the Ministry of Environment.
6.3 Data Privacy & Security
Compliant with DPDP Act 2023: personal identifiers are tokenised; only statistical aggregates leave India’s borders.
7 Case Studies
7.1 Agroforestry & Trees‑Outside‑Forests (TOF)
-Location: Vidarbha, Maharashtra.
-Scale: 18,400 farmers, 11,900 ha.
-dMRV Edge: 3.2 million tree crowns mapped; Runner spot‑checks confirm 97 % model accuracy.
-Outcome: 125,000 credits issued at USD 9/tCO₂e, 68 % cost reduction vs manual MRV.
7.2 Clean Cooking & LPG Shift
-Households: 64,000 rural homes, Madhya Pradesh.
-Tech: GPRS stove meters; UPI micro‑payments.
-Impact: 1.7 tCO₂e avoided per home. Verification cycle compressed to quarterly, enabling rolling issuances.
8. Cost–Benefit Analysis: dMRV vs Legacy MRV
| Metric | Manual MRV | Anaxee dMRV | Delta |
| Verification Cost (USD/ha/yr) | 14.5 | 4.2 | −71 % |
| Issuance Lag (months) | 14 | 5 | −64 % |
| Auditor Site Visits | 2/year | Remote + 0.3 on‑site* | −85 % |
| Farmer Revenue Share | 51 % | 68 % | +17PP |
*Average across 2024 projects.
9. Scaling Internationally: Kenya, Brazil & The Franchise Model
Kenya Pilot (2024): Partnered with local NGO to recruit 2,200 “Runner‑Lites” mapping agro‑pastoral land. API integration with Africa Carbon Exchange.
Brazil Pilot (2025): Mato Grosso regenerative cattle project. LoRa sensors on herd collars track methane proxies; Runner franchise handles sensor upkeep.
Franchise Blueprint:
- Train‑the‑Trainer model for data protocols.
- Revenue split: 30 % platform fee, 70 % local ops.
- Shared blockchain ledger ensures cross‑border auditability.
10. Challenges & Future Roadmap
| Challenge | Mitigation Strategy |
| Sensor Battery Life |
Shift to energy‑harvesting IoT chips; Runner‑triggered battery swap alerts.
|
| AI Bias on Minor Species |
Incorporate spectral libraries from ICAR & Kew Gardens; active‑learning loops.
|
| Data Sovereignty Jurisdictions | Deploy sovereign cloud nodes via Azure Arc. |
| Scaling Runner Quality | Gamified training app; quarterly certification exams. |
Upcoming Features (H2 2025):
-Zero‑Knowledge MRV Proofs for privacy‑preserving validation.
-Generative AI dashboards auto‑explain anomalies to auditors.
-Tokenised Credit Marketplace enabling T+1 settlement for smallholders via CBDC‑compatible rails.
11 Conclusion: A Call for Collaborative Climate Infrastructure
Carbon markets cannot thrive on blind faith. They demand infrastructure of trust—transparent, verifiable and inclusive. Anaxee Digital Runners has demonstrated that the fusion of satellites, sensors and a human mesh network can deliver that trust at scale, putting more revenue into the hands of the rural communities who steward our planet’s carbon sinks.
Whether you are a corporate sustainability head, a registry auditor, or a project developer seeking scale, Anaxee’s dMRV playbook offers a proven path forward.
About Anaxee:
Anaxee is India’s Reach Engine! we are building India’s largest last-mile outreach network of 100,000 Digital Runners (shared feet-on-street, tech-enabled) to help Businesses and Social Organizations scale to rural and semi-urban India, We operate in 26 states, 540+ districts, and 11,000+ pin codes in India.
We Help in last-mile execution of projects for (1) Corporates, (2) Agri-focused companies, (3) Climate, and (4) Social organizations. Using technology and people on-the-ground (our Digital Runners), we help in scale and execute projects across 100s of cities and bring 100% transparency in groundwork. We also work in the Tech for Climate domain, providing technology for the execution and monitoring of Nature-Based (NbS) and Community projects. Our technology & processes bring transparency and integrity into carbon projects across various methodologies (Agroforestry, Regen Agriculture, Solar devices, Improved Cookstoves, Water filters, LED lamps, etc.) worldwide.
-Book a Demo: sales@anaxee.com
