Dinesh Babu Appointed to Lead Market Engagement at Global Carbon Market Utility

SINGAPORE / NEW YORK, April 9, 2025 – The Global Carbon Market Utility (GCMU), a pioneering initiative to create a centralised ledger for voluntary carbon markets, has appointed Nithyanandam Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu as Managing Director, Head of Market Engagement. Based in Singapore, Babu will play a key role in shaping the institution’s mission to improve transparency, trust and liquidity in global carbon markets.

With more than two decades of experience in carbon markets, including his recent leadership of the Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust), Babu brings deep expertise in data harmonisation, digital MRV, and market infrastructure. At GCMU, he will be responsible for building engagement with stakeholders across the carbon value chain—spanning financial institutions, regulators, policymakers, and project developers.

“My journey since 2002 has allowed me to work across various aspects of carbon markets, from clean development mechanisms to digital infrastructure,” said Babu. “At GCMU, I look forward to helping build a trusted, regulated, and scalable system that can become the single source of truth for voluntary carbon trading, while aligning with emerging compliance frameworks.”

The Global Carbon Market Utility, headquartered in New York, was launched at COP27 with backing from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Three Cairns Group. It aims to serve as a public financial market utility, developing core infrastructure to support a more robust and mature carbon market. Among its goals are the establishment of a central book of record, standardised data protocols, and systems for audit, contract management, dispute resolution, and risk management.

Babu’s appointment signals GCMU’s commitment to building a market infrastructure that can attract traditional financial intermediaries into the carbon market, catalysing capital flows for emission reduction and removal efforts.

“GCMU is laying the groundwork for a credible and inclusive global carbon market,” Babu added. “It’s an exciting opportunity to work with global stakeholders to enable high-integrity, trust-based carbon transactions.”

Prior to this role, Babu served as Executive Director at Infrablocks Capital, a private equity decarbonisation fund focused on Asia and Africa. He also continues as a Senior Advisor to Infrablocks Technologies, where he has worked on the digitalisation of the carbon market ecosystem, including MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) systems.

Throughout his career, Babu has led significant climate initiatives, including the World Bank–SBI $625 million concessional lending rooftop solar programme in India, and contributed to the development of sustainable development and carbon management strategies in emerging markets.

As GCMU expands its operations and builds consensus across the carbon finance community, Babu’s appointment is expected to strengthen its efforts to create a globally liquid and trusted carbon market infrastructure.