MRV or MMRV?

If you’ve been watching long enough, you’ll see that all the words and phrases in this “environmental space thingy” change pretty regularly.  If you’re caught using an old phrase it’s proof you’ve been around the block.

So it is with my favorite acronym, MRV, or “Measurement, Reporting and Verification.” The newer entrants call it MMRV, or “Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification.”  I guarantee the following generation of entrants will change the name again in a year or two, proving to lesser species species like me that they are “au courant”.  I choose to spend my time and energy on other things, like actually building and propagating high quality MRV.

Whatever you call it–MRV or MMRV–the goal is the same.  MRV in the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) context is about measuring, communicating, and proving that carbon has been durably sequestered from air or water.  Removed carbon fights climate change and improves the environment for wildlife, including humans.

Each CDR pathway is different, so the deployed MRV “System,” comprising hardware, software, networks, people, and processes, should also be different for each pathway.  However, within a pathway, MRV standards and MRV deployments should be similar or maybe even identical.  This allows standards bodies, registrars, auditors, investors, communities and regulators to compare effectively between them.  A good MRV should also leave space for steady growth and improvement, able to adopt best available science, new equipment, and industry experience as they emerge.

DuraVault deployed its first MRV system for Direct Biomass Storage ( or “DBS” also a new name for “Woody Biomass Burial”) in 2022.  We buried a suite of underground sensors in a special housing allowing us to measure soil moisture and temperature, relative humidity, and co2/h2o/ch4 concentration.  We connected the readings via WAN to a cloud server and built visualizations and reports to help us understand what was going on in our first buried wood facility.

The next year, 2023, when we deployed an integrated pilot, we added a weather station and camera to help us contextualize our readings.  We also incorporated “surface” measurements, including precision measurements of greenhouse gas concentrations (h2o/co2/ch4), in test and control environments.  These were particularly important for measuring the structural integrity of DBS facilities.  Perhaps most importantly, we incorporated precision flux tests that sample the rate at which h2o/co2/ch4 gases leave the soil (or in some cases, absorbed by it!).  The flux tests are modeled to determine whether re-emissions remain within planned and acceptable tolerances.  

In 2024, in our first production facility we added two forms of subterranean gas measurement, in order to verify the readings from the sensor suites we had originally deployed in 2022.  Both involve vacuuming gas from 10 feet beneath the earth and measuring concentrations.  These provide valuable leading indicators, helping us to know whether to fix a potential issue before it becomes a problem.

In 2025, as we have implemented additional batches (aka “vintages”), we have concentrated on standardizing measurement processes, scaling our system to support multiple instances, and support multiple DBS producers.  One goal is to make the highest quality MRV available to all DBS producers at an affordable price.  Another goal is to concentrate MRV research and development to align with best available science and the full range of operation DBS experience.    

Our MRV has been reviewed, and is supported, by 3rd party auditors, registrars, investors, regulators, and the general public.  It aligns with and satisfies published standards.  It measures both leading and trailing indicators.

Most importantly, it carefully answers the central question:  Are greenhouse gas re-emissions occurring at or lower than the planned rate, and are they within tolerances predicted in the LCA?  

So far the answer is yes.  Yes they are.