Ontoly was founded in 2024 by Ashley Sarauer, who spent over a decade in climate policy and carbon standards — including as one of three authors of the Verified Carbon Standard, the most-used offset standard in the world.
That experience revealed one persistent gap: almost no carbon finance reaches building owners, despite buildings accounting for 40% of global emissions. The existing system wasn't built for them. Registries designed for forests and industrial projects rely on modelled estimates, carry heavy administrative burdens, and lose the building-level detail that makes a credit defensible.
We built the Building Emissions Reduction Standard (BERS) to fix that — a certification framework designed from the ground up for measured, building-level data. Ontoly has submitted the BERS Program for assessment under the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles Assessment Framework ahead of the July 2026 deadline. We are currently awaiting their assessment. All governance documents are publicly available on the BERS Program page.
For a typical large retrofit, carbon revenue can fund up to 40% of the project's capital cost. Through the Ontoly Registry and Portal, building owners upload performance data, we handle certification and issuance, and BERUs go directly to buyers — with zero cost or complexity on the owner's side.
We support residential and commercial portfolios, from single assets to large aggregated programs — every credit carrying the same standard: real data, full traceability, annual third-party verification.
That work is already underway: a paid pilot with New York State's energy agency, and a growing pipeline of building owners and enterprise buyers across North America.
Founder & CEO
Ashley founded Ontoly to connect building retrofits with carbon market capital. She leads the company's standard, registry, and partnerships, and is a frequent speaker on carbon certification for the built environment.
Senior BERS Program Advisor
Elyse supports the technical aspects of the BERS Program — quantification methods, program governance, and project onboarding — drawing on her experience in building performance standards.
Senior Software Engineer
Adam leads engineering on the Ontoly Portal and Registry. He brings 8+ years building fintech and enterprise SaaS platforms, including technical leadership at CoalFace Capital and staff engineering roles at Cheqroom and EAB.
Senior Frontend UI Designer
Laura designs the Ontoly Portal and Registry — turning complex carbon data into interfaces owners and buyers can actually use. A senior product designer with experience at Zipline and Vena Solutions, she specializes in making complex software feel simple.
Marketing Lead
Maddie leads marketing at Ontoly. With 7+ years in digital marketing and communications for mission-driven organizations, she turns complex programs into stories people act on.
Jamie is President of Recursive Advisors and one of Canada's most experienced real estate sustainability leaders. As SVP Sustainability & EHS at QuadReal and previously VP Sustainability at Bentall Kennedy, his work helped attract over $1.25B in new investment mandates.
Matt brings 20+ years in decarbonization for commercial real estate. He leads commercial energy efficiency programs at BC Hydro, authored BOMA BC's Decarbonization Planning Guide, and previously drove sustainability initiatives across QuadReal's $70B portfolio.
Michael has spent 15+ years in energy markets — from climate policy and emissions reporting across N. America to developing and operating energy storage and demand response assets at Voltus, including 200+ MWh of transactions across major wholesale markets.
Riley is a Building Performance Engineer at Focal Engineering, specializing in whole-building energy modelling and performance simulation. His expertise in translating building data into verified performance outcomes anchors the technical rigor behind BERS quantification.
Mohammad is the technical lead of the Building Performance Team at RJC Engineers, where his work spans energy modelling, airtightness testing, and life cycle carbon analysis across residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. As a published author and lecturer, he advances the field through both practice and research.
A Building Emissions Reduction Unit is a carbon credit representing one tonne of CO2e reduced through a certified building retrofit — issued, tracked, and retired on the Ontoly Registry.
Every BERU is quantified from measured utility data, not models or estimates, and traces to a specific building and retrofit — no mega-project aggregation.
Building owners, managers, retrofit engineering firms, and consultants with eligible retrofit projects under the BERS Program. Check eligibility on the program page.
Voluntary offsetting, green building certification offsets (LEED v5, Zero Carbon Standard), and — subject to jurisdictional approval — compliance under emerging Building Performance Standards.
There's no fixed price — a project earns the number of BERUs it generates, at whatever price the Building Representative negotiates with a buyer. Quality signals like real metered performance and clear co-benefits command more, and note that our certification fees are charged to the buyer, so your listing price includes them.
