Yacumama Forest Carbon Project: Protecting the Amazon’s biodiversity
Located in the Peruvian Amazon, the Yacumama Forest Carbon Project is a 3,200 hectare land preservation project aiming to protect the area’s tropical rainforest and its rich biodiversity. It is a perfect example of the direct positive impact climate finance can have on local ecosystem resilience. The project is estimated to prevent the emission of an average of 72,982 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. On top of the tremendous carbon sequestration potential, the preservation of the Yacumama forest also protects a number of threatened Amazonian species such as the jaguar, the tapir, the sloth, the harpy eagle and the elusive pink dolphin that roams the waters of the Yarapa River as it makes its way to the Amazon. It also provides habitat and nourishment to the seven species of primates that live in the area, a number second only to Uganda, which is home to eight species. And let’s not forget the incredible bird biodiversity of the forest, from hummingbirds to eagles, parrots and macaws. The land on which the project stands is privately owned as a lodge, research, education, and conservation area. The project began in 1992 as an ecotourism destination offering visits and educational workshops to finance its operations. In 2012, it changed its business model and started offering carbon credits to get funding, and today its owners rely heavily on climate financing to maintain their activities. Without it, they may be forced to sell the land to profit-seeking enterprises that would likely harvest the trees to sell them as timber or biomass, and set up agricultural operations in the area. Yacumama means ‘Mother of the Waters’ in Quechua, and this project is very focused on the region’s water ecosystems. Two of the Sustainable Development Goals it contributes to are water-related: SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and SDG 14 (life below water). Yacumama also contributes directly to SDGs 3 (health and wellbeing), 13 (climate action) and 15 (life on land). Moreover, Yacumama is also committed to the preservation of indigenous traditions. Register on the ClimateTrade marketplace to find out more and support the project.
PlanetWatch offers carbon offsetting to its community with ClimateTrade
30 November 2021, London – PlanetWatch, the world’s first decentralised indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring network, will now offer its user community the possibility to convert PLANET tokens into carbon credits issued by ClimateTrade to contribute to sustainable carbon emission reducing plans. Founded in 2020, PlanetWatch is a spinoff of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The data collected by PlanetWatch air sensors is transcribed onto the Algorand blockchain, which makes this air quality repository immutable. There are currently 20,000 air sensors spread across the globe, with the number of PlanetWatchers rapidly increasing. The network went live on Algorand MainNet in August 2020. PLANET tokens are the firm’s utility tokens, earned when a sensor sends valid air quality data – and they can now be used to offset carbon emissions. “PlanetWatch and its community play such an important role in monitoring air quality around the world. It is a pleasure for ClimateTrade to be able to empower them to take even more direct climate action through carbon offsetting”, said Francisco Benedito, CEO and Co-Founder of ClimateTrade. Claudio Parrinello, CEO of Planetwatch, added: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with ClimateTrade, and are looking forward to a mutually beneficial relationship that will enhance the impact of both companies in their efforts to create a more sustainable environment”. “It is great to foresee that a fraction of our PLANET tokens will be used to support climate mitigation projects, while helping ordinary people make their own cities smarter and cleaner, for the benefit of us all”. ClimateTrade helps companies achieve carbon neutrality by allowing them to invest capital in proven and reviewed climate projects that fit the needs of the company. The firm developed the first carbon credit platform with blockchain technology, which allows responsible companies to offset their emissions by purchasing peer-to-peer carbon credits directly from mitigation project developers, avoiding intermediaries. About PlanetWatch s.a.s. Planetwatch s.a.s., is a high-tech startup based in France, less than a mile away from CERN. By leveraging synergically the Algorand blockchain, advanced data acquisition software developed at CERN and high-performance yet affordable air quality sensors, including advanced devices developed by a major research institute, Planetwatch decentralizes, incentivizes and gamifies environmental monitoring. Planetwatch is currently deploying dense, low-cost air quality monitoring networks delivering real-time data and building the first global immutable ledger for historical air quality data. For more information, visit https://www.planetwatch.io. About ClimateTrade ClimateTrade is a Spanish-based climate marketplace helping global brands achieve their sustainability goals by offsetting CO2 emissions and financing climate regenerative projects. Pioneering the development of its blockchain marketplace, ClimateTrade recently launched an API and a Widget that allow companies to offer carbon-neutral products and services to their customers. For more information: https://app-wordpress-pro-e9e8haaqesg7dzcw.westus2-01.azurewebsites.net/.
ClimateTrade powers carbon-negative blockchain initiatives at Decipher and Art Basel
Algorand and ClimateTrade’s Green Treasury goes live, allowing builders, businesses and investors on the Algorand platform to instantly offset their carbon footprint on the blockchain ecosystem. ClimateTrade supports Algorand in offsetting the carbon emissions of Decipher, a two-day event of the Algorand community taking place in Miami November 29-30. Cultural institution Aorist partners with ClimateTrade to launch a collection of digital artworks and their carbon-negative NFTs at Art Basel on November 30. November 29, 2021 (Miami, FL) — ClimateTrade, the leading blockchain-based climate marketplace, is pioneering the development of carbon-negative blockchain use cases through a number of initiatives announced today at the Decipher conference. ClimateTrade today announces the launch of the “Green Treasury”, a blockchain oracle providing Algorand and its developer community a platform for offsetting the carbon footprint of the Algorand network. By calculating carbon impact across the Algorand ecosystem and enabling immediate offsets through ClimateTrade’s blockchain-based marketplace, the Green Treasury allows Algorand to offset its own carbon impact, while seamlessly integrating the same offsetting capabilities across its ecosystem of developers, including NFT marketplaces, payment solutions, regulated digital assets, and new economic models. “Algorand’s technology was designed from the ground-up to be energy and resource-efficient, and now with the intelligent offsetting services made available through ClimateTrade’s Green Treasury, we can operate as a fully carbon-negative network and fulfill our pledge to remain the world’s greenest blockchain,” said Silvio Micali, Founder of Algorand. The Green Treasury operates as a blockchain oracle, connecting Algorand’s on-chain data with carbon impact information in real time. The system allows Algorand to notarize its carbon footprint, and with advanced smart contracts, lock the equivalent total of carbon credit into the Green Treasury as an ASA (Algorand Standard Asset). “With the Green Treasury, we can support Algorand’s efforts to be carbon-negative while financing global climate projects”, said ClimateTrade CEO Francisco Benetido. “By layering in blockchain-enabled support for offsetting across Algorand’s ecosystem, we can provide Algorand, and the hundreds of organizations who use its technology, environmentally-positive solutions that are scalable, secure, and also sustainable”. Offsets purchased within the Green Treasury will help support critical restoration projects taking place around the world that significantly contribute to positive climate action, including: The Southern Cardamom REDD+ project initiated by Wildlife Rescue and Wildlife Works, which protects the rainforest by avoiding more than 3 million tons of carbon emissions annually. The Vichada Gold Standard Climate Project which is aimed at reforestation in the Orinoco Department in Colombia. The Oaxaca Wind Project by Acciona which covers the electricity demand of 700,000 Mexican homes, avoiding the emission of 670,000 tons of CO2. The Sumatra Merang Peatland Project by ForestCO2 which aims to protect and restore the peatland ecosystem in Indonesia. Additionally, as part of Algorand’s commitment to set the standard for sustainable blockchain, Algorand and ClimateTrade have announced that all carbon impacts associated with the Decipher conference will be offset by financing mitigation projects on ClimateTrade’s marketplace. In total, 627 tons of CO2 will be offset via reforestation and clean energy projects in Colombia, El Salvador and the United States. Climate-positive NFTs ClimateTrade is also supporting Aorist, a new cultural institution offering a climate-forward NFT marketplace on the Algorand ecosystem. The company is launching its first auction at Art Basel, an event happening concurrently with Decipher in Miami, with the Crossroads exhibition. Aorist is offsetting the carbon footprint of the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on auction, as well as the plastic footprint of some of Crossroads’ physical installations, through ClimateTrade. Emissions from the minting of NFTs on the Aorist platform will be offset with credits assigned from the reforestation of Colombia’s coastal Andes region project. Projects on the ClimateTrade marketplace have an account in the Algorand blockchain platform in order to provide traceability and transparency of carbon credits. With these initiatives, ClimateTrade shines a light on the need to decarbonise blockchain technology and NFTs, and positions itself as a strategic partner for the green blockchain movement. About Algorand Algorand is building the technology to power everything from the creator economy to the convergence of traditional and decentralized finance. Founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali, Algorand developed a blockchain infrastructure that offers the interoperability and capacity to handle the volume of transactions needed for anyone to transition into the new digital economy. The leading decentralized infrastructure of choice for visionary leaders across more than 1000 global organizations, Algorand is enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value. For more information, visit algorand.com. About ClimateTrade ClimateTrade is a Spanish-based climate marketplace helping global brands achieve their sustainability goals by offsetting CO2 emissions and financing climate regenerative projects. Pioneering the development of its blockchain marketplace, ClimateTrade recently launched an API and a Widget that allow companies to offer carbon-neutral products and services to their customers. For more information: https://app-wordpress-pro-e9e8haaqesg7dzcw.westus2-01.azurewebsites.net/.
What are NFTs and fungible tokens?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the latest blockchain craze. But do you know what they are? We live in an era in which emerging technologies never stop introducing new terms to our vocabulary as they reshape our society. While some of them are too specialized to be discussed in the mainstream, there is one technology whose vocabulary is as likely to be heard in a business meeting as in a bar conversation. We are talking, of course, about blockchain. Today we will be analyzing the latest blockchain craze: fungible and non-fungible tokens (also known as NFTs). But first, let’s start with a very simple but effective explanation of blockchain. What makes blockchain so popular is that it allows people to hold digital assets that are impossible to counterfeit or duplicate, without a single entity controlling the system. On the internet, a photo or any other file can be duplicated any number of times and sent to different recipients who would never know how many duplicates of that photo existed and who had them. This is why it has been impossible so far to transfer value through Internet networks; and why it has continued to use legacy financial railways. But once you have a technology that allows digital assets to bear the same characteristics as money (durability, transportability, fungibility, scarceness, convenience, counterfeit resistance, etc….), it opens the way for value (not just money) to be transferred directly over the Internet, without any need for legacy infrastructure. This brings us back to the topic of this article, tokens. Tokens have been everywhere in different forms for a long time (think casino chips or tickets to attractions), and digital tokens are not that different. Specifically, they can be seen as accounting systems that serve a specific use within a certain context. Multiple features can be built upon tokens’ accounting capability to serve different use cases, from holding reputation to voting rights, or access to a concrete service or platform. Now, let’s focus on the difference between fungible and non-fungible tokens by understanding the word “fungible”. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, fungibility means: 1. Being something (such as money or a commodity) of such a nature that one part or quantity may be replaced by another equal part or quantity in paying a debt or settling an account Oil, wheat, and lumber are fungible commodities. fungible goods 2. Capable of mutual substitution: Interchangable … the court’s postulate that male and female jurors must be regarded as fungible — George Will 3. Readily changeable to adapt to new situations: Flexible Managers typically use more than a hundred different lineups over the course of the season. Batting orders are so fungible that few players last long in one spot. — Tom Verducci Let’s use a simple example to illustrate the difference: if I have a cinema ticket and I can’t go, another person can use the ticket in the same way I would have used it – cinema tickets are interchangeable. But if we are talking about a plane ticket, only the original passenger can use it – a plane ticket is unique and not interchangeable. I can exchange my cinema ticket to see a different movie: cinema tickets are fungible tokens. But I can’t exchange my plane ticket to fly somewhere different: plane tickets are non-fungible tokens. Money is fungible: I can easily exchange a US$100 bill for another, but if I try to exchange a piece or art for another, things get tricky: art is non-fungible. Let’s take the analogy to the digital field. If I have 1 bitcoin, I can easily exchange it for another bitcoin without any loss of value, but if I own a piece of digital art, it is not necessarily meant to be exchangeable for another piece of digital art. This takes us to one of the most common use cases for non-fungible tokens: the representation of ownership for digital artwork. What makes tokens non-fungible is that they have unique attributes (or meta-data) linked to them, and those make them different and irreplaceable (in the case of the plane ticket, the key attribute would be the name of the passenger). For digital artwork, the link/location where the piece of art is stored, and the author who uploaded it (created the NFT) can be traced back to prove authorship. Art and collectibles are two of the more simple and expanded use cases for NFTs, but the ability to have digital assets which can contain metadata opens up the field for a plethora of other applications, among which: Gaming: This is another hot area for NFTs: you can represent avatars, weapons, or capabilities in the form of NFTs that can be traded within a game. Finance: You can have bonds in the form of an NFT whose holder receives the yields of the bond in the same address that holds the NFT. Tickets and certificates: They can be represented as NFTs to authenticate and preserve their ownership and exercise the rights derived from it. Luxury fashion: NFTs are increasingly being used to fight counterfeiting in the luxury fashion industry by attaching a Non Fungible Token issued by the luxury brand to any item (such as a pair of shoes). Content creation: Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis recently launched an animation series, Stoner Cats, which only the holders of an NFT representing one of the characters were able to watch. Climate change and NFTs There are two angles here exercising opposite forces: On the one hand, NFTs have an enormous CO2 emissions impact because of the energy-intensive process of creating them in the blockchain where most of them are created and traded, Ethereum. As of April 2021, the creation and trading of NFTs on Ethereum has caused an estimated footprint of nearly 150,000 tons of CO2, the equivalent of 70,000 roundtrip flights from New York to London. Some NFT platforms, such as Aorist, are built on blockchain networks that do not rely on massive energy consumption, like Algorand. But the reality
Top 3 Article 6 questions that were answered at COP26
Earlier this month in Glasgow, the Conference of the Parties finally agreed on how international carbon credits should be exchanged under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. After more than five years of negotiations, many of the draft’s sticking points were resolved. «Transparency, justice, consensus and interdependency, these are the pillars for the successful execution of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Let’s keep in mind that this is arguably the most ambitious article for climate action, since it manages to involve the private sector,” comments José Lindo, Co-Founder and Head of Impact at ClimateTrade. Here are the top 3 Article 6 issues that world leaders agreed on in Glasgow, and what these decisions mean for international carbon markets. Double accounting In theory, allowing countries to fund greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation projects abroad in order to meet their own decarbonisation targets, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is a great way to reduce the global cost of the transition. According to the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), an independent, industry-led organization working to create an efficient emissions trading framework, this form of international cooperation could lead to savings of US$250 billion a year by 2030, compared to individual implementation. However, there needs to be a mechanism in place to prevent the emissions reductions deriving from such projects from being claimed twice, once by the funding country, and once by the host country, where the project is implemented. Without such a mechanism, environmental groups warn that up to 30% of global emissions are at risk of double accounting. The final text, on which 200 nations agreed in Glasgow, states that the host country (the country where the mitigation project is being carried out), has the power to decide whether the credits generated should go towards its own NDCs or be sold internationally. If a credit is authorised for sale, the host country has to add an emission credit to its record, while the purchasing country can deduct one, avoiding double accounting. However, this rule only applies to mandatory carbon markets, where countries have a national carbon register and accounting system. In the voluntary market, where companies look to offset their emissions outside the remit of national targets, there is currently no supervision to avoid double accounting. Traceability in voluntary markets is therefore crucial: this is why we at ClimateTrade use blockchain technology to reliably track and trace carbon credits. “We can’t tackle the climate crisis solely from the public sector. Our marketplace allows companies and other entities to offset their carbon footprint directly by selecting the most appropriate carbon credits from projects around the world. By supporting and promoting these projects, we also provide better living conditions to their local communities and generate a direct impact on the environment, fostering the regeneration of the planet’s natural balance and helping to mitigate climate change. And thanks to blockchain technology, we can effectively guarantee that the carbon credits are cancelled in their corresponding registries, and that the money paid in the transaction goes directly to the project source,” adds Lindo. CDM integration In 1997, 84 countries signed the Kyoto Protocol, which included a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allowing GHG emissions trading between countries. But since the Paris Agreement, signatories argued over whether emissions reductions achieved through the CDM should be allowed to continue to generate carbon credits under the new framework. Countries that were against this provision argued that it would diminish the impact of Paris goals, whereas those that defended it said it would reduce the cost of the transition, since these projects are already paid for. The final rulebook states that offsets generated under the CDM since 2013 can be carried over to the new system. This cut-off date has been heavily criticized: according to research by Climate Analytics, it will allow a global rise in emissions of 320 million tons of CO2 — the equivalent of the 320 million offsets generated since 2013. Carbon trade tax Article 6 mentions the creation of a centralized carbon trade mechanism to replace the Kyoto Protocol’s CDM. This mechanism will be supervised by “a body designated by the Conference of the Parties”, most likely the UN. Transactions belonging to this scheme will be taxed to cover administrative costs, but also to support more vulnerable countries in their decarbonisation efforts, via the Adaptation Fund. Before Glasgow, there was a degree of uncertainty around which transactions would be taxed, as some countries were asking for the tax to be extended to any voluntary emissions transfer between countries. Doing that would have placed centralized and bilateral trading schemes on a level playing field, avoiding a preference for transactions outside the supervised mechanism. It would also have increased the proceeds available for climate financing in vulnerable countries. But in the end, the Conference of the Parties has decided that only the transactions conducted via the centrally supervised mechanism would be taxed, at a rate of 5%. More about carbon markets Carbon markets as they are now have raised doubts amongst climate activists, countries and companies, and their fears are justified if we don’t start talking about a fair price for carbon and ensuring that funds reach the right countries and their communities. The carbon market can be improved, as can government transparency and. tax systems around these transactions. As a member of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets, ClimateTrade has participated in structuring the Core Carbon Principles. We’ve also worked on the ICC Carbon Pricing Mechanism as representatives of ICC Spain (International Chamber of Commerce). ClimateTrade is the world’s leading climate marketplace. We help companies offset CO2 emissions and we support climate-positive projects to ensure a sustainable future for our planet. In other words, we are carbon market experts. Contact us to find out more.
ClimateTrade launches ClimateTrade Widget to facilitate carbon offsetting for SMEs
New tool makes it easier for companies of all sizes to offer transparent and traceable carbon offsetting service to their customers. Valencia, November 16, 2021: ClimateTrade, the leading blockchain-enabled climate marketplace, announced today the launch of the ClimateTrade Widget, to allow companies of all sizes to offer transparent carbon compensation services to their customers almost instantaneously. The Widget is quick and easy to integrate, which makes it particularly suitable to small and medium businesses or organisations with limited IT resources. With this new functionality, ClimateTrade extends its carbon offsetting services to the SME world, recognising that every business, no matter what size, has a part to play in achieving a net zero world. While large companies have been working toward decarbonisation for some time, many SMEs are lagging behind due to the complexity of carbon footprint calculations and offsetting. But today, the climate emergency is such that no one can afford inaction. Working toward carbon neutrality now can increase SMEs’ competitiveness in a market driven by conscious consumers. The ClimateTrade Widget removes the complexity of carbon offsetting. It can be easily customised and integrated into any commercial transaction platform to give customers visibility on the carbon footprint of the product or service they are purchasing, and offer them the option to offset emissions at check-out. When integrating the widget into their platform, businesses can choose which ClimateTrade Marketplace carbon mitigation projects they want to present to their customers. Then, companies can either pre-purchase carbon credits from these projects to sell to their customers at the time of payment, or simply offer a direct purchase option to the end buyer. In both cases, buyers receive a nominative certificate with information about the exact project they have supported: full traceability is ensured by the blockchain infrastructure that powers the ClimateTrade Marketplace. The announcement follows the launch of the ClimateTrade API earlier this year, the world’s first Application Programming Interface for carbon offsetting. Both the API and the Widget serve the purpose of allowing companies on the ClimateTrade Marketplace to extend its services to their customers without ever having to leave their own webpage. About ClimateTrade ClimateTrade is the world’s leading climate marketplace. The company’s environmental services help companies offset CO2 emissions and financing projects in order to achieve their sustainability goals with complete transparency and traceability. A pioneer in establishing a voluntary marketplace for climate credits, and having led the development of blockchain, ClimateTrade has launched a digital solution that allows and promotes the acquisition of carbon-neutral products and services by customers and suppliers of different companies. Contact us to request a demo of the ClimateTrade Marketplace, API or Widget.