Fixing the World’s Answer to Climate Change with the Carbon Grid Protocol
For years, we have put our trust in the market to incentivise cleaner technology — yet the world’s answer to combat climate change is inherently problematic.
Carbon credits were created as an incentive for businesses and governments to adopt carbon-friendly practices, a mechanism introduced with the aim of balancing the world’s carbon footprint. While it has grown to become a $52-billion market, it has also been riddled with obstacles and fundamental structural problems, but can potentially be evolved to become a better solution when taken onto the blockchain.
Here are some of the current key problems with the carbon market:
Lack of Public Awareness
Carbon credits are largely unknown to the average public as a solution to combat climate change. Those that are aware find that it is not easily accessible, being plagued with costly and lengthy certification processes that are simply too intensive for individuals.
Highly Centralised Market
The market is controlled and thus limited by intermediaries such as brokers and carbon funds, with competing interests, motivations and agendas hampering efforts to produce positive results as intended.
Lack of Transparency and Accountability
There is a lack of accountability to track the sources of carbon credits bought. The current top-down initiatives include participants who have little or no incentive to commit to their agreements and show any direct ownership.
At an institutional level, many carbon offsetting schemes suffer from a root problem: That the idea is not derived from environmentalists trying to combat climate change, but rather businesses trying to placate demands for action and to uphold the company’s image. Without accountability, purchased carbon credits have no real impact at decarbonising their business, as they avoid the more difficult structural changes needed to truly make an impact.
Awareness, Adoption and Accountability for Carbon Credits
Carbon Grid Protocol aims to accelerate buyers’ awareness and adoption of carbon credits, on an open, public, Ethereum-based permissioned protocol that uses a Proof of Authority algorithm and community-driven governance. The transparent ledger creates a provenance layer to provide the traceability for carbon credits purchased.
The Carbon Grid ecosystem is a three-pronged approach:
CarbonScan.io
A blockchain-based carbon explorer and smart contracts platform that enables unrestricted access, creation, and distribution of carbon data products and projects in an authentic and efficient ecosystem, thus encouraging more participants and investments to help combat climate change.
CarbonSDK
A development framework with open source tool kits for the community to develop decentralised applications accessible at an individual level to encourage buyers’ adoption. DApps include carbon credit verification, governance, traceability using smart contracts and carbon emission e-offset.
Carbon Evolution Centre (CEC)
A community fund to back projects that generate carbon credits, and encourage the creation of new applications to help promote awareness for climate change issues.
Carbon Grid works towards the construction of a decentralised framework that allows a community-driven approach, while focusing on meeting regulatory requirements for the carbon market and industries supporting the combat against climate change. With the added governance and traceability in the carbon offsets transacted in the Carbon Grid network, we aim to revive the carbon market as a trusted and effective mechanism for climate change.
Keep up-to-date with the latest news about the Carbon Grid Protocol via these channels:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarbonGrid/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/carbongrid
Telegram: http://t.me/CarbonGrid
