Regen Network: Healing Our Planet through Regenerative Finance
This next installation of Keplr’s interview series spotlights Regen Network, a community leveraging blockchain for planetary regeneration. Learn more in-depth about the Interchain ecosystem, starting with the teams that are shaping our interoperable future through Keplr Wallet.
Today we learn from Sarah Baxendell, Director of Ecosystem at Regen Network, about what the Regen community has been up to and how Cosmonauts can get involved in regenerative finance for our planet.
Sarah, we’re excited to learn more about Regen in this round of our series. Before we get started, could you briefly introduce yourself and your role with Regen?
My name is Sarah Baxendell, Director of Ecosystem at Regen Network Development, Inc., the software development company building tools and applications on Regen Ledger, the blockchain code base of the Regen Network community. I support the team by developing strategic product direction and weaving community partners together.
To someone completely unfamiliar with Regen, how would you summarize it?
Regen Network is a blockchain community building tools and applications on the code base of Regen Ledger. Our aim is to establish a series of features that allow for ecological assets to be originated natively on the web3 Regen blockchain for offsetting and trading purposes. Our community’s focus is ecological regeneration projects, as we believe that restoring ecosystem function is the primary way in which we can design a different climate change future together.
Our community’s focus is ecological regeneration projects, as we believe that restoring ecosystem function is the primary way in which we can design a different climate change future together.
Fighting climate change is honorable work; it also seems like a lot needs to be done. What has the community been up to lately? What does a typical week look like for the Regen team?
The Regen Network Development, Inc. team has been hustling towards major product launches throughout 2022, including the blockchain upgrade to Regen Ledger 4.0, the upcoming launches of our ecological asset marketplace, the Regen Ledger <> Polygon NCT bridge, and the $REGEN:NCT pool on Osmosis. On top of building ecological asset issuance tools on Regen Ledger, our blockchain engineering team is the lead maintainers of the Cosmos SDK.
It’s a lot at once, but we love what we are building, and spend a lot of time focusing on ensuring our community is empowered by these open-source decentralized tools.
The RND Inc. team currently enjoys a very structured 4 day virtual work week, which is aligned with our culture of ensuring a regenerative working environment. We are an international team steeped in consensus building, rich with personal agency, and ripe with creativity. It’s fast-paced, but we are highly motivated to positively affect climate change together.
Sounds inspiring! Though, I’m sure the work hasn’t been easy. What are some of the challenges you guys have faced?
Regen Network is a big community of decentralized organizations developing tools and projects on Regen Ledger. With over 75 validators, 17,000+ wallet holders, and 42 major projects building on Regen Ledger, the mixture of scientists, earth stewards, carbon project developers, blockchain software developers, credit buyers, and strategic partnerships can be dizzying to sort, prioritize and organize. Ultimately, it is the interconnectivity of this community that is its strength, much like the complexity of ecosystems.
Can’t wait to dig into what everyone at Regen has been contributing towards. Let’s start with Ecocredits. I gathered that different Ecocredits can represent specific ecological incentives, like now the CarbonPlus Grasslands credits incentivize better land grazing practices. How do they work?
Ecocredits are issued according to the criteria set within each Credit Class on Regen Ledger. For example, CarbonPlus Grasslands ecocredits represent 1 ton of carbon sequestered in grasslands soils following the implementation of the land management stipulations of the CarbonPlus Grasslands methodology. These ecocredits are issued after every successful monitoring and verification round, to project developers.
Ecocredits are then listed for sale in the Regen Marketplace, launching this September, and can be purchased by corporations and individuals who are interested in offsetting their carbon footprint and having a positive climate impact. This framework applies to all Credit Classes on Regen Ledger, regardless of land management activity or ecosystem type.
Who manages or distributes Ecocredits?
Ecocredits are designed and managed by a decentralized community of participants who utilize the Regen Network asset issuance tools. Scientific communities partner with Regen Network to design methodologies to monitor land change based on the implementation of regenerative land management practices. These methodologies include the instructions for collecting data and monitoring ecological change. These methodologies are utilized by carbon project developers who are developing ecological restoration projects on-the-ground.
Ecocredits are issued onto the Regen Ledger blockchain according to the asset criteria designed in each Credit Class. Credit Classes are administered by Credit Administrators, who govern each ecocredit issuance criteria, and partner with Credit Issuers for the administration of Credit Issuance. This decentralized program governance model is instantiated natively on Regen Ledger, the home of web3 ecocredit issuance.
Who creates/manages the criteria for best land management practices?
Land management practices are researched by university and public scientists and implemented by earth stewards, such as farmers and foresters, to specific properties across the globe. Regen Network partners with these scientific and stewardship communities in order to support regenerative practices.
Now I better understand what you meant by the complexity and interconnectivity of the community… And what are NCT ecocredits? Are they different from Ecocredits you explained before?
Nature Carbon Ton, or NCT, is a special use case. The criteria for NCT, which was developed by Regen Network in partnership with Moss.Earth and Toucan, can be found here. This Credit Class reflects fungible nature-based ecocredits that were originally issued via the Verra Registry, which have been tokenized onto the blockchain. These NCT tokens will be moved across a Regen Ledger <> Polygon bridge, designed by Regen Network and Toucan, to establish a multi-chain market for NCT ecocredits. These tokens are a voucher for underlying ecocredits 1:1, reflecting real world ecological impact. They can be used for carbon offsetting, just like every ecocredit.
There’s also additional incentives for the defi community through the $Regen and the NCT LP pool, available on the Osmosis DEX. Can you tell us how this came about?
Yes! Regen Network is part of the community that designed the criteria for NCT, which was established in order to create a multi-chain market for digital ecological assets, including Polygon, Celo, and the Cosmos ecosystem.
Alongside this effort, Regen Network has been leading a Cosmos-based initiative called CosmosZERO, which supports Cosmos-based protocols in identifying their carbon footprint and offsetting in order to become carbon neutral. The Osmosis community has led this effort, becoming the first protocol to commit to offsetting their carbon footprint via network governance. To ensure the ecosystem can meet the aim of this campaign, moving towards a “ZERO” footprint, Regen Network is partnering with Osmosis to establish a $REGEN:NCT liquidity pool, with rewards, to ensure protocols can efficiently and effectively offset their carbon footprints. Protocols will be able to purchase NCT from this pool, convert them to ecocredits, and then retire them for carbon offsetting claims.
Alongside this effort, Regen Network has been leading a Cosmos-based initiative called CosmosZERO, which supports Cosmos-based protocols in identifying their carbon footprint and offsetting in order to become carbon neutral.
When will this pool go live?
The $REGEN:NCT pool will launch this fall, within the weeks just after Cosmoverse. We are currently aiming for mid-October, which is contingent upon a final network governance proposal with the Osmosis community. Join the ongoing discussions here.
What a cool way for Cosmonauts to get involved in planetary regeneration. Any other upcoming developments on the horizon that you’d like to share?
There are quite a few events in the fall of this year to look forward to:
- Launch of Regen Marketplace, our ecological asset marketplace which features the digitization of the 2021 City Forest Credits Registry portfolio
- Launch of the Regen Ledger <> Polygon NCT bridge with Toucan
- Launch of the $REGEN:NCT pool on Osmosis dex
- And, meet our team at Cosmoverse in Medellin! Learn more about ecocredits on Regen Ledger, the enDAOment program, and Cosmos SDK in person!
Yes, a lot to look forward to — and for a positive purpose. Thank you, Sarah, for sharing about the impactful work Regen is doing for our planet. We’ve just skimmed the surface but look forward to learning more from your team soon. You guys are climate heroes. 🔭
Regen Network is working to reverse climate change with digital carbon and regenerate ecosystems.
To learn more, visit: https://www.regen.network/
Read more about Regen on Medium: https://medium.com/regen-network
Find Regen Network on Keplr Wallet: https://keplr.app
