Crypto Greening: international initiatives blockchainizing green economy kicked off in Moscow
The Climate Forum of Russian Cities (Moscow, August 21–22) brought together participants from 16 countries and 36 Russian regions and resulted in a number of important agreements aimed at the use of advanced technologies for common good, but also in announcement of the first-ever sale of tokens under a Russia-origin blockchain project DAO IPCI developing an international market place for environmental assets and liabilities.
The Russian Carbon Fund in partnership with the Moscow City Government invited to the Climate Forum of Russian Cities leading international experts in and developers of the blockchain technology in sustainable development to discuss the digitalization of the green finance and energy market. The event was organized by the Moscow government at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall.
The business agenda organized by the Russian carbon fund started from the round table “Digital Economy: Technology transfer for the Sustainable Development of Smart Cities”, where speakers from the United States, Switzerland, China, Denmark and the United Nations presented international accelerators and hackathons to the Russian blockchain developers community.
In particular, the CEO of the Swiss Cleantech Foundation 21 Nick Beglinger announced the Hack4Climate hackathon which will take place in Moscow, September 22. It will be co-organized by the Impact Hub and the Russian Carbon Fund. Hackathon winners will be invited to the grand finale on the sidelines of COP23 summit in Bonn, Germany and receive cash prizes for the best digital solutions to climate change problem.
One of the key outcomes of the roundtable was the announcement by the president of the FinTech4Good fund, Zhang Xiaochen, the plan to create a Moscow international blockchain accelerator aimed at developing the infrastructure for smart cities. He also announced the international Blockchain Impact Award. Ani Aslanyan founder of the popular @blockchainRF telegram channel moderated the event.
The closing panel session “Blockchain in the economy, ecology and energy of smart cities” became the hottest and most exciting panel of the Climate Forum. It was attended by more than 400 people who were the first to learn most advanced examples of smart grid management, carbon markets and green bonds using blockchain and smart contracts.
According to the strategy director of Energy-blockchain Labs, Cao Yin, the new digital technologies reduce the time of collecting information within the energy management system by more than 60%. This is also true for the other markets and areas of application.
Director of research and development at the Institute for Distributed Technologies, Deanna MacDonald, presented the prospects and specific cases of implementation of blockchain in the management of smart grids:
“We see blockchain as not only a way for communities to generate and manage their own production and consumption data but also as a way to create applications that use this data for automated energy trading and efficiency programs as well as a means to connect these smart grids throughout the world together.”
The team leader of the regulatory development unit of the sustainable development mechanisms program of the UNFCCC secretariat Gajanana Hegde highlighted the prospects of using block chain in climate action particularly in the context of the implementation of the Paris Agreement. In his speech, he paid special attention to the proposals submitted with Russian participation.
It is also pertinent to note that in his key note address, Adviser to the President, Special Presidential Representative on Climate Issues, Russian presidential envoy on Climate change Mr Alexander Bedritsky highlighted the great potential for the application of block chain technologies for advancing climate goals in particular for the efficient implementation of market mechanisms.
Executive Director of the Russian Carbon Fund and co-founder of ipci.io Alexey Shadrin announced the start of the pre-sale of MITO Token (Mitigation Token), crypto-currency, based on the protocol for the global environmental finance market DAO IPCI. Earlier, the DAO IPCI project, whose goal was to attract investments in environmental projects, executed the world’s first transaction of the carbon credits through a blockchain. The initial sale of MITO tokens (ICO) will take place in November at a side-event at COP23 summit in Bonn. Mr. Shadrin also announced DAO IPCI Mitigation Token (MITO) pre-ICO to be launched on September 11 2017.
The culmination point of the plenary session was definitely the signing of an MOU on joint development of digital technologies for green finance and energy markets between the Russian Carbon Found and the Chinese company Blockchain Energy Labs.
“We want to promote the development of green economy and finance. The wide use of blockchain technology will significantly expand the opportunities for cooperation between Russia and China, said Cao Yin.
Partners will combine efforts with other participants of the panel session to create an international non-profit organization for research and development of global environmental crypto currency. The parties also agreed to promote the advancement of blockchain technology in their countries with a view to stimulate growth of the green economy and climate change mitigation globally.
The results of the digital agenda of the first Moscow Climate Forum are more than inspiring! The round table and the plenary session attracted significant public attention and, most importantly, became the birthplace of the international community of environmental evangelists, experts and blockchain developers aimed at achieving UN sustainable development goals.
Moscow Climate Forum of Russian Cities
About the Climate Forum: The first “Climate Forum of Russian Cities” is the key business event of the Year of Ecology in the Field of Sustainable Development and Innovative Technologies, which took place in the Central Exhibition Hall “Manege” on August 21–22. Within two days, experts discussed the consequences of climate change and how to prepare for its mitigation. About 300 speakers participated in eight plenary sessions and 24 round tables. The forum was organized by the Department of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Protection of the Moscow City Government. Official website — www.climate-forum.ru
DAO IPCI
Decentralized Autonomous Organization operating, sustaining and developing the Integral Platform for Climate Initiatives, smart contracts and blockchain technology-based independent ecosystem designed for carbon market instruments, including carbon compliance units’, carbon-offset credits, other environmental mitigations credits, environmental assets, rights and liabilities registration, accounting and transaction data.
DAO IPCI Mitigation Token (MITO) initial emission and distribution: http://mito.token.io
Contact: info@ipci.io
Russian Carbon Fund
Fund’s mission — unite society, science, business and state for sustainable development and environmental conservation. Together with leading science experts, we help authorities and industries make the most of their resources while increasing efficiency from an environmental, economic and social standpoint. Since 2011, our efforts have helped leading business and regions successfully establish and implement sustainability strategies related to risk assessment, transparency, public engagement, efficient resource management, clean tech, internal and external sustainability communications, education and climate finance.