DinoVox, FenuaVerse and ecology : what is the CO2 Equivalent ?
MultiversX is the first european blockchain with a positive impact on CO2 emissions. In other words MultiversX absorbs more CO2 than it generates.
As you know, the DINOVOX project grows within this ecosystem, thus it is important to understand what this means and what it represents.
In order to understand how an activity can be « Carbon negative », we will start by defining what is the measurement unit.
CO2 Equivalent, a measurement unit
The IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — defines this unit, often expressed in tons, as :
« The emission in CO2 equivalent is the amount of emited carbon dioxide ( CO2) that would trigger the same radiative forcing integrated, for a given time horizon, as an emited quantity of one or several green house gases »
The CO2 equivalent makes the comparison between different green house gas possible in terms of impact on global warming and to cumulate emisions.
Each gas has a different impact. CO2 has been chosen as the measurement standard. Therefore, as it has been determined methane (CH4) has a 28 fold high impact than CO2, each ton of methane represents 28 tons of CO2.
Caution is required with this measurement. There is usually no correlation between the emissions expressed in CO2 equivalent and the resulting concentrations in CO2 equivalent. In other words decreasing this indicator would not trigger a proportional decrease on climate change.
So, good or bad tool ?
Today there is no other unit. No common unit is defined at a global level. We’ll have to deal with it ! However it’s not all that bad either ! At least this indicator exists and can make us realize that yes, each and every activity generates GHG. And this is something the planet does not like !
But, what is a GHG ?
Do you remember your lessons at school about the atmosphere, green house gases and global warming. A drawing :
Green house gasses (GHG) are present in the atmosphere and catch a fraction of the infrared radiation of the sun. This is how the earth keeps its surface about 15°C. Without these gases it would be -18°C !
An increase of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere increases their opacity to infrared radiations, the balance is broken, leading to an increase of the temperature of the atmosphere.
Considering the measurement in CO2eq is related to the GHG emission, we can say that if we lower our emissions we will influence this natural phenomenon.
How do we do ?
Well, it’s easy. You must stop all consuming. Nothing, at all, because each activity creates CO2 (even breathing!). However this CO2 is naturally absorbed by plants. So, being « carbon neutral » means having all the CO2eq absorbed by trees. Easy !
Yes, but CO2 is not the only GHG, and plants absorb only CO2 (that’s why the CO2eq indicator is not correlated to global warming). But as said before, we have to start somewhere ! Moreover, plants absorb only 30 % of the CO2 in the atmosphere. Whales have been demonstrated as a lot more glutton, more than 40 % thanks to their food, plankton !
Safeguarding forests and also submarine flora and fauna becomes essential for the struggle against global warming !
OK, what’s my share of CO2 equivalent ?
The answer is clear : way too much ! The carbon footprint of France has grown about 7 % over 20 years. It is urgent to do something (too late according to the first notes of COP27, taking place now in Egypt).
2017 are the last official data. Here we show the data per country rather than per capita on purpose. Indeed a country with many inhabitants would statistically have its impact decreased.
As example, India makes 6,6 % of global emissions, standing 3rd in this rnaking. It would stand at the 100th position if we considered the inhabitants !
However CO2 knows no borders, efforts have to be taken at a global level !
So, how do we reduce the emissions ?
COMPENSATE !
It’s interesting to look in the detail at what has been done by MultiversX, the network chosen by the DinoVox project to settle the FenuaVerse.
They managed to compensate over 125 % of their emissions by investing in Green projects. It is possible to check the sources of emission and by what project it is compensated thanks to the Offstra certification.
They chose to invest in sustainable projects for up to 7 407 000kg of CO2 compared to 5 925 970kg generated ! This represents a net gain for the planet of 1 481 030kg in CO2eq, equivalent to flying 6 440 101km.
Considering a Paris — Papeete round trip is 31 404km, we could do 205 round trips without impact on global warming thanks to MultiversX !
This comparison is possible thanks to the tools designed by the ADEME. You can realize waht means the making of a denim trouser, 1L of bottled water or even an email in CO2eq on their website https://datagir.ademe.fr/apps/impact-co2/
How is it possible to compensate for a whole project ? This is the target of foundation DONOVOX !
We want to work within this carbon neutrality framework. On a regular basis we will share out actions for the environment in order to reduce our carbon footprint.
