Introduction
IMPT aims to help each member of society make an impact in tackling climate change by combining shopping, carbon credits, and blockchain technology. IMPT connects people around the world to green projects, with the end goal of reducing carbon emissions and impacting the environment positively.
What exactly are carbon credits?
Carbon credits are a type of tradeable permit that allows an organization or individual to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. It acts as an incentive for companies or individuals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by investing in renewable energy or low-carbon technologies. These credits will be created by any entity that reduces, destroys, or captures emissions, an example would be a reforestation project.
A limit or cap will be set on the total amount of emission that can be released into the atmosphere, with 1 Carbon Credit being equal to 1 Ton of CO2. This limit will be divided into credits and allocated to companies and individuals. Carbon credits thereby act as an incentive for companies and individuals to decrease their carbon emissions through investing in renewable energy or other low-carbon technologies as well as changing one’s lifestyles.
What problems does IMPT tackle?
In IMPT’s whitepaper, they claim that the demand for carbon credits will continuously rise. With that, governments and organizations would require a carbon market that is credible, transparent, and environmentally robust, all of which can easily be solved through blockchain. Additionally, the current carbon credit market faces a myriad of limitations such as:
- Double-selling carbon credits
- Overcalculating the number of carbon credits that a project can generate
- Limited pricing data
- Not performing proper retirement carbon credit procedures
The IMPT ecosystem?
Carbon credit tokenization
IMPT would tokenize carbon credits through the use of blockchain technology. Blockchain is essentially an immutable book of records that will be visible to anyone, this ensures that carbon assets will be secure and transparent, preventing the issues mentioned earlier from happening. Carbon credits will be structured as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), allowing them to be easily bought, sold and traded.
Although individuals and entities may acquire carbon credits through IMPT’s marketplace, it can also be attained through shopping! As noted in their whitepaper, IMPT has partnerships with over 10,000 brands, all of which have said to dedicate a percentage of their sales margin to meaningful and environmentally impactful projects. By shopping on IMPT’s affiliate marketplace, shoppers will receive this margin in their crypto wallets in the form of IMPT tokens.
IMPT tokens will consequently be used to exchange for IMPTs NFT carbon credits through their built-in marketplace. The carbon credit NFT can either be traded or burnt. Individuals or entities that would like to contribute to the environment can burn their NFT. Burning their NFT can be done by sending the NFT into a null wallet, thereby eliminating it from circulation, essentially offsetting carbon emitted into the atmosphere and reducing their carbon emissions. Users who burn their carbon credit token will receive a collectible NFT which is exclusively created for this project. The artwork can also be traded on marketplaces.
Team
Denis Creighton (CEO) is an experienced entrepreneur with over 30 years of business experience, particularly in the Financial Services, BPO, Telecommunications, and IT industries. He has served as both Chairman and CEO and is currently involved in several startup ventures, focusing on disruptive technologies.
Mike English (CTO, Managing Director & Program Manager) is a tech creator with 25 years of experience in centralized systems and decentralized applications for Web3. He has worked with major global brands, including Oracle, Tesco, and Google, and has delivered the world’s largest online grocery platforms and a significant number of global loyalty solutions. As an experienced board-level consultant, he has completed significant global multichannel projects and brings a strong international understanding of loyalty, retail, and web delivery.
Hugh Phelan (Legal Advisor– Chief Legal Officer & Lead Corporate Counsel) is an expert in forming and structuring commercial contracts and completing related transactions. He has over 30 years of experience in this field, with a focus on blockchain technology and smart contracts. Hugh and his team ensure compliance with regulations and the company’s values and ethics. He is also a board member for several technology companies, providing expertise at national and multinational levels.
Project Roadmap
The product development roadmap of IMPT.io is well-organized and effective, with a distinct strategy, designated milestones, and set deadlines. Below is a summary of their roadmap from Q3 2022 to Q2 2023.
During the initial stages of the project’s development, the team plans to conduct two rounds of private sales. The capital generated from these sales will then be utilized to create one of the main features of the IMPT.io ecosystem: a carbon credit marketplace. Their collaborations with leading carbon trade exchanges will provide them with the necessary access to an extensive range of credits with various standards for different projects. Their team will also create a comprehensive platform that allows both companies and individual users to purchase carbon credits easily and securely.
Following this, the subsequent phase will focus on building a marketplace that enables users to not only purchase but also sell their carbon credits in the form of NFTs. Users will then have the ability to list their tokenized carbon credits and transfer them to other platform members.
Simultaneously, the IMPT token will launch, which can be utilized directly on their platform to acquire carbon credits. ETH and USDT will be incorporated to facilitate purchasing of IMPT. Additionally, a straightforward method for obtaining IMPT tokens using fiat currency via their partner, Transak, will be offered.
The subsequent phase of development will introduce a social platform that enables users and brands to monitor their environmental impact and earn rewards points. Collaborations with multiple companies and brands will also be established. Users can buy products from these brands through IMPT’s platform, earning points that can be utilized to acquire carbon credits. Furthermore, brands that contribute more towards their climate-saving initiatives will receive recognition in the form of higher impact points.
Moving forward, users will have the opportunity to participate in the DAO and vote on changes to a token’s protocol in the future. Through governance token ownership, users can influence decisions regarding the platform’s and ecosystem’s further development. This will enhance engagement and legitimacy in the decision-making process, leading to a more collaborative governance approach.
Token Allocation
The IMPT token is an ERC-20 token. The supply of IMPT is capped at 3,000,000,000 AND the token distribution is as pictured below. IMPT is currently listed on a number of exchanges such as Changelly Pro, Lbank, and Uniswap.
Thesis
IMPT.io is a promising idea to lower carbon emissions utilizing blockchain technology. However, community sentiments has been negative. It would be great to see if the team would follow its roadmap and execute accordingly.
Furthermore, given the challenges that current government-led initiatives like RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative), C2ES (California Cap and Trade), and EUA (European Union Allowance) have in imposing their emission reduction regulations on businesses, the viability of its implementation is still up in the air. Significant obstacles include problems with gaps, leakages and accurate emissions assessment. Furthermore, it is questionable whether adopting cryptocurrencies is necessary to reduce carbon emissions given that other alternatives, such as KlimaDAO and other cryptos in existence have not been effective since October 2021 launches. People may want to think about investing in other alternatives companies like Base Carbon or ETFs like KRBN (KraneShares Global Carbon Strategy) that cover the California carbon allowance, Euro unit allowance, RGGI, and United Kingdom Allowance instead of IMPT.io
