Carbon credits startup Veridium Labs Ltd., has partnered with IBM to issue “verde” tokens on Stellar (XLM), a public blockchain network. The cryptocurrency offers the enterprises that pollute the environment a way to mitigate the damage by supporting a patch of Indonesian rainforest.
Even though carbon credits are in existence for a long time, the process of tracking a company’s pollution in totality and guaranteeing the money would only be spent to restore the environment is a complex task. By moving the entire process to an auditable blockchain and tokenizing the carbon credits, the problem can be resolved and a market could be opened for trading where a large number of companies will likely participate due to the transparency and reliability offered by the blockchain based system.
The verde carbon credit tokens will be built over the Stellar blockchain. Furthermore, a series of smart contracts would ensure systematic accounting and offsetting of a company’s carbon emission. IBM’s newly appointed blockchain offering manager, Jared Klee said
“We’re creating a fungible digital asset, a token which part of the goal is to create a market where people can buy, sell, trade and then redeem it for the underlying credits. By having a liquid market you open up a world of possibilities.”
This is the first time IBM has involved in the issue of a cryptocurrency token on the public network.
By using a “public, permissioned model”, IBM and Veridium will be able to create a carbon credits market which will be open only to selected participants who confirm to regulatory requirements. IBM manages nine nodes on the Stellar blockchain in order to facilitate permissioning of clients.
Ecosystem Marketplace, in its recent survey of 139 companies, has estimated the value of the carbon credits market to be about $191.3 million, based on an emission of 63.4 million tons of carbon dioxide. The tokens carry a rating of Triple Gold REDD+ credits from Veridium’s sister company InfiniteEarth, which was established in 2008 to assist companies in offsetting their pollution in multiple ways. Notably, the company had earlier planned to build the token on Etherum network and partner with Ethereum incubator ConsenSys.
