The leading University of Cambridge has revealed it is building a new decentralized carbon credit market to support global reforestation efforts. Its ultimate goal would be to increase the adoption of nature-based conservation solutions, such as reforestation, through financial instruments. The institution expects that carbon credit buyers will be able to securely and directly finance NbS projects through the platform.
The initiative, known as the Cambridge Center for Carbon Credits (4C), is based at the Department of Computer Science and Technology and the Conservation Research Institute. Scientists and researchers will build the market on the Tezos blockchain. Earlier this year, Tezos developers tweeted that minting three NFTs on the Tezos blockchain produces 0.0054 pounds of carbon dioxide, compared to 915 pounds of CO2 for the same NFTs minted on the Ethereum blockchain: the Tezos network has an ecological vocation. This would seem to be the conclusion of the University of Cambridge, which has decided to rely on its infrastructure to create an efficient market for carbon credits, i.e. the credits that companies buy and sell and which represent CO2 emissions. A market that already exists, just think of the fact that for companies like Tesla they are a significant part of their revenues.
Cambridge University’s opinion is that the market – also thanks to the recent efforts at COP26 – could be made more efficient thanks to the use of blockchain infrastructures. The choice of Tezos? It would be due to the low consumption of each transaction and the carbon-free stance of the network, even with possible future purchases of the same carbon credits. According to the Cambridge University announcement, artificial intelligence systems and satellites will also be integrated to monitor deforestation, with the aim of achieving the reversal of the trend by next 2030.
