Celo Foundation launches Climate Collective aimed at tokenizing rainforests and carbon sequestering assets
On October 6, 2021, the Celo Foundation announced via Medium the introduction of a new Climate Collective with the goal of fighting climate change. The Climate Collective will be competing for XPRIZE’s $100M carbon removal challenge funded by Elon Musk’s Foundation.
The Climate Collective, which features 10 companies including Curve Labs, Kolektivo, Moss, and Regen Network, will take a community driven approach focusing on the tokenization of rainforests and other carbon sequestering assets. The initiative “will propose that over the next 4 years, these tokenized trees be added to the Celo Reserve so that Celo stablecoins can be backed in part by rainforests, which are essential in the fight against climate change.”
According to the Celo Foundation:
“We see this as an opportunity to have a massively positive impact on the world by sequestering carbon through preservation and mass planting of trees. We strongly believe we have a serious shot at reaching this goal.”
Over the next four years, the goal is for 40% of the Celo reserve to transition to tokenized rainforest and other carbon sequestering assets, which based on today's numbers, would allow for the protocol to own $340M worth of newly planted rainforest, representing roughly 135 million large rainforest trees.
For more specifics on the project, and the concept of natural capital backed currencies, make sure to check out the Medium article.
This project demonstrates another exciting use case of cryptocurrency and blockchain in fighting climate change. In a recent article, titled Crypto, blockchain, and the environment: the other side, I highlight some other extraordinary use cases including greater transparency and accountability in supply chains and environmental initiatives, greater environmental efficiency in financial services, and supporting vulnerable populations in adapting to irreversible climate change.
Some exciting blockchain projects that fall within these use cases include Etherisc’s agricultural insurance protocol, Rahat’s emergency aid distribution platform, VeChains Digital Carbon Footprint SaaS platform, ReSea’s blockchain-based platform for tracking the removal of plastic from the ocean, and Fish Token’s seafood traceability project, among others.
This exciting project further affirms the view by the United Nations that blockchain can play an essential role in fighting climate change:
Despite the bad rap that cryptocurrency gets when it comes to the environment, the potential is there for blockchain and crypto to play an essential role in future efforts to combat climate change, and I’m certain it will.
What do you think of this new initiative by the Celo Foundation? Tweet us at @Crypto_Altruism, we’d love to hear from you!
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