ICC partners with blockchain carbon offset exchange AirCarbon to reduce carbon emissions
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and blockchain firm Perlin have partnered with carbon offset exchange AirCarbon to promote green solutions in the aviation industry. The new partnership formed out of this year’s United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 25) in Madrid.
Based in Singapore, AirCarbon is building a trading system where businesses and energy institutions can trade Ethereum and ERC20 & ERC721 tokens backed by their CORSIA-compliant carbon credits. Carbon credits trading is a market-based solution to climate change. It allows companies to trade for the right to emit greenhouse gases (GHG). Instead of making unfeasible reductions on their own, firms can pay to reduce the global GHG total. By incorporating blockchain technology and tokenizing carbon credits, AirCarbon offers a streamlined instrument for trading CORSIA eligible emission credits.
With the new partnership, AirCarbon will take advantage of ICC’s global network and Perlin’s expertise in distributed ledger technology to further advance its carbon credit scheme, according to a press release.
In 2016, 191 countries signed the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) in Montreal. The agreement is set to take effect in 2021, when 80 countries representing over 77% of international air traffic volumes will commit to green solutions including fuel-efficient aircraft, new direct flight paths, and biofuels. The goal of the initiative is to provide more than $40 billion in funding for climate projects and offset more than 2.6 billion tonnes of C02 emissions between 2021 and 2035.
“Carbon and putting a value on the environment is a personal mission for me and distributed ledger technology is well suited to overcome some of the trust, double counting, and governance challenges of carbon provenance and markets,” said Perlin Chief Executive Officer Dorjee Sun. “This new partnership will showcase how blockchain can be used in the real-world to support more inclusive, efficient and sustainable marketplaces.”