Regen Network is proposing an approval of Regen Registry, credit type carbon.
—---
What is Regen Registry?
Regen Registry is a web3 native ecological service registry operating in the voluntary market that aims to support climate action by accelerating the adoption of nature-based solutions which regenerate and restore natural ecosystems. Regen Registry credits are nature-based solutions, which provide ecosystem integrity, including GHG emission reductions and removals, biodiversity/habitat protection, improvement in water quality, etc.
How does Regen Registry work?
The Regen Registry Handbook outlines the processes by which different stakeholders can engage in the creation of new methodologies and programs used to develop projects and issue ecocredits using features provided by the Regen Marketplace App.The handbook also outlines the general requirements for the quantification, monitoring, reporting, verification (MRV), project registration, administration and issuance of credits, and governance of the registry standards.
The Regen Ledger is the underlying blockchain infrastructure that stores all information related to claims made on ecological state to provide an open and audible trail for assets issued on our platform.
The Regen Marketplace App is a front-end application which allows stakeholders to use Regen Ledger to register projects, buy, sell, and retire credits on an open marketplace, and engage in network governance.
What are the pieces of a credit standard on Regen Registry?
- Credit Class (the crediting standard): Credit classes are programs/protocols/standards which outline the rules and requirements for projects seeking to certify credits which can be sold on the voluntary market. We use the credit class to define credit type, credit unit, project activities and ecosystem types.
- Methodology (the climate science): The methodology details the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) process that is specific to a set of users, relating to a Credit Class..
What current credit standards are approved on Regen Registry?
- CarbonPlus Grasslands Credit Class, author: Regen Network Development PBC (credit type: carbon; offset generation method: carbon removal)
- GHG Benefits in Managed Crop and Grassland Systems Credit Class, author: Ecometric (credit type: carbon; offset generation method: carbon removal)
What current methodologies are approved on Regen Registry?
- V1.0, Methodology for GHG and Co-benefits in Grazing System, author: Regen Network Development PBC, carbon removal
- Appendix: In-Stand Surface Application of Biochar in Forestlands Methodology, author: Kulshan Carbon Trust, carbon removal
- Soil Organic Carbon Estimation in Regenerative Cropping & Managed Grasslands Ecosystem, author: Ecometric, carbon removal
What credit standards &/or methodologies are under development on Regen Registry?
- Over 40 climate-science methodologies are under development via Regen Registry.
- Methodology for Measuring the Carbon Content in Agroforestry Systems, author: Courageous Lands (public comment)
- Biodiversity Stewardship Tokens Methodology: Protocol for Ideation, Implementation & Monitoring, ERA Brazil (public comment)
- Please also see the credit lookbook for the expanded credit standard and issuance pipeline, downloadable at . We expect 2 million + credits to be issued throughout the next calendar year from Regen Registry standards and projects.
How does your standard address the following concerns regarding carbon credit integrity?
At Regen Registry, each Credit Class and Methodology combination has unique answers to this series of questions. These market requirements are addressed within the Regen Registry methodology and credit class design processes.
The programmatic criteria for Regen Registry credit issuance requires:
All emission reductions and removals to be REAL
All emission reductions and removals to be MEASURABLE
All emission reductions and removals to be ADDITIONAL
All emission reductions and removals to be UNIQUE
One (1) ecocredit (credit type:carbon) is associated with a single emission reduction or removal as one (1) metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)
Credits are issued on Regen Ledger according to the decimal basis on the blockchain, which is 8 digits, therefore credits can be fractionalized.
Regen Ledger is architected to only allow for credit issuance for ex-post credits, at this time. In the event that ex-ante credit issuance is added to the Regen Ledger functionality, we would exclude credit type = carbon/credit issuance = ex-ante from the approved credit types for this proposal.
On Regen Marketplace, users can make carbon offsetting claims by retiring ex-post carbon credits. View this video to experience the functionality of retirement.
Regen Registry and the approved methodologies have not applied for ICROA or CORSIA approvals. At this time, the methodologies are so new to the market that this hasn’t been pursued, and must be led by the communities that own and govern each standard, not Regen Registry. At this time, there are no plans for ICROA application.
In the event that a technical use case is evaluated for this partnership, we will provide security information on that use-case basis. Regen Ledger is a public blockchain with golang modules, which are built and audited by a robust community of blockchain engineers in the Interchain. We are not a smart-contract platform at this time.
The following details are determined by each Credit Class and Methodology approved by Regen Registry uniquely, and thus the answers are not standard:
- Each unique credit class and methodology assigns the instructions of co-benefits quantification uniquely.
- Each credit class standard defines the 3rd party verification requirements uniquely.
- Each credit credit class standard defines the project permanence requirements uniquely to each use case and methodology.
Technical Functionality
- Users will choose the type and amount of credits as well as the name that will be attributed to the purchase. The user can choose to retire the credits right away, or to purchase the credits as “tradeable” for future retirement. If they choose “retirable” the name that is input will be changed upon final credit retirement.
- Users will then pay for the credits on the Polygon chain in USDC.
- If the “retirable” option is chosen, fungible credits will be deposited into the users wallet where they will be fully transferable. The Regen credits associated with the fungible tokens would sit in a separate smart contract awaiting retirement. These can be retired at any time. If the option to retire now is chosen then that would trigger the retirement on Regen and issue the proof of impact NFT.
- Following the Regen retirement an NFT on Polygon will be generated as “proof of impact.” This NFT (ERC 721) will show the entity responsible for retirement, date, amount of credits retired, and project. The transaction hash from the Regen Network will be embedded into the NFT directly linking the NFT to the retirement on Regen. If “retirable” is chosen an NFT will be issued but no retirement hash will be available and the NFTs metadata will read “retirable”.
- The EcoToken Marketplace is responsible for all $regen transaction fees to execute trade, purchase or retirements.
Go-to-Market and Traction:
- In 2020, Microsoft purchased 124,000 soil organic carbon credits, the 1st credit issuance from Regen Registry, for their moonshot goal.
- Regen Network also allows for the neutral use of our software stack by third-party crediting standards, like Toucan Protocol TCO2 and City Forest Credits.
- In total, between these two registries plus Regen Registry, over 500k credits have been issued.
- In the CosmosZERO campaign, 30k+ NCT credits were retired for protocol carbon footprint offsetting.
Value to KlimaDAO:
This partnership would provide Regen-issued carbon credit support for KlimaDAO’s retirement aggregator and Carbonmark marketplace. Regen Registry is focused on high-integrity credit origination with our worldwide network of project developers, and is delighted for the opportunity to partner with the KlimaDAO suite of projects that can serve the demand side of the market for our emergent and innovative credit standards.
KlimaDAO would play a role as a demand side partner. Ideally, the KlimaDAO community will engage in pre-purchases on Regen Registry credits as they are issued over the next 3 months - 3 years. With over 2,00,000 credits expected to be issued in 2023, worth over $12 million, the KlimaDAO community has the potential to be a critical on-chain demand partner. Each dollar from initial credit sale goes to project developers to support the expansion of their pilot on the ground ecological regeneration projects, thus catalyzing project development pipelines.
—-
Proposal: Regen Network is proposing an approval of Regen Registry, at the registry level, for all projects with credit type = carbon.
Discussion:
Should there be additional proposals offered for each unique standard to be accepted, so that the community can evaluate the detailed answers?
Or, is the approval at the Regen Registry registry level sufficient to allow all methodologies related to credit type = carbon to be automatically accepted to KlimaDAO’s Retirement Aggregator and for listing on Carbonmark?