Blockchain-Based Carbon Credits Platform MOSS Makes It Easy To Offset CO2 Emissions

The year 2020 has been tough, primarily due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on economies and human lives. Thankfully, it appears there is something positive to celebrate this year as well. MCO2, a blockchain-based project, is hard at work to combat climate change and support conservation efforts. The platform makes it easy for companies of all sizes to offset their carbon emissions to the environment by enabling them to buy carbon credits on their digital platform.

What is Carbon Offsetting?

Carbon offsetting, also known as reducing a carbon footprint, is the act of neutralizing the amount of CO2 which an individual, company, or organization emits into the atmosphere. This approach can be taken voluntarily, but it may be legally enforced as well. According to the Kyoto Protocol, the UN sets different targets for companies in various sectors. The end goal is to cut the amount of CO2 produced in the environment gradually year-over-year.
Carbon credits are used to reward those that meet their targets. Every credit represents a digital certificate that proves a given entity or project managed to prevent 1 ton of carbon dioxide emission in a given year. As such, one carbon credit equals a ton of CO2. It will take billions of credits to reverse the current level of climate change impacting our planet.

What Does A Basic Carbon Footprint Entail?

A typical carbon footprint process will involve an organization that wants to offset its GHG emissions but cannot do so directly. Therefore, they invest economically in a project that works on generating carbon offsets. Such projects include those involved in reforestation, creating renewable energy, landfill, and biomass.

As a result, the organization receives its carbon credits for their contribution. Companies that exceed the set target of pollution have to purchase carbon credits of an equal amount. Those who meet or cut their set target are rewarded with carbon credits equal to the amount not released to the environment.

A Modern Solution by MOSS

The MOSS team believes the solution to save the planet and combat climate change is simple: tapping into the private market. That is much easier said than done. Trends within the market have remained the same 20 years on, and sadly, out of the 55 billion CO2 tons emitted each year, only 11 billion are offset. This is primarily due to this market being analog, insecure, and archaic. MOSS has built a more mainstream solution by leveraging blockchain technology and creating the MCO2 token.

In its current form, the carbon credit market is worth roughly $250 billion annually. If all the CO2 emissions are compensated, then the resulting market can be worth around $1.3 trillion each year. To reach those levels, something had to change, and blockchain technology allows MOSS to do exactly that.

The historically complicated process of acquiring and trading carbon credit has been simplified and has become more transparent through tokenization. This resulted in the creation of Moss Carbon Credit (MCO2) eight months ago, an ERC20 token equal to one carbon credit. It is currently available on FlowBTC in Brazil and will become accessible soon through global platforms.

Paving the way for a Sustainable Future

Since MCO2 was born, MOSS has sent over $10 million in proceeds to conservation projects tied to the Amazon rainforest. The sale of carbon credits by MOSS pays for REDD + environmental projects that, through their sustainable activities, jointly protect and preserve an area of approximately 1 million hectares. It serves as a valuable example of what can be achieved by revamping an analog industry and ushering it into the modern era.

"According to Luis Felipe Adaime, founder and CEO of MOSS, the startup “is making the process simple by democratizing access to carbon credits, thereby boosting demand for environmental assets.”

The company is currently focused on buying carbon credits from high-quality environmental projects, further increasing its dominant position in this market.

MOSS launched in March of 2020, and the decision to initially focus on Brazil made sense. As a  country, it is home to 40% of the world’s tropical forests, and its carbon credit is the cheapest in the world. Due to the massive size of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil can certify 1.5 billion carbon credits, translating to many tonnes of avoided emissions per year. In monetary terms, the Latin American nation stands to benefit too. It could net about $60 billion flowing from environmental projects, which substantially adds to the nation’s GDP as it protects the planet.

In the short period since MOSS’s inception, it has established itself as the largest trader of voluntary carbon credits in Brazil and is the global industry leader. So far, the startup has bought and sold more than 900,000 tons of CO2 with a fair market value of around $25 million in eight months.

Imagine what can happen once consumers and corporations realize the opportunity at their disposal. There is still time to turn back climate change, but it needs to happen before 2050. With the help of MOSS, everyone can do their part - big or small - to ensure future generations will be able to survive on this planet.

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