Global, robust and comparable digital carbon assets / Apr 2024
Paper on smart contracts for carbon credits at ICBC 2024 in Dublin. This work proposes the PACT stablecoin, which addresses concerns about credibility, scalability, and liquidity in voluntary carbon markets. We combine remote sensing data, modern econometric techniques, and blockchain-based certification and trading to create digital carbon assets against which offsetting claims can be transparently verified. The key innovation is creating a reproducible computational pipeline that not only quantifies CO2 emissions but also allows credits to be pooled based on co-benefits like biodiversity and jurisdictional attributes, increasing liquidity through fungibility. We implemented it on the Tezos blockchain, which is designed for low-cost transactions with minimal environmental impact.