Digital Assets and the Era of ConvergenceTechnology and Infrastructure

Digital collective restores carbon market credibility through immutable smart contracts

By FMinsights||Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes|

[London, 24th April 2024] ZERO13, the COP28 award-winning international carbon exchange, registry and aggregation hub ecosystem, part of GMEX group, is collaborating with Decarb.earth, CarbonCX and XTCC, to provide the world’s first end-to-end digitally measured, reported and verified carbon credit distribution, trading and settlement solution for renewable energy projects. 

The digital climate fintech platform-as-a-service recently enabled 14,591 carbon credits, including those from GoSolr (Pty) Ltd in South Africa, to be successfully distributed, traded and settled via ZERO13 on the SECDEX Marketplace for spot carbon credits and regulated securities markets via XTCC structured products.

The high-integrity voluntary carbon credit solution maximises market value and distribution in a way which instils trust by digitally verified provenance to address the issues of greenwashing and double-counting through:

  • Ecosystem connection via the ZERO13 Asset Settlement Network (ASN) and Hub,
  • Project digitisation, data measurement, reporting and carbon credit generation by Decarb.earth,
  • Digital verification and registry by CarbonCX,
  • Execution via the XTCC exchange-listed structured investment products,
  • Listings on regulated securities exchanges such as Deutsche Borse, Vienna Stock Exchange and SECDEX.

Hirander Misra, Chairman and CEO of GMEX Group and ZERO13, commented: “With a multi-blockchain network-of-networks approach encompassing the diverse capabilities of our partners Decarb.earth, CarbonCX and XTCC, the ZERO13 ecosystem enables digital carbon credits, backed by smart contracts, to be officially accredited, issued, traded and settled to support the advancement of renewable energy technologies that are crucial for a sustainable future.”

Marco Funk, CEO of Decarb.earth, added: “There cannot be a just and swift energy transition without transparency. The carbon credit market has been fraught with controversies of low-quality credits and doubtful existence. In this context, working with ZERO13, we are absolutely delighted to offer this first of its kind fully digital end-to-end carbon credit solution for renewable energy projects. With these VCCs having now been credited, audited, verified, registered and sold, a low-carbon energy future – within time – looks ever more likely.”

Dave Tims, Founder and Head of Strategy for CarbonCX Inc. said: “CarbonCX is pleased to announce the completion of this first sale of digital carbon credits from African solar energy projects registered to its next-generation carbon credit platform. The sale occurred on the ZERO13 distribution platform into the SECDEX Marketplace, which is setting the global standard for efficient trading, exchange matching and real-time settlement of traditional and digital carbon credits. Working closely with ZERO13 and its industry-leading project partner, Decarb.earth, we are also setting the standard for data recording, security and transparency related to digital carbon credits in multiple regions.”

Scott Levy, Founder of XTCC, said: “Decarb.earth represents a perfect example of the circularity benefits which came from investing with XTCC. By creating liquidity for the high-integrity carbon credits, Decarb.earth will also be encouraged to further their efforts to deliver impact in the social housing sector for example. Measurable community benefits are crucial to investor confidence and transparency; XTCC, ZERO13 and Decarb.earth are a unique example of how connecting to the capital markets liquidity can transform lives.”

ZERO13 is an infrastructure-agnostic and cloud-native platform that ensures flexibility in deployment. Functioning as a decentralised hub, the ecosystem orchestrates workflows across multiple exchanges, participants, custodians, registries and climate fintech services. It seamlessly integrates digital monitoring, reporting and verification providers delivering real-time asset checks on carbon offset supplies and project provenance analysis. It also enables end-to-end multi-market distribution across multiple blockchains and APIs to ensure successful trading and settlement, interconnecting silos and addressing the inadequacies of the stand-alone voluntary carbon market (VCM) model.

Since its launch, ZERO13 has expanded its interoperable ‘network of networks’ and grown its partnerships and customer base, bridging climate tech and climate fintech firms to over 60 participants, with continued rapid expansion and increased transaction flows through the platform and its associated network.