Polygon announced its “Green Manifesto: A Smart Contract with Planet Earth” today and committed to becoming carbon-negative this year.
The company also pledged $20 million to implement a multi-layer sustainability strategy aimed at building a greener future for its ecosystem, users, and the planet, according to a press release reviewed by Coin Journal.
First partnership with KlimaDAO
The first initiative will be carried out in partnership with KlimaDAO, a leading advocate for developing an on-chain carbon market.
KlimaDAO, together with Offsetra, conducted a carbon footprint analysis for Polygon to assess the network’s carbon intensity and to inform its emissions management and reduction strategy.
The completed analysis covers emissions from validator hardware, emissions from energy use across operations, and emissions attributable to contracts that interact directly with the Ethereum mainnet.
Ethereum accounts for 99% of emissions
The analysis found that checkpoints and bridging activities that rely on transactions on the Ethereum mainnet are responsible for more than 99% of Polygon’s emissions. Since the network’s inception, checkpoints have produced over 16,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions and bridging activities nearly 74,000 tonnes.
As of February 2022, Polygon’s total emissions since launch amount to 90,654 tonnes of carbon.
Polygon will purchase carbon credits
To offset the ecosystem’s carbon impact, Polygon will buy high-quality, traceable BCT and MCO2 carbon credits through KlimaDAO’s on-chain carbon marketplace, Klima Infinity, to compensate for the 90,654 tonnes of carbon.
Polygon has engaged the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI) to provide a secondary audit of the carbon footprint data to validate the findings and ensure accuracy.
$20 million pledged to offset emissions and fund initiatives
Polygon committed $20 million to offset carbon emissions and support a range of community initiatives. The funds will back projects that leverage technology to mitigate or solve climate change, reinforcing a focus on sustainable practice.
Polygon supports the usability and environmental viability of Ethereum through scaling solutions such as Polygon PoS, Polygon Edge, Polygon Avail, Polygon Nightfall, and Polygon Hermez. The ecosystem’s sustainability efforts precede Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake, which is expected to lower the network’s energy consumption by nearly 99%.
Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, commented:
We have reached a critical moment in human history. The actions we take over the next decade will determine the fate of our planet. The steps we’ve outlined can eliminate emissions from the Polygon ecosystem, but they are not sufficient alone to deliver the scale of change necessary to tackle the climate crisis. Alongside Polygon, the wider blockchain industry must form a united front to fund, support, and deploy technologies that help heal the Earth rather than harm it.