Ripple and the Global Climate

SuperOne -

With news of the mindboggling levels of energy consumption of crypto blockchains, in particular, the question of the impact on the environment has never been more critical. On 19 May 2022, Ripple announced the commitment of $100million towards modernizing carbon markets globally.
As announced 2 years prior, they are striving towards net zero by 2030 or sooner, being the first company in the blockchain industry to do so. This funding will continue to support the development to enable carbon credit tokenization as NFT on the XRP ledger. So how will Ripple try to achieve their agreed global climate goals to limit the world’s temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius?
Ripple has given several points on how they plan to do this:

  • Investing in carbon-removal companies and use blockchain and crypto to accelerate supply and open up value for buyers and suppliers.
  • Supporting tools and functionality for carbon credit NFTs on the XRPL
  • Continuing partnering with the world’s leading climate and conservation organizations to develop new methodologies for carbon removal

We here at SuperOne found interesting was the use of the NFTs in all this. How is Ripple going to utilize NFTs to achieve this global goal?
Monica Long, the General Manager of RippleX at Ripple, says :

“Tokenizing carbon credits can play a vital role in scaling carbon markets and meeting growing demand while ensuring the credibility, integrity, and transparency of existing markets. Several carbon removal projects and fintechs are already building on the XRPL to bring new climate solutions to market. By bringing blockchain to global climate initiatives, the industry can more quickly verify and certify NFT carbon credits, eliminate the potential for fraud, and even guarantee the offset is actually removing carbon for the long term,”

So what is this “carbon credit”? A carbon credit is a permit that allows the owner to emit a certain about of greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide. This means that they can release these gases as long as they have enough credits. The credits can also be traded with other companies if they are unused. Ripple proposes to make these carbon credits into NFT form. They stated that it would eliminate the potential for fraud and make verifying much faster and more transparent. It would also make tracking the carbon emission much more straightforward and fix any areas continuously emitting the gases.

Here we come across a bit of a dilemma. The transactions required to mint and trade NFTs on the blockchain can use a substantial amount of energy.
This means that even though that NFTs are being used to track and work towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions, at the same time are causing the same problem that we are trying to reduce.
But Ripple believes that NFTs do not need to be so energy-intensive, the energy usage depends on the underlying blockchain. The XRP Ledger is carbon-neutral and uses very little energy, which is good for both the environment and everyone living in it. SuperOne has produced over 150,000 NFTs ( at the time of writing ) and plans to produce more. And when the technology is ready, SuperOne will have them all on the carbon-neutral and low energy using XRP Ledger. The plan is to make 1 million+ NFT and to mint them outside the XRP Ledger would not be financially and environmentally smart. With the numbers that SuperOne is planning to mint, it would just make sense to us the XRP Ledger. Doing this would be better for the environment and all SuperOne users. The SuperOne NFTs are not just cards, but they also function as an essential part of the SuperOne app. The NFTs can be used for staking, and users will be able to reap the rewards depending on the NFT the user holds. This will be possible once the SuperOne game is launched. When the XRP Ledger technology is ready, and all of the NFTs are minted there, this would open the door for buying, selling, and trading outside the platform. Just endless possibilities, and on top of that, SuperOne is helping to reduce carbon emissions just by using the XRP Ledger.
Like Brad Garlinghouse said, “NFTs aren’t just about digital art.”
SuperOne thinks the same.