White Paper
A Data-Driven Sustainability Ecosystem
Carbonly and DecarbonNode
Written by Saad Masood
Abstract: An easy-to-use cloud software; “carbonly.co” for all types of businesses. Carbonly will follow the global standards and guidelines for ESG Reporting, and sustainability accounting. It will provide a robust system for GHG emissions calculation, lifecycle assessment (LCA), product carbon footprint (PCF), and significant carbon stories of all types of businesses. Carbon labels will be used to communicate the LCA and PCF to carbon-conscious consumers by leveraging the blockchain technology. “DecarbonNode.com” is an eCommerce platform for sustainable climate consumerism. It will be the world’s first carbon-offset e-Wallet system for carbon-conscious consumers. DecarbonNode will provide a global identity to the carbon-conscious consumer community (CCCC). It will be an innovative social platform – bringing together carbon-conscious consumers and take benefit of sustainable products, conscious community, shared and circular economy. Moreover, as an ecommerce platform – It will be integrated with sustainable suppliers for low-carbon, carbon measured and labelled products. Conscious consumers will be encouraged to adopt climate habits through “Climate Behavior Hacks” – A series of social media content focused on climate behavior modification, these will include videos, podcasts, and blogs. In the end, conscious consumers will receive rewards via their impact and on low carbon purchase. Consequently, conscious community of corporates and consumers create a healthy and positive handprint to overcome their footprint.
Introduction:
Since the 18th century – the industrial revolution, the earth’s temperature has risen by 1 degree Celsius (Approx.) which is equal to the temperature increase due to anthropogenic activities in the previous 10,000 years. This climate risk has put humanity in severe survival danger. The more greenhouse gases are trapped in the earth’s atmosphere, the fast we will head towards our extinction. Now is the time to measure and manage our ecological footprint.
Regulators, Corporates, and Consumers constitute this whole ecosystem. Regulators have been trying to implement laws, regulations, and policies to mitigate the climate risk for many years. however, they have not achieved significant results due to a lack of consensus between corporates and consumers. This gap has triggered the start of Carbonly and DecarbonNode applications – a data-driven sustainability ecosystem. The vision of this sustainability ecosystem is to create an environmental impact and build global communities for “Carbon-Managed Corporates” and “Carbon-Conscious Consumers”.
Carbon-managed corporates community has the potential for several future green benefits, such as.
- Business to business (B2B) sustainable supplier sourcing platform.
- Business to consumer (B2C) carbon labeled eCommerce platform.
- An opportunity to transform the corporate social responsibility (CSR) budget into marketing, advertisement, and brand creation funds.
- Innovative asset depreciation methodology based on environmental efficiency rather than accounting book value.
- The Industrial Internet of things (IIoT) focused on carbon management programs.
- Internet of things (IoT) collaboration with financial institutions for the climate or sustainable financing. Etc.
Similarly, the carbon-conscious consumer community is likely to take plentiful ecological and cost paybacks, such as.
- A platform for sustainable climate consumerism where you can buy sustainable products.
- World’s first carbon offset e-wallet system for carbon-conscious consumers community.
- Consumer to consumer (C2C) platform based on shared economy.
- Consumer to business (C2B) Platform for Community bulk buying.
- Waste collection platform to boost recycling and circular economy.
- Carbon mileage mindset
Carbonly Model:
Its mission is to build intelligent sustainability tools for manufacturers and distributors to transparently measure, manage, and communicate their sustainability impact. It intends to develop an AI sustainability engine with thousands of Data Points.
Carbonly SaaS application will help to create sustainability reports in six easy steps.
The market opportunity could be assessed from the fact that global sustainable investments have reached around US$ 30 trillion since 2014. There are around 41,000 listed companies globally with a market cap of US$ 80 trillion. Most of these listed companies are/will be preparing the sustainability reports as part of a sustainable agenda, business growth, or regulatory compliance.
In 2020, KPMG has conducted a survey about sustainability reporting, and here are the results.
Carbonly will be a software as a service (SaaS) application for corporates to manage their sustainability impact. This will create a databank for low-carbon suppliers and products. Environmental training and carbon management programs (CMP) are catalysts to ensure that the ecological footprint is measured, managed, and communicated.
At the higher level, the working model of this Intelligent sustainability reporting engine would look as follows.
DecarbonNode Model:
The ultimate objective of DecarbonNode is to spread the message of climate behavior modification and promote a sustainable lifestyle among the conscious consumer community.
DecarbonNode will be focusing on 6 major verticals, as shown in the following picture. A carbon mileage mindset is a key catalyst that will help local manufacturers to grow their businesses. Conscious consumers will start their sustainable lifestyle based on their preference, they will have an option to start their sustainability journey from anywhere ranging from sustainable living, low carbon food, sustainable travel, and sustainable fashion.
Carbon offset e-Wallet will record the impact in terms of carbon offsets, initially, it will create discount vouchers based on current and historical consumers’ purchasing habits. Later as a community the impact will be transformed into tradeable carbon offsets and converting these offsets into NFTs, are also an option.
One of the IBM reports shows that 57% of global consumers, in retail industries, are willing to change their purchasing habits and help to reduce the negative environmental impact. Moreover, there are 71% of those surveyed indicated that traceability is very important, and they are willing to pay a premium for brands that provide it.
The DecarbonNode working model will be completed in three steps.
- Measure: Calculate your carbon emissions when you shop, consume, and travel.
- Payback: Offset your impact on behavior modification rather than a tree plantation project.
- Shop: Shop online seamlessly with a carbon mileage mindset.
Integrated Model:
Carbonly will offer SaaS applications with corporate sustainability tools, environmental training, and carbon management programs. Manufacturers and traders manage sustainability and label their products. DecarbonNode will provide an integration mechanism with existing online/offline sustainable suppliers and products. Carbon-conscious consumers will shop low carbon items, collect carbon rewards, transform into a sustainable lifestyle, and build a conscious consumer community.
Climate Behavior Hacks:
Climate behavior hacks are small climate habits that can create a huge impact on the climate economy. These hacks are related to alternatives such as sustainable products and life routine tasks that can be adopted easily within the same cost, comfort, and style. This is a tool to promote climate behavior modification among conscious consumers so that they could embrace the change in their lifestyle and live sustainable lives.
Conclusion:
This white paper has explained the working model of Carbonly and DecarbonNode applications. It has explained how conscious communities of carbon-managed corporates and carbon-conscious consumers will be created. The spirit of this whole idea rests with the impact communities that can generate a positive handprint to overcome the global carbon footprint with the power of consciousness, collaboration, communication, reward management, carbon offsets, behavior modification, and alliances.
Potential Indicators
Global Temperature Pathways
As per IPCC SR15, pathways that limit warming to 1.5°C, with no or limited overshoot, require reaching approximately net-zero CO2 emissions by no later than 2050
Why Businesses Need Carbon Management Program?
A collaborative study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Accenture has revealed that companies, which were engaged in sustainable supply chain initiatives, have experienced;
- 5% to 20% increase in Revenue;
- 9% to 16% reduction in cost;
- 15% to 30% boost in brand value; and
- 13% to 22% reduction in GHG emissions
Consumer Research on Carbon Emission Labelling
Question 1:
Before purchasing a product, it’s important for me to know that the company I’m purchasing it from is taking action to reduce the product’s carbon footprint.
(Agree / Neutral/ Disagree)
Question 2:
It’s a good idea to use a recognizable label on products that have been made with a commitment to measuring and reducing their carbon footprint.
(Agree / Neutral/ Disagree)
Question 3:
Imagine that you were considering purchasing a product, and you discovered that one of the companies selling it had reduced the carbon footprint of that product…Knowing this, you will feel more inclined towards that company’s product.
(Agree / Neutral/ Disagree)
Businesses Just Started Carbon Management Programs
Talk of the town
Green Climate Fund
Today, the private sector manages more than USD 210 trillion in assets but only a very minor part of it is dedicated to climate investments, still there are lot of potential funding opportunities available.
