The Chainlink Community Grant Program provides financial resources to the many development teams and researchers building a more functional, accessible, and socially impactful Chainlink Network. In order to fuel the growth of the Chainlink community and accelerate the adoption of hybrid smart contracts, the Chainlink Grant Program continues to support work that makes it easier, faster, and more efficient to build and test new smart contracts and applications.

Every country in the world is experiencing the drastic effects of climate change. With greenhouse gas emissions rising over 50% since 1990, global warming is causing long-lasting changes to our climate system, which may prove irreversible if we do not act soon. To limit global warming to a 1.5°C increase and preserve a liveable planet, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG 13) and the 2015 Paris Climate Accord specify that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. As it stands, emissions are on track to rise 14% by 2030.

Many regulators trust corporations to self-report their greenhouse gas emissions, often through a simple questionnaire. Unsurprisingly, this single point of dependence has enabled systemic under-reporting. Transparent hybrid smart contracts offer a means to help make regional governments and corporations accountable for the greenhouse gases they emit, supporting more accurate reporting and contributing to emissions reduction.

To support the use of hybrid smart contracts in support of climate initiatives, the Chainlink Community Grants Program is awarding a social impact grant to Net Zero Protocol, a London-based initiative leveraging innovative technologies in support of SDG 13 and the race to net zero. This grant will fund the development of an open-source data feed that delivers geospatial pollution data and analytics to the blockchain ecosystem via a Chainlink External Adapter.

Net Zero Protocol aims to eliminate the single point of dependence in greenhouse gas emission disclosure methods by capturing raw data from satellites and regional sensors across the globe, storing an immutable record of specific emission events on a blockchain, and making it easily accessible using an External Adapter. This would enable institutions, governments, regulatory bodies, and smart contract developers to access reliable pollution data from a precise location over a specific date range, helping attribute greenhouse gas emissions directly to companies operating in that area. Net Zero Protocol can help monitor, stabilize, and mitigate transition and legislation risk for an institutional climate action portfolio. 

Through this grant initiative, Net Zero Protocol aims to complete the following deliverables: 

• Produce a compendium of geospatial datasets around greenhouse gas and particulate matter levels 
• Develop an algorithm that captures atmospheric pollution levels at a specific location
• Create an open-source geospatial API service for the most important pollution datasets and analytics
• Build an open-source External Adapter that makes the data sets from the API easily accessible to the blockchain ecosystem. 

Data collated by Net Zero Protocol is set to power an array of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) applications across the blockchain space, including protocols for trading greenhouse gas credits, automated emissions regulation, climate fund algorithmic investing, and more. Beyond ESG protocols, the data will prove valuable across decentralized agricultural, insurance, and finance applications—ultimately supporting a number of the other 16 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Net Zero Protocol is a climate initiative based in the heart of the Royal Square Mile, the financial hub of London. By leveraging innovative technologies, including blockchains, Net Zero Protocol is building data and intelligence solutions to support the race to zero, which refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. Net Zero Protocol is currently working closely with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Net Zero Protocol was founded by Kirthi K., who has considerable experience across capital markets, (re)insurance, energy, and financial services, having worked at Lloyd’s of London, Capgemini, and Capital Group. He holds a BSc in Physics and an MBA, and has completed blockchain, fintech, leadership, and strategy programs at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. He also serves as an industry associate at University College London’s Centre for Blockchain Technologies. 

“We’re excited to receive a Chainlink social impact grant to help us build a Chainlink External Adapter that captures, collates, and delivers verified sources of geospatial pollution data on-chain,” stated Kirthi K. “Making this data easily accessible to smart contract developers will enable them to build innovative solutions that enable regulatory bodies to attribute emissions to specific organizations and hold them to a new level of accountability. We aim to be the primary infrastructure for open and verifiable Digital Carbon Offsets. Ultimately we believe this solution will support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and move us one step closer to net zero.”

Through the Community Grants Program, Chainlink continues to empower innovative teams, academics, and social impact projects that research and develop key tools and infrastructure to accelerate the adoption of hybrid smart contracts, secure oracle networks, and cutting-edge technology capable of creating a more economically fair world.

About the Chainlink Grant Program

If you want to learn more about the Chainlink Community Grant Program, check out our recent blog post that further expands upon its goals and the criteria for submission. We encourage talented individual developers and development teams to apply to the grant program here, or if you’re a researcher and want to collaborate, contact us.