(Bloomberg) — Polygon, a software platform for developers utilizing the Ethereum blockchain, is pledging $20 million as part of a push to fully offset the impact of its carbon-dioxide emissions this year.
Sandeep Nailwal, the founder of Polygon, said more efforts need to be made by blockchain companies to form a “united front” to fund and “leverage technology that helps heal the earth — rather than destroy it.”
The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry has drawn widespread scrutiny for its massive electricity use, driving some measures to use carbon credits to finance environmental projects that mitigate some of the impacts.
Polygon said it will use data from KlimaDAO to calculate and offset the carbon emissions related to its business and will purchase $400,000 carbon credits through the decentralized autonomous organization. Nailwal said the company will also fund initiatives to create trading in carbon credits on the blockchain.
Emissions released from “checkpointing,” or the process of merging the Polygon transactions into the Ethereum blockchain, and “bridging,” which involves transactions on the Ethereum Mainnet, are responsible for over 99% of Polygon’s emissions, said the blockchain firm.
Polygon’s network emissions in the 12 months to February 2022 amounted to 85,015 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Polygon said it has also commissioned the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute to provide an audit of its carbon footprint.
(Corrects story published on April 12 to eliminate comment erroneously attributed to company founder.)
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