Polygon Allocates $20 Million to Become Carbon Neutral in 2022

Polygon Network recently announced intentions to offset its carbon footprint this year. The blockchain project revealed that it had pledged $20 million toward its plans of becoming carbon neutral and climate effective.

As per the announcement, Polygon noted that it aims to implement a multilayered strategy targeted at creating a sustainable future for its ecosystem, the crypto industry, and the planet at large.

The Green Manifesto

Polygon also unveiled its “Green Manifesto: A Smart Contract with Planet Earth,” which emphasizes the need for environmentally sustainable practices to promote the Web3 ethos.

Hence to become carbon neutral, the project intends to track every NFT generated, token bridged, or DeFi trade made on its ecosystem and their environmental impacts mitigated. Polygon’s long-term goal is to become the first blockchain to be climate positive.

The protocol noted that it will work with KlimaDAO, a decentralized collective of environmentalists, developers, and entrepreneurs that deliver on-chain carbon offsetting solutions. In partnership with Offsetra, KlimaDAO will provide Polygon with a carbon footprint analysis to help measure the network’s carbon intensity.

A careful analysis of emissions from staking node hardware, emissions from the energy consumption of their operations, and emissions from contracts directly interacting with Ethereum Mainnet, especially checkpointing and bridging, will enable them to build a better management strategy.

Polygon noted that emissions from checkpointing and bridging alone account for over 99% of its overall emissions. From February 2021 to February 2022, Polygon recorded total network emissions of 90,645 tons of CO2.

Using data provided by KlimaDAO, Polygon will be able to efficiently calculate and offset its carbon impact and become carbon negative. To do this, Polygon plans to purchase about $400,000 worth of carbon credits via KlimaDAO’s on-chain carbon market, Klima Infinity.

Additionally, Polygon stated that it had commissioned the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute to provide a secondary audit of its carbon footprint to ensure the validity of the initial analysis.

$20M Pledge to Support Sustainable Initiatives

Polygon has also pledged $20 million to support several climate-positive initiatives and improve the ecosystem’s carbon status. It intends to fund blockchain projects to create innovative solutions that combat climate change.

By providing this support, Polygon is ensuring that every project built on its ecosystem maintains environmentally sustainable practices.

Speaking on the latest development, Polygon’s founder Sandeep Nailwal said:

“Through our sustainability commitment and community-driven efforts, we can successfully address societal shifts, avoid the worst impacts of climate change, and meet the sustainable development goals set out by the United Nations… Together with Polygon, the broader blockchain industry needs to form a united front to fund, support, and leverage technology that helps heal the earth, rather than destroy it.”

Meanwhile, other projects have also launched initiatives to promote carbon neutrality in the blockchain industry.

Last October, Ripple and Nelnet announced a $44 million joint investment to fund solar energy projects in the United States in an effort to achieve carbon-neutrality in the financial world.