As we celebrate Earth Day, it's time to take a moment to appreciate the efforts made by businesses and individuals to protect our environment. One area gaining traction is the promising startup scene developing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) products. MISSION+ has had the privilege to build some of these products, and it has allowed us to witness first-hand how they will drive change, create new opportunities, and redefine industries.

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The ESG landscape encompasses an extensive array of potential products, and we will be looking at two very different parts of the puzzle:

• The engine room: an application for carbon sequestration projects
• The nervous system: an application for capturing, managing and reporting ESG indicators

Let’s explore the potential these products have in shaping a better future for humanity, in line with the spirit of Earth Day!

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Providing transparency to blue carbon projects – VERITY by Blue Carbon S2C

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What is Blue Carbon?

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Blue Carbon is the carbon stored and sequestered in coastal ecosystems. Blue Carbon credits trade at a premium (1.5x - 3x) compared to green carbon credits due to the premium value assigned by buyers, due to the following reasons:

• Coastal wetlands are the world's most secure & reliable carbon sink
• Coastal wetlands are recognized as a nature-based solution for countries to help meet climate change & commitments under the Paris Agreement
• Coastal wetlands capture carbon dioxide 30-50 times faster than terrestrial forests
• 80% of the carbon stored in below ground sediments. In contrast, "green" forests store most of their carbon above ground (e.g. branches, trunks, leaves) where it is more vulnerable to degradation (e.g. fire, logging, drought, disease)
• Significant co-benefits (e.g. environmental, social, cultural and economic)
• Carbon is locked away for centuries to millennia (geological time)

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About Blue Carbon S2C

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Blue Carbon S2C helps organisations tackle climate change by developing, operating, financing, and trading carbon projects. They provide transparent and high-quality carbon credits and co-benefits that offer a positive impact on the environment, culture, and socio-economics. Carbon sequestration benefits include the protection and restoration of existing carbon sinks and the creation of new ones via ecological restoration. Cultural core-benefits include the protection of indigenous people’s cultural heritage, the creation of jobs and traditional land management practices. Environmental co-benefits include improvements in biodiversity, storm and flood resilience, and water quality. Socio-economic co-benefits include the support of local economies, the creation of long-term jobs, and the protection of shorelines and coastal property. Blue Carbon S2C helps organisations align with international sustainability policies and meet UN SDG & ESG objectives while achieving their net-zero and decarbonization goals.

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VERITY

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The platform combines:

• Carbon project development and operational management tools
• Employee safety compliance management
• A Blockchain-based digital land registry for managing land usage and MRV process
• Verra, ACCU and Gold Standard methodology management
• Carbon tracking with indelible records from origination of sequestration through to the realisation of credits

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Blue Carbon S2C have already developed their first implementation of VERITY on Polygon and IPFS with MISSION+. They are now partnering with Polygon to bring the platform to market, and also working with Filecoin Green as an IPFS overlay. The resulting system will be net-negative in its emissions as well.

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Soon to become the first platform in the world that fully digitises the Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of blue carbon sequestration projects adhering to all three major standards (Verra, ACCU and Gold Standard). While starting with Blue Carbon, they will also be adding Teal and Green carbon standards, resulting in a fully integrated end-to-end system both horizontally (all types of natural carbon sequestration) and vertically (all major international standards).

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Their blockchain records will have every step of the sequestration process captured for full public disclosure, from initial site analysis, to the planting of Mangrove seeds and hydrology improvements, through to verification and issuance of carbon credits. Digitalization and indelible project records will remove the ambiguity currently plaguing carbon markets.

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Additionally, Verity will have application to not just their projects, but to all carbon projects that are developing around the world. They plan on providing Verity as a platform-as-a-service, including an Android field application optimised for use with ruggedized tablets in remote offline environments, web application portals for project administrators, auditors and buyers, and the underlying web3 infrastructure.

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Effortless access to verifiable data – ESGManage by ESGTech

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There are several challenges that organisations face when measuring, monitoring, and disclosing ESG performance. This includes the collection and sharing of ESG data which can be a time-consuming process, and it may be challenging to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information. In addition, a lack of standardisation in ESG reporting requirements and regulation makes it difficult for companies to represent their data correctly. Finally, organisations face difficulties in integrating ESG considerations into their existing reporting and decision-making processes, which can hinder their ability to use ESG data effectively.

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ESGTech provides organisations with the ESG tools, data and networks to make better decisions for a better tomorrow. ESGManage, the data management platform from ESGTech, simplifies the task of assessing, tracking, and reporting on a company's ESG performance. By consolidating all ESG-related data and supporting documents into a single cloud-based software, including information from subsidiaries, external suppliers, and financiers, ESGManage removes the challenge of gathering data from multiple spreadsheets and internal share drives. ESGTech's user-friendly platform offers effortless access to verifiable ESG data, making it an ideal solution for ESG leads who need to meet their organisations' ESG goals.

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ESGTech was founded by experts who have dealt with the problem first-hand and the founders themselves experiencing it through different lenses. From communicating internal and external ESG risks of major energy projects, assessing mergers and acquisitions against ESG investment themes, to managing financial products offered by financial institutions, their extensive experience has led to the creation of a scalable ESG data network that benefits all stakeholders.

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Not just Earth Day, but every day

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We are proud to have played a part in bringing these innovative ESG products to life. We believe that the more we focus on creating products with a greater purpose, the closer we'll come to achieving the collective dream of a sustainable planet. So, let's embrace ESG products as a powerful catalyst for change and celebrate the progress they represent, not just on Earth Day, but every day.