The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), headquartered in Abu Dhabi, has introduced a blockchain-driven carbon tracking and trading platform, aiming to facilitate global trade in carbon tokens. As a key global scientific research center and the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), TII’s platform aligns with the UAE Vision 2021 and COP28 goals, emphasizing a swift transition to a sustainable environment and a new low-carbon, high-growth economic model.
Unveiling the digital platform at COP28 in Dubai, Dr. Ray O. Johnson, TII’s CEO, highlighted the UAE’s commitment to enabling confident and environmentally beneficial trading while mitigating human impact. Developed by TII’s Cryptography Research Centre, the platform supports the global carbon market, enhancing tracking and trading of carbon emissions. Unlike other blockchain projects, it employs a resource-efficient implementation, allowing public verification of activities at minimal cost in carbon emissions or other resources.
Dr. Najwa Aaraj, Chief Researcher at TII’s Cryptography Research Centre, underscored the platform’s design by an international team, facilitating secure carbon tracking and trading for large numbers of verified users. It ensures transaction integrity, user privacy, auditability, and transparency, making it ideal for a new era of confident carbon trading.
TII stands out as the first to implement a blockchain-enabled Proof of Concept, preparing the platform for global trading. It accurately tracks carbon emissions by registering emissions from any global public or private organization. Auditors establish a trust chain from emission capture to storage to trading, ensuring transparent audited transactions while safeguarding user privacy.
TII’s platform enables the creation of tokens representing removed carbon dioxide, fostering transparent and secure storage and trade. These tokens incentivize investment in green projects, including forestation and carbon capture, offering entities a means to offset challenging-to-decarbonize activities and encouraging green investments. Beyond carbon tracking and trading, blockchain’s capabilities extend to product supply chain tracking, peer-to-peer energy trading, and transparent ledgers for waste disposal, recycling, water, and forestry management efforts.
