Kenyan biomass company, Tamuwa is opening Africa’s first verifiable emissions reduction platform that will run on Blockchain technology with the aim of cutting the production of climate-warming gases in the region.
The platform is to be known as CYNK and will use the Hedera Hashgraph public decentralised ledger for the measurement, verification and sale of high-quality verifiable emissions reductions (VERs).
These verifiable emission reductions are basically records detailing a reduction or removal of emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. These are usually sold as carbon credits to polluters aiming to offset their own emissions.
** One VER is equivalent to 1 tonne of carbon dioxide emissions.
Tamuwa is a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Tamu Group that has established itself as a leading renewable biomass fuels producer in the East Africa region, specializing in technology which upcycles agri-waste into high-quality renewable biomass fuels.
Given that 70% of all energy in Kenya is derived from burning wood, Tamuwa is on a mission to reduce deforestation in the country. To help with this, the verifiable emission reductions will provide an alternative income source for Tamuwa and other firms engaged in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Access to more funds will allow renewable sustainable biomass fuel producers like Tamuwa to scale up and subsequently help substitute out more firewood, saving more trees and reducing costs.
The Rainforest Alliance Country Director for Kenya and Tanzania, Michael Orang’i applauded the move saying, “This ultimately will provide greater returns for the more than 800,000 smallholder farmers and their families supporting today’s tea industry in Kenya.”
The project will take flight as the first in Africa to receive a grant from the HBAR Foundation’s Sustainable Impact Fund that currently exceeds $100 million in value. The Foundation includes representatives from Boeing Co., Standard Bank Group and other companies.
This cash fund of over $100 million was established in March and prioritizes support for projects creating solutions on Hedera that help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
While traditional carbon certification processes and related markets currently exclude many local projects, the CYNK platform will leverage the Hedera Hashgraph blockchain to boost transparency and efficiency while reducing the cost of Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) to ease the flow of finances.
CYNK will offer direct connectivity to enable project developers involved in carbon-saving initiatives to reach fair and transparent markets. According to the Vice President of the HBAR Foundation, Wes Geisenberger the process is fully auditable thanks to the use of the carbon-negative Hedera Hashgraph.
Tamuwa is aiming to be the leading source of high-quality verifiable emissions reductions and plans to generate five million tokenised VERs over the next five years and is in talks to onboard a number of further projects that include nature-based solutions, regenerative agriculture and blue carbon.