Web3 & AI: A Hypothetical Company's Plan to Remove 1B Tons of CO₂ by 2050

I recently interviewed for a company in a completely different sector this week. As I feared, I am a little too senior but it made me think — ‘what could I do bigger and better?’

So I spent the following morning writing up a strategy for a green economy startup that would use generative ai large language models, web3, and good old-fashioned hard work to tackle the challenge of climate change.

The result is ‘Planetary’ — an ambitious plan to acquire 1 million hectares of land and remove 1 billion tons of CO₂ emissions by 2050.

How?

• The development of a large language model (LLM) and proprietary machine learning algorithms trained on peer-reviewed, private and publicly available research on climate change, geospatial and satellite data and economic reports.

  
  

• The acquisition of land identified using the proprietary AI platform that will be regenerated in order to create carbon credits in areas that will become increasingly more valuable as climate change takes hold.

  
  

• The development of a carbon-negative Layer 1 blockchain ledger that acts as a publicly available and transparent record of events and transactions that impact each parcel of land acquired and trading platform for carbon credits.

Of course, this is all hypothetical and why would I literally write up a startup strategy to give it away for free?

Partially, because ideas on their own are worthless these days, partially to show that many don’t think big enough, and partially to show that technologies can be used in the right combination to effect positive change that isn’t just more of the same.

If people like Adam Neumann can secure $350m for WeWork 2.0 then why is it that startups delivering sustainability and ESG solutions really struggle to capture the same attention of venture capitalists and investors?

I hope you enjoy reading this. Feel free to comment or pop me an email if you want to discuss some of the ideas.

(and yes, I really did write this up in the morning after mulling it over in the bath the night before lol)

Content Overview

• Introducing Planetary: A Hypothetical Company Acquiring 1M Hectares and Removing 1B Tons of CO₂ by 2050
• Planetary’s Strategy
• Planetary’s Technology Profile
• The People of Planetary

Introducing Planetary: A Hypothetical Company Acquiring 1M Hectares and Removing 1B Tons of CO₂ by 2050

Climate change is the biggest threat to human civilization and life on Earth we face today. Over the next century, we are set to face increasingly hostile environmental impacts on society and the ecosystem on which we depend. Increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, extinction of native flora and fauna, and the migration of species and humans from lands unfit for habitation to other areas less affected will create economic and societal imbalances we are not prepared for.

But there is still time to act. And it is now.

Our goal is to acquire 1 million hectares of land to remove over 1 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2050.

The immediate response is ‘impossible’ given the scale needed by a single organization to achieve this, but we are committed to making it happen through a business model that not only has a positive and regenerative environmental impact but also provides a naturally sustainable and future-focused alternative that can benefit the many.

This is saving civilization on a PLANETARY scale.

Planetary’s Strategy

We intend to introduce a three-stage plan for the regeneration of land and sustained removal of carbon dioxide. Our vision is to become not only a leader in affirmative action against climate change but to leave a lasting legacy of investment for generations to follow.

Our ethos for planetary transformation is People, Planet and Technology. In order to support this, we will focus on three key areas, all of which are revenue-generating with the intent to increase in value as we scale.

Our immediate differentiators (that currently do not exist in full) within competitor strategy are as follows:

• The development of a large language model (LLM) and proprietary machine learning algorithms trained on peer-reviewed, private, and publicly available research on climate change, geospatial and satellite data, and economic reports.

  
  

• The acquisition of land identified using our proprietary AI platform that will be regenerated in order to create carbon credits in areas that will become increasingly more valuable as climate change takes hold.

  
  

• The development of a carbon-negative Layer 1 blockchain ledger that acts as a publicly available and transparent record of events and transactions that impact each parcel of land acquired and trading platform for carbon credits.

Planetary’s Technology Profile

In order to acquire 1 million hectares and maximize the immediate and future return on value to investors and the amount of carbon credits that can be issued, it is necessary to develop a proprietary research platform dedicated to the identification of land that can be used for sustainable regeneration and growth whilst protecting that investment against the impact of climate change over a longer period of time.

As part of this effort, we will develop open large language research models for licensing to optimize reforestation planning, sustainable development and farming, ecotourism opportunities, and more. By analyzing datasets like soil conditions, rainfall, and species suitability, we will create internal high-precision predictive machine learning models to inform our land acquisition strategy worldwide with a view towards long-term value and scalable carbon offset returns. It is especially important to stress that a land acquisition strategy should not only focus on what is available today but what will be valuable for sustainable development beyond 2050 as the climate impact is felt.

In this regard, it is important to take into account factors like wildlife and human migration, temperature fluctuations, crop degradation, and rising sea levels. The same platform will help us identify and optimize the best regeneration efforts for maximum return. The algorithms will analyze available data including soil conditions, rainfall, temperature, biodiversity, and invasive species to determine the most suitable types of projects.

We will distribute these models with a permissive open source-software license which will be the first of its kind in this category. We will look to source a core research team not only of exceptional developers but of top planetary science researchers to continually update and validate input into these models.

The models will be continually updated to reflect real-time and real-world data captured under each land parcel acquired and regenerated, providing confidence to investors and adding further validation to the carbon credit marketplace.

In order to commit to radical transparency and ethics oversight it is our belief that decentralized technologies hold the key. To this end, we will develop a Layer 1 blockchain-based platform for the purchasing and acquisition of land and to openly track the progress of regenerative projects, carbon emission reduction, and fractionalized sale.

Each parcel of land acquired becomes its own Layer 2 ledger capable of recording a public and transparent history of positive change. This Layer 2 will also act as a ledger system for the trade and resale of carbon credits issued against each project per plot of land. The credits will represent the tons of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere through conservation projects thus creating transparent progress towards achieving our goal of removing 1 billion tons of CO2 by 2050. The proprietary machine learning platform will be used to analyze satellite imagery and sensor data to accurately measure and verify the carbon impacts of different projects. In addition, using smart contracts for the purchase of carbon credits allows us to set a percentage ‘royalty’ on secondary markets by a number of trades until retired.

Both platforms will also be used to monitor available real-time data and satellite imagery to track the provenance of agricultural and forestry products back to verified sustainable sources. The supply chain data would be recorded on Layer 2 for transparency and further proof of regenerative activities and carbon dioxide removal.

Using blockchain also allows for future tokenization and empowered community oversight opportunities of the acquired land. This is explained later in the business model.

To achieve a carbon-negative blockchain platform we are evaluating a number of existing solutions that can complement our own strategy.

The Polkadot network includes a main blockchain called the “relay chain” and many user-created parallel chains (or “parachains”). It also has a connecting layer, or “bridge,” that allows value and data to be transferred between most blockchains — and can even be used to connect to non-blockchain databases. Polkadot’s configuration of mainnet, parachain, and substrate layers fits with the primary business model and land-holding ownership structure of Planetary and can support tokenization and fractionalized governance. Polkadot, Avalanche and Cosmos are within the same goals we wish to achieve with our platform.

WAX is a third-generation blockchain based on a Delegated Proof of Stake consensus algorithm (DPoS). It has a specific goal to be as carbon neutral as possible by working closely in partnership with existing carbon reduction projects. It was specifically developed for web3 video game projects however many of the features in terms of tokenization of assets and Guild support are in line with our own plans. Confirmation from their CTO has suggested using their chain could be suitable for Planetary and the existing focus on the support of regenerative projects could become a beneficial partnership also.

Nano uses a block-lattice data structure, where every account has its own blockchain for storing transactions. It is the first cryptocurrency to use a directed acyclic graph data structure, by having a “block” consisting of only one transaction and the account’s current balance. It is possible to continue to develop using Nano’s data structure and Proof of Stake consensus as a means of recording all activity within each land parcel acquired.

Instrumental to this planetary transformation strategy and to create an exponential return not only for the investment in the enabling technology but the future of the sustainable removal of 1 billion tons of CO2 by 2050 is the acquisition of 1 million hectares under active management as a valuable and appreciating asset.

The strategy would focus on using the AI platform to identify and acquire degraded or threatened habitats including forests, wetlands, existing farmlands and grasslands in key wildlife corridors and regenerate the ecosystems through ecological restoration and sustainable land management with a localized boots-on-the-ground approach.

We would then implement biodiversity monitoring systems to quantify improvements in species populations, soil health, carbon sequestration, water purification, etc. These become verified impact metrics recorded on chain in our blockchain platform.

Issuing conservation and carbon credits backed by the measured natural capital assets and ecosystem service benefits created on the land generates revenue and protects the capital asset value. Developing sustainable nature-based enterprises on the land generating eco-certification premiums — such as organic agriculture, sustainable forestry, eco-tourism, and renewable energy — allows for further reinvestment of profits into maintaining active conservation of the acquired land.

We would actively explore pay-for-success models where governments or insurers pay for demonstrated social and environmental outcomes like flood protection, water filtration, or fire risk reduction. This would be backed by using our proprietary algorithms to verify results and recorded on chain.

As regeneration projects typically take up to 10 years or more to allow an organization or project to issue carbon credits we intend to fractionalize 30% of every land parcel acquired for purchase. This not only generates an immediate return on every capital acquisition but allows the local and global communities the opportunity to purchase a share in an appreciating asset and stake agency in active conservation at a price point that is affordable.

For illustrative purposes, we would buy 100,000 hectares of land at $25m and plan to sell 30% as fractional ownership but recover $50m as a result of the sale.

• Total land area: 100,000 hectares
• Fractional ownership to be sold: 30% of 100,000 hectares = 30,000 ownership shares
• Total amount to recover: $50,000,000
• To recover $50,000,000 from the sale of 30,000 fractional ownership shares: $50,000,000 / 30,000 shares = $1,667 per share

The fractional sale of land assets would not only generate an immediate return on the capital investment but additional funding to be placed in a separate foundation that would create the regeneration projects and invest in green startups.

The added benefit of using decentralized technology is that every share would be executed as a smart contract on the Layer 2 solution. There would be future opportunities to tokenize each share and create decentralized autonomous organizations per land asset acquired. By creating a tokenized system it would allow greater decentralized control over the operation and avoid potential IPO under traditional structures should this be the consensus.

The overall approach creates a positive feedback cycle where planetary conservation generates returns via natural capital assets appreciating in value as the land restores and institutional and retail investors are rewarded whilst enabling the work to pay for itself over time by aligning incentives through carbon sequestration and sustainable business.

The People of Planetary

Years ago that I heard about a man named Brendon Grimshaw that changed my perspective on the effect that one person with a mission can have on conservation.

He bought an island in Seychelles in 1962 and for 50 years spent the remainder of his life along with his own ‘Man Friday’ to re-introduce the island’s natural flora and fauna that had been destroyed through tourism and trade.

He planted trees, reintroduced bird species and the Aldebra tortoise that had become extinct across a number of the surrounding islands. He refused offers to buy the island and to turn it into another tourist trap.

The type of thoughtful conservation, regeneration, and rewilding of wildlife and the natural environment was achieved by a singular, committed vision and is a story that should be told and taught to current and future generations that the natural environment can be regenerated if we dare ourselves to work with nature, ourselves and have the patience for it.

It is the same passion that drives the founding team at Planetary to achieve and deliver a vision like Brendon’s but on a scale that can have not only a massive positive impact on the planet but on people, using technology.

People, Planet, and Technology in harmony for environmental transformation.

The founding team comprises of seasoned and experienced professionals with technology, green and economic backgrounds, operating remotely. We intend to live to the ethics and vision we are starting and will minimize our own carbon footprint as much as possible.

Theo Priestley

An Economist

A Green industry analyst

A PhD. in Earth Observation

A senior Blockchain engineer

The first five employees that have already been identified will be a mixture of experienced researchers from existing greentech and cleantech companies and developers who are motivated by the scale and vision to create a lasting legacy and impact on not only the planet and its living ecosystem but the people also.

Further roles to be considered for early hire are land manager, ecologist, spatial data analyst, planning and property, legal, and finance. Some of these positions will be hired on a needs basis and deployed per land asset acquired to manage the estate and engage with the communities directly.