As the climate crisis escalates, there is a growing need for innovative solutions to combat its effects. This research explores the potential for DAOs to be used to address climate change. Beginning with an overview of the definition and types of DAOs, the report then delves into the framework of using DAOs to combat climate change, including potential capabilities and key DAOs in the field.

Afterward, the challenges and prospects of DAOs addressing the climate change problem are discussed.

Part I: Overview
Part II: DAOs capabilities for climate change
Part III: Climate DAOs landscape
Part IV: Challenges & Prospects

Part I: DAOs & Climate Change

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) could play a crucial role in the collective efforts to combat climate change.

These innovative organizational structures leverage blockchain technology and decentralized decision-making to empower communities, businesses, and individuals in driving sustainable and impactful actions.

DAOs: Overview

DAOs are organizational structures that operate on blockchain technology and utilize smart contracts to facilitate decentralized decision-making and governance.

Unlike traditional centralized organizations, DAOs aim to distribute power and authority among their participants, enabling collective decision-making and resource allocation.

DAOs are collectively-owned, blockchain-governed organizations working towards a shared mission. DAOs are typically built on blockchain platforms, such as Ethereum, and are governed by a set of predefined rules and protocols encoded in smart contracts.

These smart contracts automatically execute actions based on consensus among participants, removing the need for intermediaries and central authorities.

Key Characteristics of DAOs

Decentralization: DAOs are designed to distribute decision-making power among their members. They aim to eliminate single points of failure and promote a more inclusive and democratic decision-making process.

Autonomy: DAOs are “autonomous” in the sense that they operate based on predefined rules and smart contracts. These contracts define the organization’s governance structure, decision-making processes, and the allocation of resources.

Transparency: DAOs leverage the transparency of blockchain technology to provide visibility into their operations. All transactions, decisions, and changes within the organization are recorded on the blockchain, allowing participants to track and verify the actions taken.

Tokenized Governance: DAOs often employ a token-based governance model, where participants hold tokens that represent their voting rights and influence over decision-making. Tokens can be used to propose and vote on initiatives, allocate resources, or even receive rewards within the organization.

Open Participation: DAOs typically have an open membership structure, allowing anyone to join and participate in the decision-making process. This openness fosters a diverse community and encourages broader engagement and collaboration.

The concept of DAOs has emerged as a way to create more transparent, inclusive, and decentralized organizations. While they are still relatively new and evolving, DAOs have the potential to disrupt traditional hierarchical models by enabling community-driven decision-making and empowering individuals to participate in the governance and operation of organizations.

Types of DAOs

There are various types of DAOs, each designed to serve different purposes and cater to specific needs.

Here are some common types of DAOs:

Operating Systems: Standalone platforms that allow organizations to create their own DAOs. Key projects include Orca and Colony.

Protocol DAOs: Common DAOs are decentralized autonomous organizations that use tokens as a voting metric to implement the protocol and financial changes. Key projects include Uniswap, MakerDAO, Yearn, Synthetix, Curve, and more.

Investment DAOs: Supports capital pooling for various DeFi operations and investments. Key projects include The LAO, BitDAO, and more.

Grants DAOs: More like decentralized Venture Capitalists with communities, where governance tokens are used to vote on capital allocation. Key projects include Audius Grants, MolochDAO, and more.

Collector DAOs: Meant for NFTs and artists to support fractional or complete ownership of art and content. Key projects include Flamingo.

Service DAOs: Talent hunting and acquisition model for agencies and individuals. Key projects include MetaverseDAO, DaoHaus, and more.

Social DAOs: Decentralized platforms for interactions like social networking. Key projects include Seed Club, FWB, and more.

Media DAOs: More like a decentralized news aggregator that is transparent and works in the consumers’ common interest. Key projects include Mirror.

It’s important to note that the boundaries between these types of DAOs are not always strict, and many DAOs may incorporate elements from multiple categories.

The flexibility and programmability of DAOs allow for the creation of innovative models that suit specific needs and objectives within the decentralized ecosystem.

Climate Change: Overview

Climate change refers to a long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns, primarily caused by the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, in the Earth’s atmosphere.

These gases trap heat from the sun, which leads to a gradual warming of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere.

The effects of climate change can be seen in various ways, including rising global temperatures, melting glaciers and polar ice caps, rising sea levels, more frequent and severe weather events, such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires, and changes in the timing and patterns of plant and animal life.

Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and intensive agriculture, are the primary drivers of climate change. The consequences of climate change are far-reaching, affecting ecosystems, economies, and human health and well-being.

Addressing climate change is therefore a critical global challenge that requires urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the changes already underway.

Key Strategies for Combating Climate Change

There are many ways to combat climate change. Here are some key strategies:

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions: The most important strategy for combatting climate change is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. This can be achieved through a combination of strategies, including transitioning to renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency, and promoting sustainable transportation options.

Promote sustainable land use: Deforestation and other land-use changes are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Promoting sustainable land use practices, such as reforestation, conservation, and sustainable agriculture, can help reduce these emissions.

Promote energy efficiency: Improving energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, and vehicles can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also saving energy and money.

Adapt to the changing climate: As climate change is already happening, it’s important to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate, such as sea-level rise, more frequent and severe weather events, and changing agricultural and ecological systems.

Promote sustainable consumption and production: Encouraging sustainable consumption and production patterns, such as reducing waste, promoting circular economy practices, and choosing environmentally-friendly products, can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote a more sustainable future.

Support climate action at all levels: Combating climate change requires collective action at all levels, from individual action to national and international policies and agreements. Supporting and promoting climate action at all levels can help drive meaningful change.

These strategies require action and collaboration from individuals, businesses, communities, and governments to achieve meaningful progress in combatting climate change.

Why Are DAOs Well Suited for Combating Climate Change?

DAOs are one way in which large groups of people are coming together to create climate-fighting businesses, harnessing the power of new technologies.

DAOs are well suited for combating climate change due to their decentralized governance, which fosters inclusive decision-making and community participation.

With transparency and accountability at their core, DAOs leverage blockchain technology to create auditable systems, tracking climate-related activities and incentivizing sustainable practices.

Moreover, DAOs promote collaboration and knowledge sharing among diverse stakeholders, breaking down silos and fostering cross-sector partnerships.

By harnessing collective intelligence, resources, and expertise, DAOs have the potential to drive innovative and context-specific climate solutions, accelerating the global response to the challenges of climate change.

DAOs advantages that align with the complex and collaborative nature of the global climate challenge:

Decentralized Decision-making: Climate change requires collective decision-making involving multiple stakeholders, including governments, businesses, communities, and individuals. DAOs offer a decentralized approach, allowing diverse participants to contribute and influence decision-making processes.

This inclusivity fosters collaboration, promotes transparency, and ensures that a wide range of perspectives are considered when formulating climate action strategies.

Transparent and Trustworthy Governance: Trust and transparency are crucial for effective climate action. DAOs operate on blockchain technology, which provides transparency and immutability of records. This enables verifiable tracking of carbon credits, project milestones, and financial transactions.

Transparent governance mechanisms within DAOs enhance accountability, reduce corruption, and build trust among stakeholders, including investors and the public.

Efficient Resource Allocation: Climate change mitigation and adaptation require efficient allocation of resources, including funding, expertise, and technological solutions. DAOs leverage smart contracts and decentralized finance (DeFi) mechanisms to streamline resource allocation processes.

This enables direct and efficient funding of climate projects, bypassing intermediaries and reducing administrative overhead. DAOs also attract a diverse pool of talent and expertise, facilitating the allocation of skills and knowledge to address specific climate challenges.
Collaborative Knowledge Sharing: DAOs provide platforms for knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovation. Participants within DAOs can exchange ideas, share best practices, and learn from each other’s experiences. This facilitates the dissemination of climate-related knowledge, accelerates learning, and encourages the replication of successful climate initiatives.

DAOs create a global network of individuals and organizations working together to combat climate change, fostering a collective intelligence approach.

Incentivizing Climate Action: DAOs can employ token-based incentive mechanisms to encourage and reward climate-friendly behaviors and contributions. Tokens within DAOs can be used to incentivize individuals, businesses, and communities to adopt sustainable practices, reduce carbon emissions, or invest in renewable energy projects.

Token rewards can help drive behavioral change, promote innovation, and align economic incentives with environmental goals.

Rapid Experimentation and Innovation: Climate change requires innovative and scalable solutions. DAOs provide an environment conducive to experimentation and rapid innovation. By incentivizing participation and collaboration, DAOs attract entrepreneurs, researchers, and technologists to develop and deploy cutting-edge climate technologies. DAOs facilitate the exploration of new ideas, the testing of novel approaches, and the scaling of successful initiatives, accelerating the pace of climate innovation.

Thus, DAOs leverage decentralization, transparency, efficient resource allocation, collaborative knowledge sharing, incentivization, and rapid innovation to address the multifaceted challenges of climate change.

They provide a flexible and inclusive framework for coordinating and mobilizing collective action, empowering communities, businesses, and individuals to contribute meaningfully to combatting climate change.

Part II: DAOs Applications for Climate Change

The climate crisis requires global cooperation and coordination in order to be effectively addressed. DAOs offer a new way of doing things that could help us overcome the challenges we face in addressing the climate crisis.

There are many ways that DAOs could help to solve the climate crisis. For example, DAOs could be used to fund and manage climate change mitigation and adaptation projects. DAOs could also be used to create incentives for individuals and businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Additionally, DAOs could be used to develop and implement policies to discourage carbon-intensive activities.

In recent years, the role of DAOs in solving various global issues has come to the fore. From providing a mechanism for financial inclusion to empowering people across the world, DAOs have the potential to effect real change on a global scale.

In particular, DAOs could play a significant role in solving climate change, due to their decentralized and transparent nature, and there are several key decision-making problems in current climate action models that DAOs could help to solve.

How Are DAOs Being Used to Address Climate Change?

Current solutions for addressing the climate crisis often fail to take into account the different needs and interests of different stakeholders, meaning that some groups (especially our most vulnerable groups in society) are left out.

DAOs could help to solve the climate crisis by providing a way for people to come together and work towards a common goal.

By pooling resources in a transparent, decentralized way, DAOs could lay out a framework to fund research and development into renewable energy sources, as well as aid in providing a way for people to share information and ideas about how to reduce their own carbon footprints.

In addition, DAOs could use this newfound immutable information to help to coordinate climate action on a global scale which is industry-specific, ensuring that everyone is doing their part to combat the climate crisis.

With decentralized decision-making, there would be no need for countries or companies to compete against each other; instead, they could work together to find solutions that are best for everyone.

Additionally, many climate action models rely heavily on government support and funding, which can be sometimes inefficient.

DAOs, on the other hand, could provide the funding and decision-making protocols necessary to build green energy projects and other initiatives that would help mitigate the effects of climate change.

A DAOs can organize itself into compartmentalized decision-making frameworks, where scientists, citizens, entrepreneurs, the oil and gas industry, and government agencies can all be involved in the debate, whilst actively influencing macro-decisions in the areas they understand best.

DAOs can help build trust and consensus amongst the various parties and stakeholders involved in the decision-making process, as well as ensure that decisions are taken in the best interests of those affected.

Currently, DAOs are being utilized in various ways to address climate change, enabling decentralized and collaborative efforts toward mitigating its impacts. Here are some examples of how DAOs are being used:

Funding Climate Projects: DAOs are establishing funding mechanisms to support climate projects. Participants pool their resources through token contributions, which are then allocated to initiatives focused on renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, carbon offsetting, or climate research. These DAOs enable direct investment in climate solutions, bypassing traditional financial intermediaries and ensuring that funds are channeled toward impactful projects.

Carbon Offsetting and Tokenizing Environmental Assets: DAOs are exploring the tokenization of environmental assets, such as carbon credits or renewable energy certificates (RECs). By tokenizing these assets, DAOs enable their transparent tracking, trading, and verification on blockchain platforms. This approach facilitates the creation of decentralized carbon markets and incentivizes the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Collaborative Climate Research: DAOs are forming communities focused on climate research, where participants contribute their expertise, data, and computational resources. These DAOs facilitate the sharing of research findings, modeling climate scenarios, and developing predictive tools to better understand the impacts of climate change. Collaborative research DAOs accelerate knowledge generation and inform evidence-based decision-making.

Sustainable Supply Chain Tracking: DAOs are being utilized to track and verify sustainable practices within supply chains. By leveraging blockchain technology, DAOs enable the transparent recording of information related to the origin, production processes, and carbon footprint of products. This enhances supply chain transparency, promotes sustainable sourcing, and empowers consumers to make informed choices.

Community-driven Climate Initiatives: DAOs provide platforms for local communities to initiate and manage climate projects tailored to their specific needs. These DAOs enable community-led initiatives, such as renewable energy installations, waste management programs, or climate resilience projects. By empowering local stakeholders, DAOs foster grassroots action and strengthen the resilience of communities in the face of climate change.

Climate Data Management: DAOs are being used to manage and share climate data in a decentralized manner. These DAOs facilitate the collection, verification, and dissemination of climate-related data, such as weather patterns, temperature records, or air quality measurements. By ensuring data integrity and accessibility, DAOs support evidence-based decision-making and enable innovative climate solutions.

Policy Advocacy and Lobbying: DAOs focused on climate change are engaging in policy advocacy and lobbying efforts. These DAOs gather experts, activists, and concerned individuals to collectively voice their opinions, propose policy recommendations, and exert pressure for stronger climate action. By coordinating their efforts through DAO structures, participants amplify their impact and influence decision-making processes.

These examples demonstrate how DAOs are being used as vehicles for decentralized coordination, funding, research, advocacy, and implementation of climate-related initiatives. By harnessing the power of decentralized networks, DAOs empower individuals and communities to take concrete actions toward addressing climate change and building a sustainable future.

The Framework of Using DAOs to Combat Climate Change

Using DAOs to combat climate change can be approached through a framework that encompasses several key aspects. Here’s a framework to consider:

Identify Focus Areas: Determine specific focus areas within the realm of climate change that can benefit from DAO-driven solutions. This may include renewable energy adoption, sustainable agriculture, carbon offsetting, climate research, sustainable supply chains, community resilience, policy advocacy, or others. Clearly define the goals and objectives for each focus area.

DAO Formation: Establish a DAO tailored to address the identified focus areas. Define the DAO’s mission, governance structure, and membership criteria. Consider leveraging existing blockchain platforms and frameworks to streamline DAO creation and operation.

Inclusive Participation: Foster an inclusive and diverse participant community. Encourage participation from stakeholders such as researchers, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, policymakers, communities, and individuals passionate about climate action. Emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Funding Mechanisms: Develop funding mechanisms within the DAO to pool resources and direct investments toward climate projects. Explore tokenization models to incentivize participation and allow members to contribute financially. Define clear guidelines for funding proposals, vetting processes, and resource allocation.

Governance and Decision-making: Establish transparent and decentralized governance mechanisms within the DAO. Use smart contracts and token-based voting systems to facilitate decision-making processes. Ensure that decision-making power is distributed among participants and that the governance structure aligns with the DAO’s objectives.

Collaboration and Partnerships: Encourage collaboration and partnerships with external organizations, such as research institutions, NGOs, governmental bodies, and businesses. Leverage these partnerships to access expertise, resources, and support for implementing climate initiatives. Foster a culture of cooperation and shared learning.

Data Management and Verification: Implement systems for data management, verification, and transparency. Leverage blockchain technology to ensure the integrity and immutability of climate data. Explore data standardization frameworks and open data principles to facilitate interoperability and knowledge sharing.

Knowledge Sharing and Education: Promote knowledge sharing within the DAO community and beyond. Establish platforms for sharing research findings, best practices, and innovative climate solutions. Educate participants and the wider public about climate change, its impacts, and the role of DAOs in addressing it.

Impact Measurement and Reporting: Develop frameworks to measure the impact of climate initiatives and projects supported by the DAO. Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to assess the effectiveness and outcomes of climate actions. Regularly report on progress, successes, and challenges to ensure transparency and accountability.

Policy Advocacy and Awareness: Utilize the DAO’s collective voice and influence to advocate for stronger climate policies, regulations, and incentives. Engage in awareness campaigns to educate policymakers, stakeholders, and the public about the importance of climate action and the potential of DAOs in driving change.

Iterative Improvement: Continuously evaluate the DAO’s performance, governance structures, and processes. Solicit feedback from participants and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement. Adapt and iterate the framework based on lessons learned and evolving challenges.

By following this framework, DAOs can effectively leverage their decentralized nature, transparent governance, and collaborative mechanisms to combat climate change. They can drive collective action, innovative solutions, and inclusive participation toward a more sustainable and resilient future.

Key Areas Where DAOs Can Facilitate Climate Action

DAOs can facilitate climate action in several key areas:

Renewable Energy Transition: DAOs can support the transition to renewable energy by funding and coordinating projects such as solar installations, wind farms, or decentralized energy grids. They can pool resources from participants and invest in renewable energy infrastructure, facilitating the shift away from fossil fuels.

Carbon Offset and Emissions Reduction: DAOs can play a role in carbon offsetting and emissions reduction efforts. They can fund projects that promote reforestation, afforestation, or sustainable land management practices. DAOs can also support initiatives that encourage energy efficiency, promote circular economy practices, or develop innovative carbon capture technologies.

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems: DAOs can promote sustainable agriculture by supporting regenerative farming practices, agroecology projects, or organic farming initiatives. They can also fund projects that enhance food security, reduce food waste, or enable local and sustainable food production and distribution systems.

Circular Economy and Waste Management: DAOs can drive the adoption of circular economy principles by supporting projects that promote recycling, waste reduction, and the reuse of materials. They can invest in initiatives focused on sustainable packaging, product lifecycle management, or innovative waste management technologies.

Climate Resilience and Adaptation: DAOs can fund and coordinate projects that enhance climate resilience and adaptation in vulnerable communities. This can include initiatives such as building climate-resilient infrastructure, implementing disaster risk reduction strategies, or supporting community-led resilience programs.

Climate Education and Awareness: DAOs can contribute to climate education and awareness by funding educational campaigns, organizing workshops, or developing educational materials. They can support initiatives that raise awareness about climate change, its impacts, and the importance of sustainable practices.

Policy and Advocacy: DAOs can engage in policy advocacy and lobbying efforts to influence climate policies at local, national, and international levels. They can collaborate with like-minded organizations to propose policy recommendations, advocate for stronger climate action, and promote the adoption of supportive regulatory frameworks.

Climate Data and Research: DAOs can facilitate the collection, sharing, and analysis of climate data. They can support climate research projects, develop open data platforms, and collaborate with scientific institutions to improve climate modeling, forecasting, and understanding of climate change impacts.

By focusing on these key areas, DAOs can leverage their decentralized nature, transparent governance, and collaborative mechanisms to drive meaningful climate action.

They empower communities, businesses, and individuals to contribute collectively and make a tangible impact in combatting climate change.

Part III: Climate DAOs Landscape

Climate DAOs are a new way of organizing decision-making that has the potential to help us address the climate crisis in a more efficient and effective way. The landscape of Climate DAOs is evolving rapidly, with numerous initiatives emerging to address the challenges of climate change.

A host of different issues are being addressed by climate change DAOs, including carbon emissions, soil health, deforestation, and crop fertility.

Organizations like MakerDAO, dClimate, and ReFi DAO are leaders in the adoption of DAO structures to implement the changes required to address the negative impacts of climate change on our economies.

KlimaDAO is accelerating the price of carbon assets in order to force companies and economies to adapt to low-carbon technologies and carbon-removal projects.

The Landscape of Climate DAOs

Here are some notable examples and trends in the Climate DAOs landscape:

Carbon Offsetting and Tokenization: Several Climate DAOs are focused on carbon offsetting and the tokenization of environmental assets. These DAOs enable the transparent tracking and trading of carbon credits or renewable energy certificates (RECs) on blockchain platforms. Examples include Nori, ClimateDAO, and Moss.Earth.

Funding and Investment: Climate DAOs are establishing funding mechanisms to support climate projects and initiatives. They pool resources through token contributions and direct investments toward renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, or climate research. Examples include Plethori, Terra DAO, and Giveth.

Climate Data and Research: DAOs are being formed to facilitate climate data management, sharing, and collaborative research. These DAOs aim to improve climate modeling, forecasting, and understanding of climate change impacts. Climatix is an example of an initiative focused on climate data and research.

Decentralized Energy and Grids: DAOs are emerging to promote decentralized energy generation and the development of community-owned renewable energy projects. These DAOs aim to accelerate the transition to clean energy and enable peer-to-peer energy trading. Examples include Energy Web Foundation and Power Ledger.

Sustainable Supply Chains: Climate DAOs are focusing on sustainable supply chain tracking and transparency. They leverage blockchain technology to ensure traceability and accountability in supply chains, promoting sustainable sourcing and reducing carbon emissions. Provenance and OpenSC are examples of projects in this area.

Policy Advocacy and Lobbying: Climate DAOs are engaging in policy advocacy and lobbying efforts to influence climate policies and regulations. These DAOs bring together individuals and organizations to collectively advocate for stronger climate action. DAO Climate Lobby is an example of a DAO focused on policy advocacy.

Community-led Climate Initiatives: Climate DAOs are empowering local communities to take action on climate change. These DAOs provide platforms for community-driven initiatives, such as renewable energy installations, waste management projects, or climate resilience programs. The Commons Stack and Regen Network are examples of initiatives supporting community-led climate action.

Climate Education and Awareness: DAOs are funding educational campaigns and initiatives to raise awareness about climate change. They aim to educate individuals and communities about the importance of sustainable practices and empower them to take action. DAO Climate School is an example of a DAO focused on climate education.

It’s important to note that the landscape of Climate DAOs is dynamic, and new initiatives are continually emerging. The collaboration between Climate DAOs, the integration of blockchain technology, and the growing interest in climate action are driving innovation and fostering decentralized solutions to combat climate change.

Examples of Climate DAOs

Earth Fund

The Earth Fund is a climate-conscious DAO that champions the inclusion of everyone in climate conservation and has adopted Web3 and blockchain technology to achieve that.

Earth Fund helps you to support causes by pooling resources. You can join a community dedicated to helping a cause you’re passionate about and use that cause’s budget to fund the kind of projects you want to see become a reality.

To start, you have to buy a 1Earth token, choose a cause to join, and have a real say in how your treasury is used to make the world a better place.

Earth Fund currently supports the following causes: Carbon removal, Green-tech, Society and inequality, Ecosystems, and conservation, Disease and public health.

KlimaDAO

KlimaDAO’s goal is to accelerate the price appreciation of carbon assets. A high price for carbon forces companies and economies to adapt more quickly to the realities of climate change and makes low-carbon technologies and carbon-removal projects more profitable.

Through the KLIMA token, KlimaDAO will maximize value creation for the community and create a virtuous cycle of growth.

Every KLIMA token is backed by 1 tonne of verified, tokenized carbon reduction or removal. These can remain locked in the treasury indefinitely, or be sold to balance the price of KLIMA.

The treasury only accepts certified, third-party verified emissions reductions from reputable carbon markets (sometimes called ‘carbon offsets’ or ‘carbon credits’). Each is tokenized in a transparent and traceable way to prevent double-spending or double-offsetting.

Diatom

Diatom is a decentralized currency that grows more valuable as the ocean is measurably restored and protected established for the purpose of demonstrating and mapping the real value of the ocean into a token, funding practical, proven, and measurable projects that protect and regenerate that ocean, and to expand its own treasury to perpetuate the above.

The DAO’s mission is to protect the ocean. It is using treasury funds to invest in highly-vetted ocean protection & cleanup projects. Some will be donations, and others will be high-yield investments that also serve to build up our treasury value.

Members of the DAO vote on projects that restore ocean health and expand their buying power to do so.

The currency of this DAO is Diatoms (DIAT).

Spark Eco

Spark Eco aspires to give this public good back to the people with a decentralized approach to the problem. They will invest in solar energy projects, fund non-profits working on solar projects in developing communities, and support land preservation efforts.

Instead of large centralized entities burning coal and other fossil fuels, SparkEco will build localized small solar microgrids worldwide. These microgrids can supply power to small communities as close to the end-user as possible.

Spark Eco then partners with communities of artists, entrepreneurs, and others in the crypto/NFTs/web3 space who want to build and own solar projects as well as solar developers working on solar microgrid projects.

Using existing pay-as-you-go (PAYG) technology, the communities will purchase the power from the solar microgrids as they use it.

SavePlanetEarth

Founded in early 2021, SavePlanetEarth is a global environmental initiative registered in the U.K. with established government and organization partnerships. SPE is developing the first-ever Gold Standard certified carbon credit NFTs, a green blockchain entirely powered by renewable energy and a carbon credit exchange that will use $SPE as the exclusive currency.

SavePlanetEarth’s carbon credits will be consumable by organizations and individuals that require or desire to offset their carbon footprint.

The profit generated from exchanging the carbon credits will generate more funds for environmental initiatives, making it a self-sustaining business model that will help tackle and cancel out pollution and climate change with no end

The Open Forest Protocol

The Open Forest Protocol (OFP) is an open-source digital platform for the communal measurement, reporting, and verification of forests all around the world.

OFP connects forestation project developers with validation organizations, funding partners, and entrepreneurs in a decentralized community.

Forest project operators create an account and provide basic details about their forest. Then, these project operators take annual measurements and photos in their forests using OFP’s mobile app.

This data is then sent to a decentralized community of validators (universities, satellite companies, or environmental organizations) who vote on the validity of that data.

Once project data is verified, all of the data about the forest, as well as the validation decision, is recorded on an immutable blockchain for everyone to see. This means forestation projects gain unprecedented transparency in reporting data about their forests.

ECORISE

ECORISE is a DAO for verified, transparent, and scalable ecosystem solutions investing in Earth’s ecosystems.

The purpose of ECORISE is to aggregate all organizations and businesses together who are focused on planetary conservation through protection, sustainability, and regeneration.

These groups become members of the DAO, a decentralized hub for global ecological governance.

Together, the community will purchase biodiversity hotspots and intact land around the world for the purpose of conversation, preservation, and regeneration.

Other Climate DAOs to watch

Nori: Nori is a DAO focused on carbon removal and offsetting. It uses blockchain technology to create a marketplace for carbon removal projects, allowing individuals and businesses to purchase carbon removal credits directly from projects.

ClimateDAO: ClimateDAO aims to accelerate climate solutions through funding and collaboration. It focuses on supporting projects related to renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and other climate initiatives.

Moss.Earth: Moss.Earth is a DAO that tokenizes and trades carbon credits. It allows individuals and organizations to invest in verified carbon offset projects and trade the associated tokens on their platform.

Plethori: Plethori is a decentralized cross-chain investment platform that supports climate-related projects. It allows users to invest in sustainable and eco-friendly initiatives, including renewable energy, clean technology, and other climate-focused ventures.

Giveth: Giveth is a decentralized charitable organization. It facilitates donations and funding for various climate-related projects, enabling transparent and traceable contributions toward climate action.

Energy Web Foundation: The Energy Web Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports the development of decentralized energy solutions. It promotes the use of blockchain technology to enable peer-to-peer energy trading, renewable energy integration, and grid optimization.

Power Ledger: Power Ledger is focused on peer-to-peer energy trading and renewable energy solutions. It allows individuals and communities to buy and sell excess energy produced from renewable sources, fostering decentralized and sustainable energy markets.

Provenance: Provenance is a DAO that focuses on supply chain transparency and sustainability. It leverages blockchain technology to track and verify the origin and environmental impact of products, enabling consumers to make more informed and sustainable choices.

OpenSC: OpenSC is a DAO that aims to improve supply chain transparency, particularly in the food and agricultural sectors. It enables consumers to trace the journey of products, ensuring their sustainability, ethical sourcing, and carbon footprint reduction.

The Commons Stack: The Commons Stack is a DAO that focuses on community-driven climate initiatives. It supports projects related to sustainable development, commons management, and decentralized governance, empowering local communities to take action on climate change.

These examples highlight the diverse range of Climate DAOs that are actively working towards combatting climate change by leveraging blockchain technology, decentralized governance, and collaborative funding mechanisms.

Part IV: Challenges & Prospects

Challenges in Using DAOs to Address Climate Change

Climate DAOs are an emerging, disruptive technology that is bringing revolutionary solutions to a multitude of different aspects of society. However, just like any newfound solution, there are a few potential challenges that can and will arise from the development of these technologies.

For one, DAOs would need to be carefully designed and structured in order to incentivize participating members to take actions that would address the climate crisis.

Because DAOs are still relatively new, there is a risk that they may not work as intended or may not be able to effectively address the complex challenges and goals they were created to solve.

The decentralized nature of a DAO could make it difficult to agree on and implement solutions to the climate crisis on a global scale, which could also be adversely impacted by the several financial-focused discussions which may influence DAO decision-making.

Challenges with implementing DAOs to deal with the climate crisis:

Lack of awareness/understanding of what DAOs are and how they work.
The challenge of getting people to trust and use a decentralized system.
The technical challenge of setting up and maintaining a DAO.
The risk is that DAOs could be used to perpetuate bad actors, as opposed to perpetuating solutions.

Key challenges in using DAOs to combat climate change:

Scalability and Adoption: Scaling up DAOs to have a significant impact on climate change requires widespread adoption and participation. Encouraging a large and diverse community to actively engage in climate-focused DAOs can be a challenge, as it requires overcoming barriers such as technical knowledge, accessibility, and user experience.

Governance and Decision-making: DAOs operate based on decentralized governance models, where decision-making power is distributed among participants. While this promotes inclusivity and transparency, it can also lead to coordination challenges, slow decision-making processes, and potential conflicts of interest. Striking a balance between decentralized decision-making and efficient governance is crucial.

Technical Limitations: DAOs rely on blockchain technology, which currently has scalability and environmental concerns. High transaction costs, network congestion, and energy consumption are factors that can limit the efficiency and scalability of DAOs. Addressing these technical limitations is essential for broader adoption and impact.

Regulatory and Legal Uncertainty: The regulatory landscape surrounding DAOs and cryptocurrencies is still evolving in many jurisdictions. Uncertainty regarding legal frameworks, tax implications, and compliance requirements can create barriers and increase the perceived risks for individuals and organizations to participate in climate-focused DAOs.

Measurement and Verification: Accurately measuring and verifying the impact of climate initiatives supported by DAOs can be challenging. Ensuring the credibility and integrity of climate data, carbon offset projects, or renewable energy generation requires robust monitoring, reporting, and verification mechanisms.

Lack of Expertise and Resources: Developing effective climate solutions often requires specialized expertise and resources. DAOs may face challenges in attracting and retaining skilled professionals, scientists, and engineers who can contribute their expertise to the development and implementation of climate projects.

Interoperability and Collaboration: Achieving meaningful climate action often requires collaboration and interoperability between different stakeholders and initiatives. Coordinating efforts, aligning strategies, and integrating data across multiple DAOs or organizations can be complex and require strong collaboration frameworks.

Financial Sustainability: Ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of DAOs is crucial for their continued operation and impact. Developing sustainable funding models, attracting ongoing financial support, and effectively managing resources are challenges that DAOs must address to maintain their climate-focused efforts.

Addressing these challenges requires continuous innovation, collaboration, and a supportive ecosystem. DAOs need to adapt, learn from best practices, and leverage emerging technologies to overcome these obstacles and effectively contribute to combatting climate change.

Prospects in Using DAOs to Address Climate Change

The prospects of using DAOs to address climate change are promising. Here are some key prospects and potential benefits of leveraging DAOs in climate action:

Increased Transparency and Accountability: DAOs provide transparent and auditable systems, enabling participants to track contributions, transactions, and the impact of climate projects. This transparency enhances accountability among stakeholders and ensures that resources are effectively allocated to address climate change.

Decentralized Decision-making: DAOs offer decentralized governance models where decisions are made collectively by participants. This allows for more inclusive and diverse input, ensuring that the interests and perspectives of various stakeholders are considered. Decentralized decision-making can lead to more innovative and context-specific solutions to address climate challenges.

Community Empowerment: DAOs empower communities to actively participate in climate action. By providing a platform for individuals to contribute resources, ideas, and expertise, DAOs enable grassroots initiatives and bottom-up approaches to tackle climate change. This community-driven approach fosters a sense of ownership, engagement, and resilience within communities.

Efficient Resource Allocation: DAOs enable the efficient allocation of resources by pooling funds, knowledge, and expertise. Through collective decision-making and transparent processes, DAOs can prioritize and direct resources to the most impactful climate projects. This efficiency helps maximize the effectiveness of climate action and drive tangible results.

Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: DAOs facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing among diverse stakeholders. Participants from different sectors and regions can come together, exchange ideas, and contribute their expertise to address climate challenges. DAOs provide a platform for collective problem-solving, fostering innovation and collaboration across boundaries.

Scalability and Global Reach: DAOs have the potential to scale up climate action globally. They can transcend geographical boundaries and engage a large number of participants from around the world. DAOs leverage the power of decentralized networks and digital platforms to mobilize resources and coordinate efforts on a global scale.

Financial Inclusion: DAOs can promote financial inclusion in climate action by allowing individuals with limited financial means to contribute and have a stake in projects. Through tokenization and fractional ownership, DAOs provide opportunities for micro-investments and enable broader participation, democratizing access to climate initiatives.

Rapid Experimentation and Iteration: DAOs provide an environment for rapid experimentation and iteration in climate solutions. The decentralized nature of DAOs allows for the quick testing of new ideas, technologies, and governance models. This agility and adaptability foster innovation and enable DAOs to respond effectively to evolving climate challenges.

Overall, the prospects of using DAOs in addressing climate change offer opportunities for greater inclusivity, transparency, efficiency, and collaboration.

As DAOs continue to evolve and mature, they have the potential to drive transformative and impactful climate action, mobilizing collective efforts to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Thus, Climate DAOs offer a unique solution that could help us deal with the climate crisis in a more efficient and effective way by better organizing ourselves, pooling resources and ideas, and making decisions democratically.

References

Blockchain and the emergence of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): An integrative model and research agenda, by Carlos Santana, Laura Albareda
DAOs are not corporations: where decentralization in autonomous organizations matters by Vitalik
Climate DAOs — How the web3 revolution can help us fight climate change by Yonca Braeckman
How DAOs can change the way we deal with the Climate Crisis by Sean Ellul
The DAO Handbook
What’s a DAO? — Aragon
What is a DAO and what is it for? — DAOhaus
What is a DAO? — Coinmarketcap

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