KarbonLedger: A Decentralized Carbon Management Protocol

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Vinay Devabhakthuni

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

7

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

We will create a Protocol/Framework using blockchain, IoT and AI to track emissions in real-time, verify carbon credits transparently and enable global participation in carbon trading markets

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

We will adopt an MIT License for KarbonLedger’s open-source components. This license offers maximum flexibility for users to freely use, modify and distribute the code. The entire core protocol, including the blockchain-based smart contracts, IoT integration code for real-time carbon tracking and AI/ML models for emissions optimization, will be open-source and available throughout the project's lifecycle.

The project’s code will be hosted on a public repository such as GitHub, ensuring transparency and access for developers, validators and community members to contribute, audit and build on the system. Any private or proprietary integrations by third-party users will not affect the openness of the core protocol.

[METADATA] Horizons

Environment

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Problem:

The current global carbon markets are fragmented, inefficient and lack transparency, making it difficult for companies, governments and smaller entities to accurately track emissions and verify carbon credits. These challenges result in high verification costs, slow processes and limited participation, which undermine trust and the overall effectiveness of carbon markets. The absence of real-time data and automation further delays progress toward carbon neutrality, reducing the market's ability to drive meaningful emissions reductions.

Approach:

KarbonLedger is an open-source decentralized protocol/framework for carbon management, designed to help organizations and industries achieve carbon neutrality and comply with the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework. By leveraging IoT, AI/ML and decentralized technologies, KarbonLedger aims to create a transparent, scalable platforms for monitoring energy consumption, carbon emissions and managing and trading carbon credits.

• Blockchain Integration: All carbon credits will be tokenized and recorded on a blockchain, ensuring transparency and immutability. This prevents double-counting and fraud, creating a trusted marketplace for buyers, sellers and regulators.
• IoT for Real-Time Data: IoT sensors will be deployed in industries, agriculture and other sectors to continuously monitor carbon emissions. This real-time data will feed into the platform, automatically triggering carbon credit issuance when verified reductions are achieved.
• AI for Verification: AI models will analyze the data collected by IoT devices to ensure accuracy in emissions tracking, reducing the need for costly third-party verifications. This also speeds up the process of carbon credit issuance.
• Decentralized Marketplace: A decentralized exchange will allow organizations, governments and individuals to trade carbon credits seamlessly, with transparent pricing driven by market demand.

By decentralizing carbon management, KarbonLedger enables global participation from industries, individuals and communities, lowering barriers to entry and creating a more inclusive, transparent carbon market.

Scope:

The protocol applies to carbon markets, emissions tracking, carbon credit issuance and trading processes globally aiming to track, offset and reduce their carbon footprint.

Engagement:

A broad stakeholder base ensures an inclusive and scalable carbon management ecosystem.

• Industries/Corporations: Monitoring and offsetting carbon emission
• Governments/Regulators: Ensuring compliance with carbon target
• Carbon Credit Buyers: Offsetting emissions by purchasing credit
• Project Developers: Creating carbon reduction/sequestration project
• Validators/Auditors: Verifying legitimacy of carbon credit
• Carbon Market Participants: Traders and investors in carbon credit
• Environmental NGOs: Advocating for transparent climate solution
• Local Communities/Small Businesses: Monetizing grassroots carbon project
• Technology Providers: IoT, AI and blockchain developer
• Academic Institutions: Researching and supporting carbon solution
• Investors/Financiers: Funding carbon projects for return
• Individuals: Offsetting personal carbon footprint

KarbonLedger integrates four key feature categories:

• Management Features: Includes tokenization of carbon credits, automated issuance/retirement, decentralized project verification, dynamic carbon pricing and carbon footprint tracking.

• Integration with Technology: Utilizes IoT for real-time data, AI-powered analytics, API access, multi-blockchain compatibility and marketplace integration.

• Privacy and Security: Ensures data protection with encryption, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, decentralized identity (DID) and role-based access control (RBAC).

• Community Engagement: Features decentralized governance (via DAO), validator incentives, project crowdfunding, educational resources and gamified participation to foster user involvement and transparency.

Benefits:

KarbonLedger's convergence of decentralized technologies, IoT, AI/ML creates a transparent, scalable carbon management system. By ensuring global participation and trust in carbon markets, it facilitates efficient carbon trading and promotes environmental sustainability.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

KarbonLedger will enhance the Cardano ecosystem by leveraging Cardano’s blockchain to create a transparent, decentralized platform for carbon management, aligned with Cardano’s sustainability goals. This will boost the utility and visibility of Cardano in the global climate action space, attracting new users and institutions to the network, particularly those focused on sustainability and ESG compliance.

Value to the Cardano Community:

• Increased Adoption: The project will bring industries, governments and individuals into the Cardano ecosystem by enabling them to trade tokenized carbon credits on a Cardano-powered decentralized marketplace.
• Boost to DeFi Ecosystem: By integrating carbon credits with decentralized finance (DeFi), KarbonLedger will introduce new financial instruments, such as carbon-backed assets and carbon credit staking, into the Cardano DeFi landscape.
• Strengthened Environmental Commitment: It aligns with Cardano's sustainability mission, promoting Cardano as a blockchain supporting real-world environmental impact.
• Community Engagement: By incorporating a decentralized governance model (DAO), KarbonLedger will encourage community participation, allowing Cardano users to vote on project decisions, protocol updates and carbon standards.

Measuring Impact:

• Quantitative Metrics:
• Carbon Credits Traded: Track the volume of tokenized carbon credits issued, traded and retired on the platforms.
• User Adoption: Monitor the number of users and organizations participating in the platforms.
• Carbon Emissions Reduced: Measure the total amount of CO₂ emissions offset through the platforms.
• New Partnerships: Count the partnerships established with governments, NGOs and industries using the platforms.

• Qualitative Metrics:
• Community Participation: Assess the level of engagement in decentralized governance and decision-making.
• User Feedback: Collect feedback from participants on the platform’s usability, transparency and overall impact.

Sharing Outputs and Opportunities:

• Open Source Contributions: KarbonLedger will be open-source, enabling the Cardano community and developers to contribute to the protocol, enhancing its features and encouraging broader adoption.

• Reporting and Transparency: Regular updates and reports will be shared with the Cardano community through Catalyst updates, blog posts and community calls, showcasing progress, partnerships and key performance metrics.

• Educational Resources: We will develop educational content (blogs, webinars, tutorials) to help Cardano users and developers understand how to engage with carbon markets, governance and environmental impact tools.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

KarbonLedger team has a strong foundation of expertise and partnerships to ensure successful delivery and implementation of the project.

Experience and Partnerships:

Trust for Restoring Environment and Empowering Society (TREES) one of our key NGO partner with over 13 years of experience in reforestation, environmental protection and community engagement. TREES NGO has worked on various large-scale projects, such as planting over 1 million trees from 2020-2023 and is on a mission to plant and grow 10 million trees across India, restoring habitat and raising environmental awareness among local communities.

Project Tracking and Impact Measurement:

• KarbonLedger has collaborated with TREES NGO to develop systems for tracking carbon offsets for one of their mega project to plant 2 million trees in next 8 months along 600 Km long Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh, India. These projects are monitored for survival rates, growth and carbon sequestration effectiveness using real-time data. This ensures the accuracy and transparency of the carbon credits issued.

Community Engagement:

• TREES has an active engagement with local communities, including school students and volunteers, to plant and care for saplings. This hands-on participation ensures the longevity of the trees and increases local awareness about environmental sustainability. Our solution will foster greater engagement by local communities, with real-time feedback and incentives for maintaining tree plantations.

Partnerships with Defense Forces and Corporates:

• TREES collaborates with India's Defense Forces to utilize land banks for carbon sequestration and forestry projects for complete protection of the plantations. Additionally, corporate partners contribute through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, supporting the reforestation efforts and offsetting their emissions. Our solution will help partners involved in the projects to access precise reports on their contributions, ensuring their CSR and environmental goals are met.

Smart Algae Remediation Network (SARN), a leader in environmental remediation technologies. SARN specializes in using algae-based bio-remediation combined with IoT sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain to enhance environmental monitoring and restore ecological balance in water bodies. This collaboration strengthens KarbonLedger's ability to offer advanced, sustainable solutions that not only track carbon sequestration efforts but also ensure the health and quality of natural resources, thus broadening the impact of our carbon offset projects.

By partnering with SARN, KarbonLedger can integrate innovative IoT-based environmental monitoring systems into its platform, providing real-time data on pollution levels and remediation effectiveness. This partnership significantly enhances our project’s credibility and capacity to measure and validate environmental impacts, making it a robust addition to our offering for global carbon markets.

Weihai Jingxun Changtong Electronic Technology Co., Ltd, Our IoT partner integrates advanced IoT air quality monitoring solutions to enhance carbon offset project tracking. Their online monitoring systems are equipped to measure key air quality parameters, including PM2.5, NOx, SO2 and CO, providing accurate, real-time emissions data.

By collaborating with this IoT partner, we ensure that emissions and air quality are tracked accurately, providing critical transparency for stakeholders and regulatory compliance. Their expertise in environmental data collection complements KarbonLedger’s blockchain-based verification, resulting in a robust and reliable carbon management system.

Our team's innovative approach involves integrating a hardware wallet directly into the IoT-based emission monitoring systems, effectively turning the device into a smart emissions meter. This hardware wallet will interact with the carbon credit issuance logic, enabling automated, secure transactions based on real-time emissions data.

Key Features of the Integration:

• Automated Carbon Credit Issuance: The hardware wallet will automatically issue tokenized carbon credits based on verified emissions reductions, using data captured by the IoT sensors. This eliminates manual intervention and ensures timely and accurate credit issuance.
• Tamper-Proof Transactions: By embedding the wallet in the IoT system, the emissions data and subsequent transactions are secured on the blockchain. This guarantees that the credits issued are based on authentic, verifiable data.
• Decentralized and Secure: The hardware wallet integration ensures that the emissions data and carbon credits are stored in a decentralized manner, preventing fraud, tampering, or unauthorized access.
• Real-Time Monitoring and Trading: As emissions data is captured, the system will immediately reflect this on the blockchain, allowing for instant trading of carbon credits via the decentralized marketplace.

This integration not only streamlines the process of tracking emissions and issuing credits but also ensures greater transparency, security and efficiency within the carbon market ecosystem. By combining hardware wallets with IoT devices, we are building a next-generation solution for real-time, automated carbon management.

Our team is integrating AI/ML algorithms and blockchain technology to create a secure, transparent and automated carbon credit management system.

• AI/ML will detect anomalies in emissions data, predict future trends and optimize efficiency for carbon reduction projects.
• Blockchain ensures data integrity, security and transparency by recording emissions data and carbon credit transactions immutably, enabling tamper-proof verification and automated credit issuance via smart contracts.

This combination strengthens the accuracy and trustworthiness of our protocol, delivering a robust solution for global carbon markets.

We have assembled a highly skilled, multidisciplinary team with extensive experience in blockchain development, decentralized systems, IoT integration, AI/ML solutions and sustainable development. Our expertise across these domains ensures that we are well-equipped to deliver KarbonLedger effectively and responsibly. Key members of the team have led and delivered large-scale projects in both the blockchain and environmental sectors, demonstrating our ability to manage complex initiatives.

Validation of Feasibility:

We have already conducted preliminary research and feasibility analysis on the integration of IoT devices with blockchain for real-time emissions tracking. This research has validated the technical feasibility of the platform and identified key integration points for AI/ML and blockchain.

Steps we have taken to validate feasibility:

• Technical Feasibility:
• Conducted pilot tests with IoT sensors to track real-time emissions and successfully integrated this data with blockchain platforms.
• Developed a prototype for tokenized carbon credit issuance, demonstrating the viability of smart contract-based automation for carbon credits.
• Partnerships and Industry Feedback:
• Engaged with key stakeholders in industries such as energy and agriculture, who provided feedback on the platform’s potential to automate emissions tracking and streamline carbon credit trading. This feedback has helped validate the market need for our solution.
• Open-Source Development & Community Collaboration:
• We are committed to making the project open-source, fostering collaboration and peer review to ensure that the solution is robust, secure and scalable. By allowing the community to audit and contribute, we ensure high levels of transparency and accountability.

Steps to Ensure Financial Accountability:

• Milestone-Based Funding: We will implement a milestone-based fund disbursement approach. Each development phase will have clearly defined milestones and funds will be allocated based on the successful completion of these milestones. Regular updates and proof of progress will be provided to the Cardano community and Catalyst project reviewers.
• Transparent Reporting: We will submit regular financial and project progress reports to ensure transparency. These reports will detail how funds are used, the progress made and upcoming deliverables. Additionally, we will leverage Cardano’s decentralized governance tools to allow community oversight and input.
• Proof of Achievement: For every major milestone, we will submit Proof of Achievement that validates progress, including video demonstrations, GitHub commits and community feedback, ensuring the Cardano community has full visibility into the project’s progress.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Protocol Design and Architecture Development

• Budget: 30,000 ADA
• Duration: 1 months
• Milestone Outputs
• Detailed protocol architecture outlining the integration of IoT, AI/ML and blockchain components.
• Initial protocol specification document defining data structures, consensus mechanism, communication rules and security features.
• Draft of the Decentralized Governance Framework (DAO) model, including a basic outline for community-driven decision-making.
• Deliverables:
• Protocol design documents and governance whitepaper.
• Acceptance Criteria: Reviewed and validated design and governance model.

Blockchain, Smart Contract Development and IoT Integration

• Budget: 60,000 ADA
• Duration: 2 months
• Milestone Outputs
• Development and testing of smart contracts for carbon credit issuance, trading and lifecycle management.
• Integration of IoT sensors for real-time emissions tracking with functional data pipelines.
• Deliverables:
• IoT sensors integrated to track carbon emissions in real time.
• Acceptance Criteria: Functional pilot demonstration with real-time IoT data feeding into blockchain smart contracts.

AI/ML Algorithms and Decentralized Governance Setup

• Budget: 30,000 ADA
• Duration: 2 months
• Milestone Outputs
• AI/ML algorithms integrated for anomaly detection and emissions predictions.
• Voting mechanism developed for the DAO to enable community governance.
• Initial community engagement strategy, onboarding validators and project developers.
• Deliverables:
• AI models tested, DAO voting system live with community engagement.
• Acceptance Criteria: AI/ML test reports and DAO voting live.

Pilot Testing, Full Protocol Launch and Governance

• Budget: 20,000 ADA
• Duration: 1 month
• Milestone Outputs
• Pilot tests conducted with selected carbon offset projects.
• Launch of the KarbonLedger protocol on the Cardano mainnet.
• Final community governance system established with active participants.
• Acceptance Criteria
• Successful pilot tests, live transactions on Cardano mainnet, active governance.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion
• Pilot reports, mainnet logs, governance activity documentation.

Project Close-out Report and Video

• Budget: 10,000 ADA
• Duration: 1 month
• Milestone Outputs
• Final project report detailing the achievements, challenges and results of the KarbonLedger protocol development.
• A video presentation summarizing the protocol’s functionality, benefits and the results of pilot testing.
• Final community feedback report with insights for future improvements.
• Deliverables:
• Final Project Close-Out Report, including project outcomes.
• Summary video demonstrating the platform and its impact.
• Acceptance Criteria: Report and video shared with stakeholders and community, feedback collected.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Project Team Overview:

• Cardano Developers – Blockchain & Smart Contracts  
•  LinkedIn: santanu chatterjee, Faizan Shaikh, Rahat Sayyed
• Role: Develop and implement the core blockchain infrastructure and smart contracts for carbon credit issuance and trading.

• IoT Specialist – Emissions Tracking  
• LinkedIn: Pranesh Jayakumar
• Role: Integrate IoT sensors for real-time carbon emissions tracking and collaborate with AI team for data processing.

• AI/ML Specialist – Predictive Analytics  
• LinkedIn: Rakesh Jakati
• Role: Develop AI models for emissions analysis and fraud detection, integrate with blockchain for automated credit issuance.

• Project Manager – Coordination & Delivery  
• LinkedIn: Sangeet Muralidhar
• Role: Manage project timelines, budget and deliverables, ensuring smooth team collaboration and Catalyst reporting.

• Governance, Community Manager and Partnerships – DAO & Industry Engagement  
• LinkedIn: Vinay Devabhakthuni
• Role: Establish and manage the decentralized governance model (DAO), engage the community in platform development.
• Role: Build partnerships with industries and governments, oversee pilot programs and ensure regulatory alignment.

Additional Recruitment: Full-Stack Developer, Data Scientist and Regulatory Expert to support platform scaling, compliance and data optimization.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Milestone 1: Protocol Design & Architecture (30k ADA, 1 Month)

• Protocol architecture, DAO framework design: 20k ADA
• Documentation & project management: 10k ADA

Milestone 2: Blockchain, Smart Contracts and IoT Integration (60k ADA, 2 Months)

• Smart contract development & deployment: 40k ADA
• IoT hardware & data integration: 20k ADA

Milestone 3: AI/ML & Governance Setup (30k ADA, 2 Months)

• AI/ML algorithms & integration: 20k ADA
• DAO governance mechanism: 10k ADA

Milestone 4: Pilot Testing & Full Protocol Launch (20k ADA, 1 Month)

• Pilot project testing: 10k ADA
• Mainnet deployment: 5k ADA
• Final audit & community engagement: 5k ADA

Milestone 5: Project Close-Out & Reporting (10k ADA, 1 Month)

• Final report & documentation: 4k ADA
• Video production & community presentation: 6k ADA

Total Budget: 150k ADA

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

Value for Money for the Cardano Ecosystem:

KarbonLedger offers substantial value by creating a decentralized protocol/framework for carbon management, driving global adoption of Cardano in industries, governments and individuals. This real-world use case increases Cardano's reach and utility.

Justification for Costs:

• Blockchain Development: Reflects industry rates ($50–$80/hour) for high-quality, secure smart contract and platform development.
• IoT & AI/ML Integration: Costs cover the hardware and expertise needed for real-time emissions tracking and predictive analytics, ensuring the platform’s effectiveness.
• Project Management & Community Engagement: Necessary for ensuring timely delivery, user adoption and ongoing platform growth.

Proportional Costs: The budget aligns with market rates for freelance developers and tech professionals, providing a strong return on investment through global adoption and expansion of Cardano’s ecosystem in sustainability.