diff --git a/proposals/proposal-canton-carbon-infrastructure.md b/proposals/proposal-canton-carbon-infrastructure.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2080bd29 --- /dev/null +++ b/proposals/proposal-canton-carbon-infrastructure.md @@ -0,0 +1,286 @@ +# Canton Carbon Asset Standard + +## Abstract + +Carbon markets are a large, institutional asset class. Yet they remain fragmented, opaque, and operationally inefficient, +with limited integration into modern digital infrastructure. Blockchain-based carbon systems have demonstrated technical +feasibility, but adoption has stalled in the absence of institutional alignment and standardised infrastructure for representing +carbon assets on-chain. + +This proposal establishes a Canton-native infrastructure layer for carbon markets, delivering four interoperable components: +a contract-based standard for representing carbon credits, a registry-aligned integration framework, a verifiable retirement +mechanism, and a lightweight reference marketplace for price discovery. Together these form the foundational layer required +for carbon market activity on Canton, enabling ecosystem participants to build applications, workflows, and financial integrations on top. + +Defining this standard early reduces the risk of fragmentation seen in both traditional carbon markets and prior on-chain +ecosystems (Polygon, Base, Celo). Canton is uniquely positioned to address those failure modes. Its privacy model preserves the bilateral pricing +confidentiality that keeps OTC trading dominant today; its institutional custody model is native to the chain rather than retrofitted; and +registry alignment is built into the standard from day one rather than negotiated after tokenisation has already occurred. + +## Specification + +### 1. Objective + +Canton currently lacks a standard for representing and managing carbon credits as on-ledger assets. + +Without this, carbon market activity cannot be meaningfully deployed on the network. + +The objective of this proposal is to define and implement a reference infrastructure layer for carbon asset lifecycle management, enabling: +* representation of verified carbon credits on-ledger +* retirement of carbon credits with verifiable outputs (i.e. “retirement certificates”) synced with carbon registry infrastructure offchain. +* basic price discovery and access mechanisms + +The system addresses core limitations in today’s carbon market: + +* fragmented and bilateral over-the-counter (OTC) trading structures +* limited transparency and standardisation +* low inventory velocity +* lack of integration into digital workflows + +The outcome is a reusable, Canton-native standard that enables carbon credits to function as programmable assets within institutional workflows. + +### 2. Implementation Mechanics + +The implementation consists of four core components. + +**A. Carbon Asset Standard** +Carbon credits will be represented as contract-based assets, defined using Daml. Key characteristics: +* associated with structured metadata (methodology, registry, vintage, permanence) +* owned by a party (user or custodian) +* governed by lifecycle rules (transfer, retirement) + +The data structure developed for tokenized carbon credits on Canton will afford unique opportunities for creating unique product aggregations for the market, +for example fungible units representing a class of carbon credits, or structured products representing a number of different carbon credits. + +Initial class definitions will follow established approaches for representing carbon onchain, and will be designed for iteration over time. + +Assets will be wallet-compatible, meaning they can be held by user-controlled parties, while also supporting custody-based flows for institutional onboarding. + +Daml is the natural fit for this work as its contract-based model including explicit signatories and party-level visibility, maps directly onto how +carbon credits already function in the real world, where issuance authority sits with the registry, and transfer and retirement rights sit with the holder. +Not every transaction needs to be visible to every market participant. + +**B. Registry Integration Framework** +The system will define a framework for integrating with external carbon registries. One carbon registry will be invited to participate in the proposal as a +pilot implementation partner. + +This includes: + +* validation of credit authenticity +* mapping registry data to on-ledger representations and vice versa (e.g. logging retirements) +* alignment with registry terms and requirements, including defining how onchain systems will sync with legacy systems. + +Initial implementation will focus on onboarding at least one carbon credit registry partner as part of the pilot. + +**C. Retirement Framework** + +A standardised retirement mechanism will be implemented, enabling: +* irreversible consumption of carbon credits +* generation of verifiable retirement outputs +* alignment with registry-side retirement records + +Each retirement will produce: +* an on-ledger proof of execution +* a standardised retirement certificate or equivalent output + +This component defines how carbon is consumed onchain, ensuring auditability and integrity. + +**D. Reference Marketplace** + +A minimal marketplace layer will be implemented to enable: +* Managing transfers of carbon credits from offchain carbon registries to an account on Canton +* listing of carbon assets at fixed prices +* simple buyer acceptance of listings +* basic price discovery + +This is intentionally limited in scope: +* no automated market making +* no order books +* no complex trading logic + +The purpose is to demonstrate how carbon assets can be tokenized and accessed to create the foundation for a Canton-enabled carbon market -- not create a full trading venue. + +The proposed model mirrors how the OTC carbon market actually works today (bilateral, negotiated and often fixed-price). The reference implementation therefore maps +directly to current institutional behavior rather than forcing new trading patterns. + +**System Model** + +Assets are held by parties on Canton, controlled either: +* directly by users (wallet-compatible model) +* or via custodial arrangements (for institutional flows) +* +Carbonmark will act as: +* builder of the standard +* provider of the reference implementation + +### 3. Architectural Alignment + +This proposal aligns closely with Canton’s architecture and ecosystem goals. + +Carbon markets require: +* coordination across multiple independent parties (registries, suppliers, buyers) +* selective disclosure of transaction data +* verifiable lifecycle events, particularly retirement + +Canton provides: +* privacy-preserving data sharing +* role-based access and permissions +* deterministic, auditable state transitions + +This makes it particularly well suited for representing real-world assets such as carbon credits. + +The proposal also aligns with ecosystem priorities: +* creation of reusable, application-layer infrastructure +* expansion into real-world asset use cases +* enabling institutional participation onchain + +This work provides a foundational layer upon which additional applications can be built, including marketplaces, retirement platforms, and financial integrations. + +### 4. Backward Compatibility + +No backward compatibility impact. + +This proposal introduces new application-layer infrastructure and does not modify existing Canton systems or integrations. + +### Milestones and Deliverables + +**Milestone 1: Carbon Asset Model and Specification** +**Estimated Delivery:** Month 1 +**Focus:** Define carbon asset standard and lifecycle model +**Deliverables / Value Metrics:** +* Daml contract specification for carbon assets +* carbon class framework definition +* lifecycle model (mint, transfer, retire) +* architecture documentation + +**Milestone 2: Registry Integration Framework** +**Estimated Delivery:** Months 2–3 +**Focus:** Enable onboarding of verified carbon supply +**Deliverables / Value Metrics:** +* registry integration templates +* validation and onboarding flow +* at least one registry integration initiated +* test cases for asset creation + +**Milestone 3: Retirement Framework** +**Estimated Delivery:** Months 2 - 3 +**Focus:** Implement verifiable retirement mechanism +**Deliverables / Value Metrics:** +* retirement contract logic +* proof generation +* certificate output format +* end-to-end retirement test flows + +**Milestone 4: Reference Marketplace and Workflows** +**Estimated Delivery:** Month 4 - 5 +**Focus:** Enable asset access and price discovery +**Deliverables / Value Metrics:** +- fixed-price listing mechanism +- buyer interaction flow +- at least two end-to-end workflows demonstrated e.g. retail buyer offsetting and bulk institutional retirement +* initial external evaluator feedback + +**Milestone 5: Documentation and Public Release** +**Estimated Delivery:** Month 6 +**Focus:** Ecosystem enablement +**Deliverables / Value Metrics:** +- open-source contract library +- integration documentation +- example implementations +- developer onboarding materials + +**Acceptance Criteria** +The Tech & Ops Committee will evaluate completion based on: +* Deliverables completed as specified for each milestone +* Demonstrated functionality or operational readiness +* Documentation and knowledge transfer provided +* Alignment with stated value metrics +* At least one registry integration completed + +Additional conditions: +* carbon assets must follow defined standard +* registry integration must be functional with provider buy-in +* retirement must be irreversible and verifiable +* reference workflows must be reproducible +* system must be usable by external teams + +### Funding +**Total Funding Request: 700,000 CC** + +Funding Breakdown: +* Engineering: 75% +* Registry Integration: 10% +* Security Audits: 5% +* Legal Fees: 5% +* Ecosystem-building: 5% + +Payment Breakdown by Milestone +* Milestone 1: 100,000 CC +* Milestone 2: 150,000 CC +* Milestone 3: 175,000 CC +* Milestone 4: 175,000 CC +* Milestone 5: 100,000 CC + +**Volatility Stipulation** + +The project is not expected to exceed 6 months. If the project timeline extends beyond 6 months due to Committee-requested scope changes, +remaining milestones will be renegotiated to account for price volatility. + +**Risks and Mitigations** + +We have identified the most key risks and developed risk mitigation strategies based on our experience with similar projects: +| Risk | Mitigation | +|------|------------| +| Delays in securing a registry partner | Engage multiple registries in parallel to reduce dependency on a single counterparty | +| Canton adoption risk and low initial demand | Target institutional participants and position Canton as a reference model through active engagement and marketing | +| Availability of Daml engineering resources | Pre-identified Daml developers with relevant experience are available to support delivery | +| Changes in carbon market infrastructure | Align with established registry standards and retirement frameworks to ensure forward compatibility + +### Co-Marketing + +Carbonmark has an in-house marketing team that will closely work with Canton on content creation and marketing strategies. Upon release, +Carbonmark will collaborate with the Foundation on: +* announcement coordination +* technical blog or architecture write-up +* developer walkthrough sessions +* demonstrations to carbon market stakeholders (including to supply-side and demand-side users) +* Attendance at ecosystem events to showcase the standard + +### Motivation + +This proposal enables Canton to support carbon markets as a new real-world asset class. + +Without a standard for representing and managing carbon credits on-ledger, meaningful carbon market activity cannot occur on the +network – or, if it occurs, it will likely be fragmented. + +By defining this infrastructure layer, Canton gains: +* a new category and set of standards for an institutional use case +recurring, non-speculative transaction activity +* a bridge to a growing global market + +This positions Canton as infrastructure not just for financial assets, but for environmental markets. + +### Rationale + +This approach focuses on foundational infrastructure rather than a full application stack. + +It prioritises: +* standardisation over product development +* interoperability over vertical integration +* simplicity over premature optimisation + +By delivering a carbon asset standard, registry integration framework, retirement mechanism, and reference workflows, the proposal creates the minimum viable +foundation required for ecosystem growth. + +More advanced systems, including full marketplaces or protocol layers, can be built on top once the underlying infrastructure is in place. + +Carbonmark brings to this proposal the specific combination of expertise that Canton needs to establish credible carbon market infrastructure: +deep operational experience running an at-scale onchain carbon marketplace, direct working relationships with the registries whose buy-in is +the critical path for Milestones 2 and 3, and first-hand knowledge of where prior tokenization efforts on other chains succeeded and where they fragmented. +Equally important, Carbonmark has lived through the institutional, registry, and regulatory pushback that earlier blockchain-based carbon initiatives encountered, +and has built its current product, registry partnerships, and Direct Credit Issuance workflow around resolving those exact frictions. + +This means the Canton-native standard proposed here will not be designed from a whitepaper outwards, but from the ground truth of what registries, +suppliers, corporate buyers, and software integrators have actually required in production. By porting these hard-won design decisions into a +Canton-native standard from day one, this proposal materially reduces the risk of repeating the fragmentation that has limited carbon market +adoption on other blockchains, and gives Canton a credible foundation for institutional-grade carbon market activity.