International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) launched its new Carbon Council initiative to celebrate Earth Day’s 50th anniversary, which will work on bringing higher liquidity to the carbon market through the use of blockchain.

ICC is an institutional representative of more than 45 million companies in 100 countries. Considering their extensive reach, this could be a big win for both the carbon market and the blockchain industry.

The ICC is working on Carbon Council alongside Perlin, a blockchain firm creating a carbon-friendly digital business ecosystem, and AirCarbon Exchange, a carbon asset digital exchange.

Major international companies including BlackRock, Macquarie Bank, Shell, Singapore Airlines, State Street and Temasek attended the inaugural meeting of ICC’s Carbon Council.

ICC says that the primary goal of founding the Carbon Council is to collaborate with both public and private companies to create a better system for funding global climate action. Their intended use of blockchain technology is to bring more liquidity, transparency, accessibility, and standardization in the carbon markets.

Addressing the dire need for businesses worldwide to work together in addressing the threats of global warming, John W.H. Denton AO, secretary-general of ICC, said:

“This milestone Earth Day is a reminder that we must not lose sight of the need for an inclusive, resilient and sustainable future for people and our planet.”

Using blockchain for carbon market growth

Through the Carbon Council, ICC plans to attract more investment into the carbon market so carbon mitigation projects could function more efficiently.

Perlin CEO Dorjee Sun says that the initiative by Carbon Council “will complement the Carbon DAO for project funding we are launching, which will provide unprecedented access to best-in-class carbon projects worldwide.”

Seeing the huge potential of blockchain in the energy sector, many international organizations and startups are currently working to tackle carbon emission issues using blockchain. 

1PLANET was one of the first to launch a decentralized app that allows users to immediately utilize ERC-20 tokens to mitigate or offset their carbon emissions. In October 2019, Cointelegraph also reported the launch of AirCarbon’s global tokenized carbon credits trading platform that allows firms to buy and sell tokens representing carbon offset credits.