Anna, Nirvaan, Alison and team, really incredible what you have accomplished in such a short time. Time is a precious resource and you have shown an ability to manage time and juggle multiple priorities over the past year!
By your engagement and participation you have helped legitimize a number of climate positive initiatives and in our case at CarbonPath non-traditional efforts to have maximum impact on the planet.
Continuing to pursue validation and legitimacy for refi among the largest think tanks and corporations is paramount. Encouraging the embrace of blockchain and dMRV as transparent solutions to many issues facing climate solutions will help accelerate the many noble ideas put forth by the refi world. Opening the doors to climate positive use case of web3 is much needed in a world currently skeptical of all things crypto.
How about a liquidity fund to help new tokenized products establish themselves on Uniswap/Ubeswap? Encouraging traction on these platforms may help push consumer engagement with the climate positive projects they represent.
I also like the idea mentioned in another response around moving beyond simply carbon impact but incorporating other UN sustainability goals into project support and evaluation (easier said than done I know).
Keep up the great work and support for our collective community!
Happy one-year anniversary! The work that went into the CC is truly impressive, and it’s great to see how much it has evolved in just a year. Initiatives such as restarting a broad grants program, expanding the contributor base, establishing Celo as the core layer 1 for climate impact, and offsetting protocol emissions on-chain are all extremely important for the ecosystem. The Mento Labs team is excited to continue working together with Climate Collective!
Congrats on the anniversary! To Anna, Alison, Nirvaan, Michael keep it up! Having a reference group of peers on the same mission, especially in an emerging space that we can’t deny comes with it’s challenges, is truly valuable. The roadmap and next phases are very promising, and as part of Reneum we see the value of growing together and contributing especially as some of the projects get closer to commercialization. Onwards and upwards!
I read through the proposal but couldn’t find anything on “research” - I think engaging with academia and strategically publishing research content might be helpful in getting legacy sector credibility. Currently, no credible publications exist that even describe what ReFi is.
Hayley from Thallo here - Climate Collective has provided us with all kinds of support, not the least of which is being a convener and connector understanding the fast-moving ReFi landscape. The team has a finger on the pulse of everything that’s happening, which is a huge benefit to those of us working on our specific projects. Think the positioning is especially good, acting as a bridge / access point for web2 community to get connected to project that use web3 tools.
Going forward, would like to see the 3 strategic deliverables executed against, particularly the market maturity one. We’re building new foundations of the carbon market, so helping clear the path to widespread adoption / commercialization is absolutely critical.
Kudos to the Climate Collective for successfully completing their first year of operations! It’s inspiring to witness the strides they’ve made in driving climate action through Web3 technology, particularly in fostering partnerships and collaborations between climate-focused projects and other stakeholders in the Celo community, thereby unleashing the full potential of the Celo ecosystem.
A combination of specific thematic areas and an open call for proposals could be a good approach for the next iteration of the grant program. This would allow for targeted support in areas of high priority, while still providing room for innovation.
At the heart of ReFi today sit carbon markets but I think it would be valuable to also explore other themes such as biodiversity loss, afforestation and reforestation, sustainable agriculture, and direct air capture in future grant calls.
Thanks to everyone putting in the hours to advance our common goal of accelerating climate action. congratulations to you all on your first anniversary. It is an honor to be a part of this group!
You accomplished your objectives despite big hurdles and are building a more sustainable and equitable world. I think it’s great to push a commitment to utilizing blockchain technology as a tool for profound climate impact, and it’s really awesome to see the tangible results that have already been achieved in just one year.
@MarcoSchletz makes a good point about engaging with academia. I think it’s where a lot of the Alpha is! With the kind of vision you see around these parts, there’s no telling what’s possible through collaborations with academia and cutting-edge, on-the-ground climate science.
Regarding a revision of grant proposals – it’s super important for grants to support existing ecosystems as much as new ones. With that in mind, we’re at the threshold of a new era, and I know we’re keen to see wild ideas get a platform. Specific themes and open calls go well together.
You should probably make a climate collective film. The wild, innovative efforts throughout the ecosystem to fight against the climate crisis and all of your commitment to transparency, inclusivity, and empowerment are crucial in ensuring that the benefits of climate initiatives are felt by all members of society. This is worth the treatment and there are infinite stories here that can help us all drive more impact!
Thanks everyone for the resoundingly positive feedback! We deeply appreciate your thoughtful comments and suggestions as we scale up our organization.
I’d like to highlight a few common themes and notable suggestions from the responses thus far:
Retrospective
CC has boosted the entire ReFi ecosystem and made Celo the home for regens. Very much in support of this roadmap and excited by the progress that’s been made in even just one year.
By your engagement and participation you have helped legitimize a number of climate positive initiatives
Fostering partnerships and collaborations between climate-focused projects and other stakeholders in the Celo community, thereby unleashing the full potential of the Celo ecosystem
Accomplished objectives despite big hurdles and are building a more sustainable and equitable world
Imperative to double down and leverage the power of blockchain to address climate change
Initiatives such as restarting a broad grants program, expanding the contributor base, establishing Celo as the core layer 1 for climate impact, and offsetting protocol emissions on-chain are all extremely important for the ecosystem
Looking Ahead
Grants program structure can focus on specific themes, while keeping an “open line” to new ideas and concepts
Bridge the gap between ReFi and traditional organizations hoping to make a positive climate impact in the world
Pilot projects with traditional climate stakeholders, such as WWF, IADB, CIFAR alliance, World Bank
Act as an authority to vet and showcase the realized climate (and social) impact of implemented ReFi projects
Engaging with academia and strategically publishing research content might be helpful in getting legacy sector credibility. Currently, no credible publications exist that even describe what ReFi is
Parallel mechanism through the enterprise value chain that is carbon sustainability
You should probably make a climate collective film!
Finances
Next step is advancing the return of the 120M CELO from Mento reserves to the Community Fund to avoid over-committing it in the short-term
What if we combined that with like the Patagonia 1% for the Planet initiative and tried to get a steady stream of capital for the Collective by having a growing number of funds commit 1% for the Climate Collective?
Would love to see as a clear goal - Celo becoming a leading liquidity center for climate related assets.
thanks @MarcoSchletz this is an important suggestion. CC has been focused on a number of industry research projects in Q1-Q2 but less so directly working with academia. We will surface this in our strategic deliverable #2 around thought leadership, and the Refi 101 course is already included. Do you have suggestions on research topics or partners that we could look into?
thanks @robertdclimate for your thoughtful comments. Now that Chainlink is (almost) live on Celo, CC companies will have the technical ability to integrate with many more projects including dClimate. Fostering such mutually-beneficial integrations across the Collective has been a core tenet of CC and we look forward to expanding capacity for this workstream.
and thanks @serota for suggesting thematic areas for grants, these are generally in line with our thinking and I particularly like the “web2.5” pilots and open-source schemas/taxonomies
When Web3forGood for asked its readers for guidance as we aimed to grow, Anna was the first person to reach out, and served as an insightful and supportive mentor over the months to come, and each conversation left us more motivated, and with numerous ideas to explore.
CC has definitely been a major catalyst in the ReFi space and excited to see the plans for next year.
With regards to the questions asked:
Should the next iteration of the grant program focus on specific themes, be more of an open call for proposals, or include options for some combination of the two? If specific thematic areas are to be included, which ones are the most pressing?
Ideally, a combination where specific themes are prioritized but a space for projects that might not fall under a specific category but are moving the needle forward.
I would also push for more focus on supporting projects from the Global South and developing a way to attract projects that would normally be overlooked or unaware of such grants but, could use the support and attention. This would mean engaging with more than the usual channels and more local outreach.
It is impressive to see how much the Climate Collective has achieved in only one year.
The vast field of possibilities that are coming ahead is a true commitment to purpose and impact.
While the momentum took a hit with the carbon credits tokenisation hold and the negative events on the crypto side, the resilience and capacity to move forward is a dedication to the mission.
We interacted and partnered with many CC members and are now a proud member too. The legacy side of carbon is still far from convinced of the potential for changes that lies in web3 deployment. There is still a strong education process to go through as many know the keywords but fail to understand the benefits. Someone mentioned it as the guys in suits (legacy) not talking to the guys in jeans (refi) and only a few are navigating between both worlds. We need some strong examples that can demonstrate the benefits seamlessly without the need of explaining the tech that is under.
I believe that the Climate Collective can deliver great results, in the real world, by delivering its mission of innovation and coordination. Getting organisations to learn and pilot programs from web2 to web3 will be a key success factor. It will also provide bandwidth for others to join. With so many players from all angles in the space it will be key to build proof of success cases .
We are looking forward to more cooperation with members of the CC and successful pilots all decade long !
It’s been an absolute pleasure working with @nirvaan and @AnnaClimateCollect from the Climate Collective. Their support has been a gamechanger for the development of Helios. From IRL events to hosted spaces and grant programming, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Celo/CC ecosystem.
Roadmap looks really exciting, can’t wait to see it unfold over the coming year! Big support from Helios<3
Working with the Climate Collective has been a huge asset to us! To have a dedicated team focused on the ReFi sector and willing to fund teams at the earliest stages has allowed us to move forward with development despite difficult market conditions. In addition, it’s made it easy to connect with other ReFi projects in the space. Excited to see that the mission is continuing to grow and looking forward to see how things evolve in the years ahead!
Much love to the Climate Collective for the grant program, which has enabled Circular Impact to bring more circular economy carbon credits to market! We’ve appreciated the thoughtful planning, which despite the market downturn has still enabled CC to meet all of its funding commitments - well done!
We’d love CC putting a stronger stake around methane avoidance credits and enabling more work / organizations in this space. With methane 80x more potent than CO2, it’s one of the best near-term levers we can pull to mitigate climate change.
Thanks for sharing @jeff_CI, bringing methane reductions more into focus is a good idea to drive significant climate impact while also continuing to diversify the member organizations and grants that Climate Collective supports. We need many different approaches to address the climate challenges we face.
We’ve been working with the Climate Collective from the beginnings and you really grew with the market. From being a sole connector and supporter in the beginning between the refi startups to being a lobbyist for all the players in a highly political minefield.
This work is highly valuable and can’t be done by one of the refi players since we all have products that we want to bring to market. For me thats the most important function tbh and should be one of the main focuses.
Thank you @AnnaClimateCollect, @nirvaan, @AlisonFiller and team. My turn to add to the well-deserved praise for what you’ve achieved over the past year. It’s inspiring to have seen Climate Collective succeed on so many fronts in spite of the stormy weather out there. For SimplexDNA, Climate Collective has been invaluable by providing us with funding, connecting us with a proactive, optimistic, and talented community, and helping us find our web3 feet. For me personally, I’ve really enjoyed contributing to the grant treasury, as well as learning from - and hopefully supporting (!) - community members through science office hours. I’ve honestly learnt more in the past year than I have in the last five years at my university job. Thank you!
Moving forwards, I’m delighted to see a broadening of scope to consider other facets of nature beyond carbon. I’m also happy to see a plan for more formal engagement with academic institutions/partners. In addition to leading the charge on web3 x climate, I think Climate Collective has an opportunity to be a leader in building from a position of deep scientific rigour and state-of-the-art, so I’d advocate for building in even more science advisory/partnership/research/reporting capacity in the year(s) to come (although I would say that).
Honored to be a member of this group of ReFi innovators. We were actually one of the first Grantees and are grateful for this opportunity to this day. We have now moved on to being a member and love the collaborative spirit, which in a business context is hard to find nowadays. It truly is a collective! Excited to see where the CC is heading in the future and beyond thankful to now be a part of it!
As a grant received and working closely with Climate Collective, I envision the initiative to grow and allow more organizations to experiment in various ways.
I think the best thing that needs to happen is to build business cases with institutions and established actors and bring the real-world impact not just in theory but also in practice.
I have enjoyed the seriousness, flexibility and the walk talk attitude that they have shown throughout the collaboration.