The criticism of blockchain that has most effectively stuck, understandably, has been its ecological cost. The facts are, truly, atrocious. By one estimate, the creation of one basic NFT involves as much energy as driving a car 1,000 kilometers.

The rise of a decarbonization-as-a-service sector may make it easier to commodify and exchange carbon. But what if it doesn’t actually help address climate change? There is always the risk that the platforms could be algorithmically flawed—that their software isn’t accurately quantifying emissions, whether positive or negative. But there are also... See more

The creators of these new platforms believe that they can solve the knowledge problem of net zero with software. Given the proliferation of net-zero pledges, this is a profitable problem to solve. But the platforms all approach this problem in a particular way: they turn carbon into a tradable commodity. This points to a broader point: net zero, in... See more