Blockchain’s role

Nori uses blockchain technology to make all transactions on its marketplace traceable and transparent. The pertinent, real-world data produced throughout the Nori Regenerative Tonne lifecycle is logged on-chain as NFTs. More info on this data recording dynamic is provided further on in this subsection.

Nori has used both Polygon, a scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain, and Ethereum itself at various points over its existence. The Ethereum blockchain is a ‘layer one’ solution, i.e., the blockchain itself. Polygon is a ‘layer two’ solution, an aggregator of transactions running on top of the layer one (Ethereum, in Polygon’s case).

At present, Nori is transferring its operations to Polygon. Now that Ethereum has converted to proof-of-stake, Nori may also use a solution that sits 'in between’ Polygon (the layer two) and Ethereum (layer one).

Why blockchain

Why use blockchain? There are a variety of reasons:

Auditable and transparent: Blockchains are immutable. Historical data posted on them can't be changed. The blockchain also offers an auditable log of all activity, not just the final data. These qualities help Nori ensure its historical marketplace data is highly transparent.

Nori's blockchain integration helps verify who purchased and retired which Nori Regenerative Tonnes and at what time. This data prevents entities from claiming credit for carbon removal more than once.

Real-world data from Nori Regenerative Tonnes are also recorded on-chain so Buyers have insight into which projects produced their carbon removal and can review project data and verification.

Trustworthy and reliable: Blockchains distribute the roles of storing data and providing uptime, meaning there's no single point of failure or entity responsible for maintaining records in a database. Public databases come with higher risk of data loss.

Combining the above factors, using a blockchain is one of the best ways to address carbon market concerns around accounting and double counting. For an introduction to these concepts, refer to this whitepaper's Challenges in carbon markets subsection.

Recording data

All Nori Regenerative Tonnes issued to Suppliers in Nori's marketplace are represented by NFTs on-chain. NFTs are bits of code on the blockchain that are provably unique. Since Nori Regenerative Tonnes are fundamentally unique assets – each Regenerative Tonne is accompanied by unique data about its provenance, date of sale (if applicable), and the Buyer who purchased and retired it (when applicable) – NFTs are the right technology to represent them on-chain. Turning Regenerative Tonnes into NFTs on-chain preserves their data and their non-fungibility.

Specifically, the Ethereum standard used to mint Regenerative Tonnes as NFTs is ERC-1155. Each NFT has a unique token ID. Each unique NFT also corresponds to a unique Supplier and reflects the total number of Regenerative Tonnes issued to them. Each unique token ID also encodes information about the source and location of the carbon removed by that Supplier. Verifiers who verified Supplier data are considered oracles in Nori's marketplace; they send the real-world data to the blockchain.

Nori has a publicly available registry where anyone can view the volume of purchased Nori Regenerative Tonnes. Records will persist in this blockchain to enhance the transparency and availability of Nori operations via an immutable chain of records.