After carbon credits, Ambipar looks at new initiatives in blockchain

The Brazilian company Ambipar, listed on B3 and a global leader in environmental solutions, launched the Ambify platform at the end of last year. Its goal is to sell fractions of carbon credits at retail, with support from blockchain technology. However, the company seems determined to adopt the technology and has several other initiatives that use the system underlying cryptocurrencies.

With Ambify, the idea is to allow consumers to offset their carbon footprints from everyday habits, such as having a coffee or having lunch, for example. Through an app, users can easily and quickly acquire fractions of carbon credits, which are tokenized and circulated on the blockchain. The technology ensures the security and authenticity of the transactions.

However, the plans regarding the use of blockchain go beyond this. In an interview with EXAME, the director of digital assets at Ambipar, João Valente, shared more details about the platform and stated that “more partnerships related to blockchain and even the metaverse will be announced in the coming weeks.”

“Our platform is quite different in its conception and the way we want to reach the public. We can offset a coffee for R$ 0.20 or a lunch for R$ 0.60, for example,” explains João. “The way we do this is by ‘printing’ the carbon credit within the utility token, within the governance of the BNB Chain (Binance’s blockchain), both in token creation and in the design of the smart contract,” he added.

The structure of a carbon credit is a bit different from that of other assets, the specialist comments, and it is of utmost importance that this validation is carried out by a trusted validator. Blockchain comes in as a second layer of authenticity.

“The serial number is the ‘chassis’ of the carbon credit, granted by the certifier, and it represents this existing carbon. As Ambipar is a continuous generator of carbon credits, it already provides this chassis. Ambify only exists when we back the carbon credits with tokens,” explained the director.

Tokenizing carbon credits is not entirely new in Brazil. Other companies, like Moss, already operate in this segment, but with a different approach, negotiating “whole” carbon credits and focusing on large institutions – with partnerships with major companies such as Hering, Gol, among others. They also treat carbon credits as an investment opportunity.

In contrast, Ambify’s main objective is to highlight the environmental role of the asset, without treating it as a potential investment – in fact, the platform does not allow the resale of acquired credits. “The purpose of Ambify is compensation, education, and investment in climate change mitigation. Having said that, we see both aspects, also because we don’t gain from the secondary market, but we cannot be utopian when this market exists,” he explained.

“If you believe that the token will appreciate, you can buy today and save it for the future. Our differential is transparency, the certificate you receive with clear hashID and serial number that is being offset,” he added.

João acknowledges that convincing the majority of the population to offset their carbon footprint is not an easy task. Therefore, Ambify’s focus will be on education. “We believe that education will explain the terms of carbon credit issuance, just as terms of the traditional financial market were explained years ago,” he said.

With a market value of R$ 3.68 billion, Ambipar is one of the few companies on the stock exchange with already advanced involvement in blockchain platforms. As João says, other companies are approaching, seeking information on the subject: “We have a very busy agenda with companies seeking this information. Understanding of blockchain is still happening. We see a great demand for information tracking and supply chain.”

Ambify is not expected to be the only Ambipar brand to engage with the new technology, and at least four new initiatives from the company are expected to be announced in the coming weeks: “Very interesting B2C partnerships [focused on the end consumer] are shaping up for the coming weeks, and we are also designing other Ambipar business fronts within the metaverse, why not?” João concluded.

• Click here to read the full article on Exame.com.
• Click here to read the full article on Mundo & Negócios.
• Click here to read the full article on Índices Bovespa.