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Stop polluters' emissions.

Earn carbon credits on Ethereum.

We let hit — and leave no carbon trace.

1.

You tell us how much
power you use.

2.

We lower the emissions of
American power plants by the
amount they emit to power you.

3.

We mint you a carbon credit
for every ton of carbon you stop.

Stopping emissions is so easy, you can DIY.

Coal, oil, and gas-fired power plants in the Northeast must buy an allowance to legally emit each ton of CO2. There’s a fixed number of them, and power plants plan to use every last one. But here's the catch: you can also get them. If you buy one and retire it, power plants can’t have it, so they cut emissions by one exact ton—fully audited by the EPA and enforced by law.

Stop 1 ton CO2 at the source, or remove it later?

$26

$20–26

$300–1,000

if we retire an allowance for you

if you DIY

if you do carbon removal

Three steps to DIY:

A

Register and create a general account with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative's CO2 Allowance Tracking System (RGGI COATS). RGGI is the interstate program that regulates polluters.

B

Attend an allowance auction . You bid for bundles of 1,000 permits, so you can expect to pay a few thousand dollars.

C

Retire your allowances by transferring them into Ultra Civic's no-exit account. We leave them there forever.

Carbon credits to reward your climate action.

When we retire an allowance on your behalf, or you retire one yourself, we mint a carbon credit for you on the Ethereum blockchain.

When polluters pay full cost, we stop minting.

Minting stops when the price of an allowance (20–26 USD today) exceeds 200 USD—the damage to humanity of another ton of CO2 in the atmosphere. That's when polluters pay the full cost of their fossil fuels.

Proof.

This is the story: power plants plan to use every available allowance to pollute. When you buy one and retire it, they cannot have it—so they cut emissions by one ton.

Our story holds if four things are true: that power plants' emissions are well-measured, that Northeastern states do not issue extra allowances just because you bought and retired one, that power plants do not pollute without allowances, and that they plan to use every one they can get. Let's examine each of these ;)

A. Power plants' emissions are measured well.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitors the hourly carbon emissions from coal, oil, and gas-fired power plants and publishes the data under the Clean Air Markets Program. It requires power plants to install devices that continuously measure CO2 inside their chimneys, or fuel flow systems that track how much they burn. Coal power plants must install devices in their chimneys.

To dig deep, explore the Clean Air Markets Program Data here , and look at the monitoring and reporting section of the regulations of states in the Northeast: Connecticut (p. 28), Delaware (p. 34), Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts (p.466), New Jersey (p.79), New Hampshire (p.41), New York , Rhode Island , and Vermont (p.50). They build on the federal emissions reporting requirements listed in Part 75 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

B. There is a fixed number of allowances available.

In 2017, our Northeastern states decided how many pollution allowances to issue each year from 2020 to 2030. They have stuck to the plan—they do not issue extras just because you bought and locked one up.

Feeling mole-y? Look at the planned allowance issuances in the section on allowance allocations in each of the states' regulations: Connecticut (p.16), Delaware (p. 19), Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts (p.455), New Jersey (p. 51), New Hampshire (p. 29), New York , Rhode Island , and Vermont (p. 32). Compare them with the actual issuances, available here .

C. Power plants do not pollute without allowances.

Every couple of years, power plants must surrender to the states enough allowances to match the tons of CO2 they emitted. If they do not, they are forced to buy three allowances for every ton they did not account for. That is bad for them, so they make sure to cover their emissions.

To see that power plants actually surrender the right number of allowances, check out the data here : pick a source (i.e., power plant), pick a control period, get the report, and compare the total emissions with the total allowances deducted.

D. Power plants use every available allowance to pollute.

This one is an economics twister :) Power plants pay top dollar for an allowance—between $20 and $26 these days. They value allowances because they let them pollute. If they were not going to pollute with them, they would be crazy to pay for them! But they pay for them and they are not crazy—so they must plan to use every last one.

Allowances are sold during quarterly auctions. You can see historical auction prices here .

Any questions?

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