The new system is ready for commercial launch. The developers are looking for first clients among Russian airline companies.

The Ethereum-based trading platform allows private companies to purchase and sell carbon credits – permits for a limited amount of carbon dioxide emission (currently, each equal to 1 tonne of the gas) and record the operations in a blockchain. On 1 December, AiraLab and Microsoft Russia carried out the first test carbon credit transaction on the platform worth $120,000.

“The pilot emission of carbon credits and the first transaction were made using the cloud platform Azure Blockchain as a Service. The cloud platform allows for the quick deployment of a ready-to-use blockchain network infrastructure suitable for a variety of tasks and requirements of any business – which was done, in this case, by the experts from AiraLab. Systems based on blockchain solutions feature an increased fail safety and security, as well as efficiency and transparency. Blockchain is now considered one of the most advanced technologies and its effect on various industries is often compared to the effect once made by the Internet,” says Konstantin Goldstein of the Department of Strategy Technologies at Microsoft Russia.

Another Microsoft representative told CoinFox that “the system is ready for commercial operation.” The developers are now looking for corporate clients that would be interested in the new carbon trading platform. The list of potential clients includes Russian airline companies.

The Kyoto protocol signed by many economically advanced countries includes a statement concerning the emission trading between countries, which effectively created international carbon credits market. The demand for carbon credits grows exponentially and may reach 1.6 billion tonnes by 2020.

As of now, there are five exchanges in the world dealing with carbon trade allowances. Russian companies currently sell their carbon credits on foreign markets. Although Russia ratified the Kyoto agreement in 2004, it has not developed a market or infrastructure for carbon credits trading. The project of AiraLab and Microsoft may facilitate the creation of this environment in the country.

Roman Korizky