Aetlas Protocol comprises three main components designed to streamline and automate the offtaking and project financing for carbon removal projects: digital offtake agreements, digital green bonds, and digital green CBOs (Collateralized Bond Obligations).

More information available at https://www.aetlas.xyz & aetlas.gitbook.io

Securing offtake agreements for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) projects is essential for raising project finance because these agreements provide a guaranteed revenue stream by ensuring that the carbon removed is purchased at a pre-agreed price. This certainty of future income makes CDR projects more attractive to investors and financiers by significantly reducing the financial risks associated with the projects. Offtake agreements demonstrate market demand and validate the economic viability of the CDR projects, thereby increasing investor confidence to commit capital. Essentially, these agreements act as a critical financial anchor, enabling project developers to secure the necessary funding to move forward with the construction and operation of carbon removal infrastructure.

An Overview of Aetlas Protocol:

🌱 Digital Offtake Agreements automate the delivery and settlement of carbon credits, reducing operational costs and enhancing transaction efficiency. As a self-executing smart contract, they automate CDR credit delivery, impact verification and enable the leveraging of future revenue as collateral for digital green bonds, thereby reducing manual processing and administrative costs.

🌱 Digital Green Bonds simplify the bond issuance and management process, expand market access, and improve liquidity by facilitating fractional ownership and easier transferability. These smart contract bonds are secured by future revenue from offtake agreements, simplifying bond issuance and management, and enhancing transparency with automated debt servicing and transparent live impact reporting. These are circa 85% cheaper to issue and manage than traditional bonds.

🌱 Digital Green CBOs allow for the pooling of multiple projects into a single investment vehicle, diversifying risk and offering a unique opportunity for investment in a broad array of sustainability initiatives. They are built as autonomous smart contracts for automated lending and asset pooling. Each CBO has it's own eligibility verification governed by it's holders (lenders), ensuring that only projects meeting specific green criteria are included.

🏗️ First Implementation:

Aetlas is partnered with BioCarbonGrow, Brazil to build and finance a new Biochar-based Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) project.

This project focuses on converting woody biomass into Organic Biochar Fertilizer, aiming to significantly improve soil fertility across Brazil's agricultural and forestry sectors. The project is set to deliver a high-integrity, durable CDR solution, with a pilot phase generating an estimated 26,000 Carbon Removal Certificates (CORCs) annually. With successful pilot outcomes, we anticipate scaling up to produce 3,240,864 CORCs yearly.

The core of our project design is built around meeting the expectations of both carbon removal certificate buyers and green bond investors. Adhering to Puro.earth's Biochar Methodology and the green bond market's regulatory framework, ensuring the highest quality standards in biochar production. We will use PEFC-certified sustainable woody biomass and locally sourced agricultural waste, supported by a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to affirm the project's net-negative CO2 emissions profile.

The BioCarbonGrow project will issue all Offtakes subsequent Green Bonds using Aetlas Protocol.

💰 Use of Gitcoin Grant Funds

Our digital offtakes are open source and free-to-use.

All money raised will be used to fund development of our open-sourced smart contracts for digital offtakes, green bonds and CBOs.