IXO circulation

**Proposal:** The Community Pool is authorised to spend up to 15,000 IXO to purchase 400 tonnes of nature-based carbon credits from Regen Network, to offset the estimated carbon emissions of Impact Hub validator node operators for 12 months, for the network to become carbon-negative from August 2021 to the end of July 2022. - Voting YES to this proposal approves up to 15,000 IXO to be sent from the Community Pool to **purchase and retire 400 NCT** carbon credits to offset 10 times the highest estimated carbon emissions of the network for the 12-month period **August 2021 to July 2022.** - Voting NO to this proposal indicates that funding should NOT be allocated from the Community Pool to purchase and retire 400 NCT carbon credits for offsetting carbon emissions of the Impact Hub network for the 12-month period August 2021 to July 2022. **Method:** - The Impact Hub Community Pool will spend 15,000 IXO tokens on purchasing 400 NCT on the Osmosis DEX from the NCT:REGEN Pool, using a programmatic SEND transaction to account address ixo1t8nwpjnu72wwxgw8u0s7ut9qt6dqhp6t04vsdr. - The Controller of the receiving account address ixo1t8nwpjnu72wwxgw8u0s7ut9qt6dqhp6t04vsdr will serve as a trusted Agent of the Impact Hub and this account address can be verified in a public post that has been published from the @ixoworld Twitter account. - The Agent will redeem an equivalent number of EcoCredits for the basket NCT tokens purchased using the Regen Network interface. - The Agent will retire the equivalent number of EcoCredits on the Regen Ledger using the Regen Network interface, to offset The Impact Hub's carbon emissions. - The Agent will send back to the Impact Hub Community Pool any balance of IXO remaining after the transaction has been settled. - Records of the transactions performed by the Agent on behalf of the Impact Hub will be publicly published on the @ixoworld Twitter account, with transaction hashes as evidence. ### **Background:** **The Impact Hub launched with a commitment by validators to operate a carbon-neutral blockchain network for the Internet of Impact.** Blockchain networks have environmental impacts due to the energy consumed to operate validator node infrastructure. Cosmos Proof-of-Stake networks consume only a fraction of the energy that is required for Proof-of-Work networks, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, the carbon footprint of operating Validator services, such as the emissions from business flights and office infrastructure, must also be factored into the total environmental costs of maintaining blockchain networks. Carbon offsets are a generally accepted mechanism for neutralising unavoidable carbon emissions, as these incentivise emission reductions and contribute towards carbon capture activities, such as protecting natural forests. Whilst carbon offsets are a necessary mechanism to address unavoidable carbon emissions in the near-term, all Validator service providers should plan to transition their power consumption to renewable energy sources, as soon as possible. Validator Node operators may accrue economic benefits from being verifiably carbon-neutral, as this is likely to influence staking allocations. Consumers may also preferentially choose products and services that are built on carbon-neutral networks. **The Interchain Foundation Earth Program is leading the [ZERO Carbon Commitment](https://earthstate.ixo.world/zero/)** for all blockchains in the Cøsmos ecosystem to become provably net-zero (or negative) in their carbon emissions, as soon as possible. CosmosSDK based networks are encouraged to make a ZERO Carbon Commitment through on-chain governance, to offset historical as well as future carbon emissions of operating the network... **Continue reading on Github:** [https://github.com/ig-shaun/governance/blob/ce58a879689e540657a02b6fad267a76dd521098/proposals/011-zero-carbon-commitment.md](https://github.com/ig-shaun/governance/blob/ce58a879689e540657a02b6fad267a76dd521098/proposals/011-zero-carbon-commitment.md)