Onsetting: Proactive and Inclusive Climate Action

Onsetting: A More Proactive and Inclusive Approach to Climate Action?

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and its impact is felt worldwide. While the prevailing approach to tackling this issue involves downsizing our lifestyles and reducing our environmental impact, this often feels like a sacrifice rather than a positive step forward.

A forward-thinking approach is necessary. We think it is crucial to take responsibility for our plastic and carbon footprint, but we go beyond that. We take positive steps to counteract climate change and increase our impact by supporting local communities and individuals to regenerate ecosystems. At Universal Plastic? (UP) we are raising the standard for credit management by focusing on onsetting, not just offsetting.

This article will explore the concept of onsetting, and how UP is leading the way in implementing this approach with positive social and environmental impact.

What is onsetting?

The goal of onset credits is advancement rather than just compensation. Onset credits aim to make a positive difference in the world by accelerating the transition to a circular economy, supporting grassroots action on sustainability, and thereby considering the natural and the social world while storing carbon.?

The narrow focus on carbon storage in carbon offsets often has serious negative consequences for biodiversity and human rights as it fails to recognise the complexity of climate change. This approach unfairly treats (developing) nations, local populations, and indigenous peoples, ignoring their significant role in sustaining the ecosystem.

Onsetting carbon involves measuring, reducing, and pricing carbon emissions using the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) rather than market forces (speculation). SCC represents the estimated economic damage caused by each ton of carbon emitted, including social and environmental impacts. By purchasing carbon onsets, local communities and individuals are directly compensated for their efforts to regenerate nature.?

In this way, onsets focus on doing more good rather than doing less bad.

The Importance of onsetting carbon

The concept of carbon onsetting is crucial in addressing anthropologic emissions by promoting proactive grassroots actions on sustainability to positively impact the world.?

Unlike offsetting carbon, which aims to address the damage caused by our CO2 emissions, onsetting goes beyond just compensating or neutralising one's carbon footprint. It is an investment in a sustainable future that involves supporting communities or individuals in regenerating the environment and improving its functioning to deliver important ecosystem services, such as carbon storage. This approach aims to support the development of sustainable projects that benefit both the environment and the people who inhabit it.

Moreover, carbon offsetting tends to distance companies and individuals from the carbon-compensating projects they support. Many times, there is a lack of transparency and accountability, leading to a disconnect between those who restore ecosystems and those who buy the carbon credits, exactly what we find so important! As a result, carbon offsetting may fail to adequately recognise or address the importance of carbon removal.

In contrast, onsetting carbon emphasises the importance of local action, which has a significant impact on the environment and the people involved. It fosters collaboration between companies and local communities, creating a sense of shared responsibility for mitigating climate change.

Universal Plastic: Onsetting Carbon with Positive Social and Environmental Impact

UP is a project that exemplifies the onsetting carbon approach. It is a scientifically supported Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain-Based initiative that aims to regenerate oceanic ecosystems by combatting plastic pollution and its negative social impact. At UP, we implement a holistic approach and understand that plastic pollution not only has an environmental impact but also has social implications that affect (marginalised) communities worldwide.

The SCC in our carbon onsetting approach is not arbitrary or based on assumptions. It is a scientifically supported calculation that has been developed over the last two years through rigorous research in collaboration with the Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies (BCSS) (BCSS). The SCC reflects the ecological, economic, and social damages caused by plastic and its carbon emissions.?

The research shows the importance of restoring the oceanic ecosystem by removing plastic. When restoring, it is for example important to recognise the crucial role marine animals play in providing ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration. Marine animals like whales, dolphins, and sea turtles can help to sequester carbon in the ocean through a process called the biological pump. This pump works by transporting carbon from the surface of the ocean to deeper waters, where it can be stored for long periods of time. Marine animals consume phytoplankton at the surface and then excrete waste at deeper depths, where the carbon can be sequestered.

With the help of (the still growing and expanding) scientific research at BCSS, we measured the positive impact of removing 1 kg of plastic waste on the ecosystem services provided by the ocean's flora and fauna. This enables us to track and report on the effectiveness of the carbon onsetting efforts.

The regeneration of nature is a complex process and therefore needs the involvement and participation of local communities and individuals. These people often have a deep understanding of their environment and ecosystem, and their knowledge and practices can be crucial in the restoration process as also highlighted by IMPAC5 and WWF . Excluding them from the process leads to a failure to create a healthy and functioning system that can be sustained over generations.?

Therefore, we think it is crucial that local communities and individuals have agency in the regeneration processes. Their active participation can ensure the success of the project and the creation of a thriving ecosystem. By neglecting their role, we risk not only failing to achieve our goals but also perpetuating the problem.

By leveraging AI and blockchain technology, we ensure 100% transparency in the onset process, enabling local communities and individuals to be compensated for their participation in plastic collection efforts with the help of the carbon market. These technologies also facilitate communication and connection between those collecting plastic and those supporting them, providing a unique opportunity to engage with and support these communities.

At UP we not only aim to enforce the positive effects of plastic removal on the environment but also include the social impact by generating income opportunities for those who are willing to participate in plastic waste management. Moreover, in many communities, women are for example often the primary caretakers of the environment and are more likely to be impacted by plastic pollution. Their role in plastic clean-ups is however not always recognised or compensated fairly. In some cases, women may be excluded from decision-making processes or paid less than their male counterparts for the same work. At UP we address these issues of social inequality because we think it is essential to create effective and equitable solutions to plastic pollution.?

UP ensures that every individual is compensated fairly based on their contributions to the restoration of their marine ecosystem. This is achieved using quantifying algorithms that monitor different variables, such as the duration of plastic collections, location and quantity of plastic waste collected by users from marine ecosystems. By correlating this data with energy costs and a fair pay rate linked to the user's country, we can calculate the social cost of carbon and ensure that each person is rightly compensated for their efforts.

This approach not only benefits local communities, such as in Mozambique where groups collect and clean up plastic waste from their marine ecosystem but also the global community. Individuals from all over the world who want to contribute to combating the plastic problem can be supported through our initiative.

In this way, we not only combat plastic pollution and regenerate the ecosystem but also ensure a system that supports fair and equal livelihoods for all individuals involved in the effort.?

Our proposal

Onsetting plastic and carbon is a proactive and meaningful approach that focuses on creating a sustainable future. UP enables companies and individuals to take responsibility for their plastic and carbon footprint and act upon it by supporting local communities, individuals, and the environment they live in by restoring nature's ecosystem services.

UP guarantees complete transparency and accountability in the carbon onsetting process by implementing AI and blockchain technology. These technologies not only ensure that the process is traceable but also offer the opportunity to engage with the communities or individuals who are actively working towards regenerating the environment by cleaning marine ecosystems from plastic.

So, instead of indulging in guilty feelings about our footprint, let's use onsetting to recognise and internalise the environmental costs of our actions and create a sustainable and resilient future for all.

References

• Earth Deeds : Onsetting. (n.d.). https://earthdeeds.org/onsetting.php
• Bravo, A. (2023). “The BioCrypto Theory” - A blockchained world under the natural Law - https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:linkedInArticle:7009150159003480064/
• Greenberg, D., & Fang, C. C. (2015). The myth of climate neutrality: carbon onsetting as an alternative to carbon offsetting. Sustainability: The Journal of Record, 8(2), 70-75.
• Williams, J. (2015, January 19). What is carbon onsetting? The Earthbound Report. https://earthbound.report/2015/01/20/what-is-carbon-onsetting/
• IMPAC5 and the need to prioritise Indigenous- and community-led marine protection. One Ocean Hub. https://oneoceanhub.org/reflecting-on-impac5-and-the-need-to-prioritise-indigenous-and-community-led-marine-protection/ - a reflection written by M. Strand & N. Rivers?
• WWF. (2023, January 13). “It’s time to roll up our sleeves” says WWF as global marine community. Retrieved April 13, 2023, from https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?7581941/Its-time-to-roll-up-our-sleeves-says-WWF-as-global-marine-community-meet-in-Vancouver-to-triple-ocean-protection-by-2030