SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Hemp Blockchain, Inc., the company building advanced cloud-based solutions to accelerate the growth of the industrial hemp industry and increase the amount and quality of carbon offset credits available to companies seeking to balance their CO2 emissions, today announced that it held its first Summit in Aspen, CO to collaborate with partners and industry experts on “The Carbon Protocol Initiative.” The meeting was organized by The Hemp Blockchain with participants in the environmental, industrial hemp and information technology industries.
The Carbon Protocol Initiative is a collaborative effort to identify and create new standards and protocols for the accounting and transparency of net carbon offset credits for the Industrial Hemp industry. Industrial hemp is a rapidly growing industry driven by a separate crop from its biological relatives that produce THC-based cannabis products as it contains less than 0.3% THC by dry weight. Industrial hemp can be processed into over 50,000 uses, including fuels, plastics, graphene, solvents, building materials, foods, and medicines, and is also a powerful tool in the global effort to combat climate change because an acre of hemp can potentially sequester as much or more carbon as an acre of rainforest. As a result, it is a promising source of carbon offset credits that can be used by corporations to balance their carbon emissions CO2 in order to meet their CSR and ESG commitments. The Carbon Protocol will advance the industrial hemp industry’s efforts to capture all the most critical data points throughout the growing and processing lifecycle, resulting in a highly accurate and trusted carbon offset credit, with both sequestration and emissions recorded on The Hemp Blockchain.
“I can think of no more important vehicle to keep farmers farming and farmland farmable than the quantification and monetization of carbon credits and this blockchain technology is that vehicle,” said Iain Ward, certified NRCS Technical Service Provider/Conservation Planner and summit participant. “Farmers will change their growing practices if it makes common and economic sense to do so. This technology does both.”
“Climate and digitization should be a top investment in the years to come; The Hemp Blockchain and Carbon Protocol Initiative are contributions to the future of the planet. Creating a true carbon-neutral credit with blockchain will bring sharp verification and transparency to the market and making it as an economic incentive for hemp farmers is a great way to expedite the adoption of hemp into global industrial products, said Steve Prosniewski, an industry expert and summit participant. “It is a modern-capitalist approach to accelerating the decoupling from fossil fuels and lowering global emissions. The planet is changing at a fast clip, we need to keep up.”
“The Summit enabled us to make important strides toward answering a monumental question pertaining to the future of our planet – how can we support true and transparent carbon offset credits that minimize the risk for fraud through the use of blockchain technology,” said Dan Higbee, President and CEO of The Hemp Blockchain. “Now freed from restrictive federal regulation, industrial hemp is poised to become a major factor in renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, human health and many other areas, and the revenue from carbon offset credits provides a strong added incentive to grow industrial hemp. The Hemp Blockchain is building a critical piece of the digital infrastructure that will enable efficient and trusted transactions across the entire industry.”
About The Hemp Blockchain, Inc.
Hemp Blockchain, Inc. is building advanced cloud-based solutions to accelerate the growth of the industrial hemp industry. With planned availability in late 2021, The Hemp Blockchain platform and applications will “leapfrog” existing solutions in an agriculture sector with significant growth prospects that is strategically important for multiple reasons, including agricultural sustainability and carbon sequestration and the rapidly increasing need for carbon offset credits. For more information, please visit www.thehempblockchain.com.
