Finternet Labs and E-liability Institute Announce Collaboration on GHG Accounting
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 28 April 2025
The Finternet, a pioneering non-profit initiative with a vision of developing user-centric, universal and unified technology, announced a strategic collaboration with the E-liability Institute, who have written a pioneering proto-standard for product-level greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting. This collaboration aims to pilot a groundbreaking implementation of the E-liability proto-standard using distributed ledger technology (DLT), smart contracts and AI.
The E-liability methodology, developed by Professor Karthik Ramanna and Professor Robert Kaplan, represents a transformative approach to tracking “cradle-to-gate” GHG emissions across value chains, treating emissions like financial liabilities recorded in environmental ledgers. Unlike traditional methods, the E-liability standard precisely measures and allocates emissions at the product-level in real-time, ensuring accuracy, accountability, and transparency from raw material extraction to final consumer delivery.
Finternet Labs brings to this partnership decades of collective experience in developing technology and digital public infrastructure for the public good, leveraging emerging technologies like ledger architecture, artificial intelligence, and blockchain-based solutions to enhance transparency, interoperability, and verifiability of data across complex supply chains. A creation of Nandan Nilekani, Dr. Pramod Varma and Siddharth Shetty, who have spearheaded the creation of “India Stack”, the mission aims to bring interoperability into technology through strong principles like a user-centric approach to data and finance.
The joint initiative will launch its first pilot in the United States, focusing initially on complex industrial supply chains. This pilot is designed to rigorously test the feasibility and robustness of allocating, tracking and verifying GHG emissions through blockchain-based emission tokens and verifiable credentials. Using Finternet’s proposed ledger tools like the Unified Interledger Protocol (UILP), emissions data could be seamlessly exchanged between diverse entities, ensuring compatibility and regulatory compliance across jurisdictions. By integrating verifiable credentials and tokenization mechanisms into carbon accounting, Finternet Labs aims to operationalize E-liability accounting in a secure, scalable, transparent manner, via low-cost public infrastructure.
Professor Karthik Ramanna, co-founder of the E-liability Institute, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration: “Our partnership with Finternet Labs represents a crucial step forward in scaling practical and credible emissions accounting. By co-creating technology-based tools which are interoperable across supply chains, we can significantly enhance transparency and trust, driving companies towards verifiable carbon neutrality commitments.”
Pramod Varma, co-creator of Finternet Labs, stated: “Integrating our user centric, universal and unified approach to technology to solve for global problems like greenhouse gas emissions will exemplify how strong first principles combined with cutting-edge technology can solve real-world problems and support global sustainability goals.”
The outcomes of this pilot are anticipated to set a new benchmark for digital carbon ccounting, informing policy-making and corporate sustainability strategies worldwide. Additionally, the pilot is strategically aligned with emerging regulatory standards such as the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and evolving legislation in the United States on pollution-based tariffs.
Finternet Labs and the E-liability Institute will share ongoing updates and findings from this collaboration, fostering transparency and driving engagement from industry, academia, and policymakers alike.
For more information, please visit finternetlab.io and e-liability.institute.