Please describe your proposed solution.
The vision of the proposals is to create a service for Cardano ADA holders to measure the impact of SPOs through the impact measurement tool. The overarching goal is to create this tool that measures a company's impact and extend the service to evaluate SPOs impact.
The tool will be a valuable asset to investors and allow greater transparency and trust for the companies building on Cardano. This enables a new level of trust ADA holders don't have today. This is a tool that would bring value to the Cardano community, and greater blockchain space.
Tracking the impact of SPOs in the Cardano ecosystem is something the community doesn't have access to. This can make it hard to follow impact when supporting a stake pool through delegation. Sustainable ADA, and Yoram from Cardano4Climate are taking the next steps to help community members track and trace the impact of the SPOs building on Cardano.
To create a strong impact measurement platform we plan to develop a model for Impact evaluation of companies and SPOs. We will do this following past research with the impact measurement tool, and are extending the research to focus on the impact of our Cardano community SPOs.
Impact measurements platform (inc. whitepaper)
Continue the development of the impact measurement tool from our funded proposal in fund 7 the ‘Impact Measurement Tool’ (<https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/383628>).
We created a white paper for this research: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFC7zRNrdg/em1s_yQDnNU6sPW6KJ8hnA/view?utm_content=DAFC7zRNrdg&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink
From our evaluation of impact reporting mechanisms, we found the following template to be most suitable. The main reason is that this framework will help to define clear, simple and measurable KPIs based on each project’s activities. We foresee its usage helping proposers and project managers clearly define their proposal’s/project’s impact from the outset, and take the necessary steps in measuring it.
Our team proposes to continue to develop an Impact Measurements Tool with the support of this research, and a fund 9 proposal. We aim to develop a tool/add capacity to the SDG Proposer Tool we have been building, that can be used by all as a free, open access tool, with a particular focus on usage by Proposal/Impact Mentors for instance. In effect the tool can be used to facilitate consultation services with a proposer/team as a service, and help clearly define and communicate impact in understandable terms to multi stakeholder audiences. The tool will be adjusted also for blockchain related projects taking into account for example new models such as DAOs and tokenization.
Impact measurement and verification for SPOs, and impact companies
We will take the first steps in providing a valuable service to investors by measuring the impact of 10 SPOs with a mission centered around the impact they are having on the outer world from Cardano.
- Get 10 SPOs to evaluate their impact
(Ex. CO2POOL, ECO Pool, SHIFT, GAIA Stake Pool…)
Creating an evaluation model to track Stake Pool Operators' impact and how they are helping make Cardano the Blockchain4Good. Showing both the pros, and cons on how they are impacting the environment, and if they are trying to offset their footprint or work toward social change.
With the support of the Cardano community, it will allow us to continue the development of the model found in the Impact Measurement Tool whitepaper. This will allow us to finalize the structure of the Impact measurement tool and start the next steps of the process where we plan to track and trace the impact of SPOs on Cardano and use the research to finalize a model and create the impact measurement tool.
We will conduct the research to find the correct ways to measure a SPOs impact from our past and new research we plan to conduct at the beginning of the project.
By evaluating these first 10 SPOs it will allow us to make changes to our solution and develop the tool aiming to capture the most impact of the organizations. This will allow us to provide an elegant solution before we publicly launch this tool to the community.
Our service will have an impact on the Cardano community and stake pool delegators already a part of or entering the Cardano ecosystem. For community members who want to make sure the pool they delegate to and support is working towards positive change and creating a good impact on their communities, and the planet.
Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.
The project brief states:
“How could the Cardano technology be leveraged to build new solutions for positive impact valuation and monetization?”
This is exactly what our proposal is focused on, helping bring a new level of trust through the impact verification and measurement of companies. While impact focused SPOs continue to roll out stake pools and new type of impact on Cardano the community will want to know which SPOs are actually measuring and working towards impact focused goals and who is greenwashing and not providing the solution they are promising.
From our new tool we will be able to provide a new level of trust for SPOs operating on the Cardano blockchain, giving delegators a new cheatsheet into who is making a true difference in the world.
- Actors capable of defining criteria (standard) on what an impact means in different context (education, carbon cycle, biodiversity, etc) and/or geography
With the impact measurement tool community members will be able to verify the impact of SPOs operating around Cardano.
- Services and methods to issue impact credentials in a decentralized way with a peer-to-peer and expert review process
The impact measurement tool allows for impact credentials to be transparent and for SPOs to go through an impact evaluation process to help start tracking and validate their impact.
- Certification bodies for analyzing and validating the data points provided by impact-oriented projects
The impact measurement tool will act as an open source certification body where we help validate the impact of these organizations and SPOs providing the Cardano community an invaluable service.
- Mechanisms to give a financial value to impact - reflections on tokenizing impact
The impact measurement tool will also allow the impact of SPOs to connect with the valuation of their community on Cardano helping show a connection between impact and financial value.
- On-chain tools for recording impact proofs and bringing more transparency and traceability
This tool will allow the Cardano and greater blockchain community to have full transparency of the impact of the orgs building on Cardano and have more trust when supporting their activities.
- On-chain marketplaces to connect impact-oriented projects with potential buyers (corporations, states organizations, funds) for their impact proofs
This connects to another proposal we are submitting in fund 9 ‘The Sustainable Goals Token - (link to ideascale)
Impact valuation will be shown by connecting this open source tool to the SGT platform:
We plan to create impact evaluations of the projects on Cardano and onboard this tool onto the SGT platform.
“Through our impact evaluation process we will be able to measure and validate the tangible contribution of a project from a social and/or environmental point of view. Our new solutions of measurement, and traceability will enable new forms of trust with impact projects. With our governance model we will enable organized governance through the blockchain helping our solution be locally adapted creating a new approach/standard of impact measurement in the Web 3 space.”
What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?
- Cardano community is not interested in the impact of SPOs
- SPOs are afraid to make their data transparent
- Investors into Cardano projects using a ISPO model don't care about the impact of their investments business operations
Cardano community and leadership, starting from Charles, is highly impact driven. The Cardano mission is to: Make the world work better for all.
Blockchain is a technology for impact - transparency, traceability, verification, and decentralization all lead to impact on people's lives.
By providing the impact measurement & verification tool evaluating SPOs impact, we could make decisions and drive more resources to impact driven SPOs to create more awareness of their activities and build a more sustainable and equitable world for all.