ecosapiens, a technical collective focused on creating environmentally friendly products for businesses and consumers, has unveiled a new business solution: custom digital collectibles that enable businesses to balance their carbon footprint. This new venture is being launched in partnership with the Celo Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports Celo’s carbon-negative, mobile-first, EVM-enabled blockchain ecosystem. Through this collaborative effort, Ecosapiens is unveiling a unique carbon neutral NFT, the “Celosapien”, designed to offset 100 percent of Celo’s annual carbon emissions.
Real world benefits
The Celosapien NFT serves as a practical tool to counter the carbon footprint of the Celo blockchain, drawing its credits from Celo’s carbon credit suppliers. In addition, Ecosapiens partners with its own pool of carbon lenders, providing an alternative source for future business partnerships.
“By combining carbon and NFTs, we get the real benefits of carbon, but combine it with the cultural capital and creative layers that NFTs bring. This leads to new use cases in both consumer and business segments.”
Nihar Neelakanti, CEO and co-founder of Ecosapiens
The design of the Celosapien NFT is intended to become increasingly complex as it offsets more carbon emissions over time. In an effort to democratize access, Ecosapiens is also generating a free, open edition NFT series of the Celosapien on the Celo network.
“By combining carbon and NFTs, we get the real benefits of carbon, but combine it with the cultural capital and creative layers that NFTs bring. This leads to new use cases in both consumer and business segments,” said Ecosapiens CEO and co-founder Nihar Neelakanti. “This partnership with the Celo Foundation is an important milestone for us as the first partner for our corporate carbon-supported NFTs, and we hope the leadership will inspire other companies to easily and elegantly offset their emissions.”
What’s next
This collaboration follows the launch of Ecosapiens’ Genesis collection in February, which offset more than 3,000 tons of carbon, the equivalent of planting approximately 120,000 trees.
In April, Ecosapiens announced a $3.5 million fundraiser primarily supported by consumer fund Web3 Collab+Currency. They also announced the addition of money to their advisory board. Other notable contributors to the funding round include Alex Witt, Ryan Carson, Brayton Williams of Boost VC, Slow Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Alumni Ventures Blockchain Fund.
While Celo is the first partner for Ecosapien’s carbon-backed NFTs, Neelakanti now tells NFT that other future partnerships are in the works. “This product will ultimately be a multi-chain product,” Neelakanti said. “There’s a lot more to come for our company product.” He says Ecosapiens will eventually expand into sales to hospitality and consumer retail groups.
Eventually, you’ll see Ecosapien carbon collectibles offered at the checkout counter that reward consumers for making eco-friendly purchases, such as plastic-free shoes, in hotel lobbies where guests can not only learn more about the brand’s sustainable practices, but actually make a open card to take home. edition of that same work of art,” said Neelankanti.
“The applications here are big — carbon has a real-world use case, and we’re just encouraging it through the digital collectible form factor.”