This strategic partnership leverages the THA’s Hedera for Enterprise to automate the accountability and transparency needed to foster new industry standards whilst systematically tackling greenwashing via the introduction of an Environmental & Social Impact (ESI) Platform

Schwyz, Switzerland, July 9th, 2024 – The Hashgraph Association (THA), the organization at the forefront of digital enablement and accelerating the broad adoption of the Hedera network globally, has partnered with Deloitte on a joint initiative aimed at enhancing the verification of corporate ESG Impact and Sustainability claims. Working with the Deloitte NL Risk Advisory B.V. team in The Netherlands, the partnership is directed towards validating ESG Impact and ensuring a carbon-neutral future in a way that provides proof and addresses concerns of greenwashing. 

Central to this collaboration is the introduction of the Environmental & Social Impact (ESI) platform, a DLT (distributed ledger technology)-based solution designed by Deloitte and established on the Hedera DLT public ledger. The Hedera-powered ESI platform aims to transform corporations' net-zero and ESG Impact initiatives into credible, verifiable impact claims, leveraging blockchain’s transparency, security, and immutability to ensure data integrity and facilitate reliable sustainability claim verification. 

The ESI platform aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and meets various environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, enabling businesses to measure and capitalize Impact, and transparently demonstrate their commitment and investment in sustainability, while complying with regulatory requirements. This alignment underscores the platform's essential role in closing the credibility gap associated with corporate sustainability claims.A pivotal component in the ESI platform's verification process is the Hedera Guardian. 

This partnership with Deloitte follows the recent announcement by The Hashgraph Association to launch a $50 million Sustainability Venture Studio, which aims at empowering sustainable projects on Hedera Guardian as the balance sheet of the planet that enables fair carbon markets.

The Hedera Guardian enhances the partnership's capacity to substantiate sustainability claims, creating a trust layer for multi-party data and integrating digital measurement, reporting, and verification functions. Originally designed for the carbon markets, the Guardian supports tokenized quantitative outcomes for a transparent and immutable record of sustainability impacts.

The ESI platform ultimately enables the creation of measurable and independently verifiable assessments of sustainability or units of impact that can be capitalized, transferred, and reported. This represents a significant innovation and vector for trusted value creation in the sustainability space.

Kamal Youssefi, President of The Hashgraph Association, said, “This collaboration with Deloitte embodies our commitment to sustainability. With the Hedera Guardian's innovative tooling on the ESI platform, we're not just setting benchmarks but rewriting the rules of accountability on a global scale and bringing the balance sheet of the planet to the public ledger. In the face of mounting climate pressures, the integrity of environmental claims is crucial. Together with Deloitte, as one of the Big Four global accounting firms, The Hashgraph Association is spearheading a shift towards true accountability and transparency in corporate sustainability.”

Led by Deloitte NL in collaboration with the Ryan de Jongh Charity Foundation, the Mangrove Reforestation project in the Caribbean island Curaçao is the first use case involving the integration of the ESI platform with the Hedera Guardian to bring about traceability on the impact generated by the carbon offset project. This project utilizes a rigorous verification process, incorporating decentralized identity, satellite imagery, and advanced modeling, to monitor its impact accurately. The coming months will see additional corporations and organizations join the platform to further the positive ESG impact of this partnership across industries.  

Tommie van der Bosch, Partner Web3 at Deloitte said, “Our main objective is to revolutionize how corporate sustainability claims are verified and perceived. The ESI platform will empower and help businesses prove their environmental claims with substantial evidence. Together with The Hashgraph Association, Deloitte is confronting the pervasive issue of opaque reporting systems, promoting tangible change, and forging a path for genuine environmental progress and accountability.”