VeriClimate AI

Inspiration

The $2+ Billion voluntary carbon market faces a severe credibility crisis: widespread greenwashing, phantom credits, and pervasive double-counting—where the same carbon offset is simultaneously claimed by project developers, corporate buyers, and host countries. Furthermore, traditional Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) is slow, bureaucratic, and manual, frequently taking 6 to 12 months per audit cycle.

Inspired by the goals of UN COP31 and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, we set out to build VeriClimate AI to make carbon credit verification instant, scientifically auditable, and cryptographically tamper-proof.

What it does

VeriClimate AI is an end-to-end Decentralized Digital MRV (dMRV) and anti-double-counting protocol:

AI dMRV Studio: Ingests high-frequency sensor telemetry (solar inverters, EV fleet odometers, biogas digesters) and benchmarks actual energy generation against physical clear-sky models ( ACM0002 ACM0002) and regional GHG Protocol emission factors ( 0.716 kg CO 2 e/kWh 0.716 kg CO 2

e/kWh). Telemetry Tampering & Anomaly Detection: Applies moving 𝑍 Z-score statistical outlier filtering and physical logic (e.g., detecting impossible night-time phantom solar generation at 2:00 AM) to immediately flag manipulated meter logs and lock minting. Tamper-Evident EVM Blockchain Proof: Anchors raw telemetry as an immutable Keccak-256 fingerprint in our ClimateTraceRegistry.sol smart contract. If an actor attempts to resubmit previously used evidence, the contract reverts with DuplicateEvidence(). Permanent Offset Retirement Portal: When an entity claims an offset for ESG compliance, the tokens are permanently burned on-chain, generating an official, non-transferable Cryptographic Certificate of Retirement with single-use nonces and block timestamps. IEEE Climate Copilot: An interactive assistant explaining UNFCCC methodologies (ACM0002, AMS-III.C, ACM0010) and Article 6 accounting standards. How we built it Smart Contracts & Blockchain: Written in Solidity 0.8.24 and tested with Hardhat and Chai. Features evidence hash deduplication, role-based verifier authorization, carbon tokenization in kg CO 2 e kg CO 2

e, and irreversible retirement certificate generation. Web3 Layer: Built using Ethers.js with dual-mode support (injected MetaMask / Web3 wallets or an instant in-browser simulated EVM node with real cryptographic signatures and block mining). AI / dMRV Engine: Built client-side in TypeScript implementing physical clear-sky irradiance formulas, statistical moving 𝑍 Z-scores ( 𝑍

2.5 Z>2.5), and IPCC AR6 / GHG Protocol calculations. Frontend & Visualization: React 18, Vite, TypeScript, Recharts for high-resolution 24-hour sensor curves, and Lucide React icons. Deployment: Hosted live on Vercel with automated GitHub CI/CD integration. Challenges we ran into Balancing complex physical solar formulas (accounting for panel surface area, conversion efficiency, and temperature coefficients) with high-speed client-side performance. Designing the smart contract state machine to strictly enforce the dMRV lifecycle (Pending ➔ Audited ➔ Verified ➔ Retired) while ensuring complete backwards compatibility and minimal gas consumption. Crafting a seamless Web3 onboarding experience so hackathon judges can test real on-chain transactions without requiring testnet faucets or manual network setup. Accomplishments that we're proud of Zero API Key Requirement: The platform runs entirely self-contained without needing any external paid API keys or .env configuration. 100% Test Coverage: All smart contract Hardhat tests pass with flying colors (registration, duplicate rejection, permissions, and full dMRV lifecycle). Real Fraud Prevention in Action: A live interactive demo featuring both legitimate datasets and tampered datasets where night-time phantom generation is instantly flagged and blocked. What we learned How Article 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement define international carbon transfers and the mathematical requirements needed to prevent corresponding adjustment double-counting. How to combine physical clear-sky solar irradiance modeling with EVM event-driven architectures. What's next for VeriClimate AI Integrating direct IoT hardware oracles (e.g., Chainlink Functions connected to live Enphase and SMA solar inverter APIs). Deploying contracts to Polygon Amoy and Ethereum Sepolia testnets. Partnering with municipal renewable projects and corporate ESG auditors for pilot dMRV certification at UN COP31.