Sustainable Blockchain Summit Boston Hackathon

Are you seeking to solve some of the most pressing climate issues, but don’t know where to start? Or are you a web3 builder interested in learning more about decarbonization and environmental sustainability? Come join the SBS Virtual Hackathon, as you:

  • Learn more about the intersection of sustainability & Web3
  • Participate in match making sessions to build a team with complementary skill sets ranging from environmental science and climate finance to user design and coding - all are welcome!
  • Design and produce high-quality, substantive prototypes
  • Hack using advanced tools and datasets like Hyphen, CO2.storage, The Filecoin Virtual Machine, The Guardian by Hedera, and Celo with support from the teams that built them.

Anyone can participate: Coding experience welcome, but not required!

Two-stage hackathon:

  • Ideation Phase (Feb 20 - March 5)
    Bring your ideas, your coding skills, your knowledge of sustainability, or simply your passion to develop new solutions and form a team!

  • Prototype Phase (March 6 - April 2)
    Build out solutions tackling real world sustainability challenges

  • Hackathon Finale (April 13)
    Participants are invited to SBS-Boston, where finalists will show off their projects! The finale will be a hybrid event, so you aren’t required to travel to Boston to participate and win.

Ideation Stage Workshops:

Prototype Stage Workshops: 

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$43,500 in prizes
Cryptocurrency logo Prizes paid in cryptocurrency

1st Place Winner
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Best use of Filecoin and/or CO2.Storage for your environmental project.

Equivalent of $8,000 in FIL

2nd place Winner
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Best use of Filecoin and/or CO2.Storage for your environmental project.

Equivalent of $4,000 in FIL

3rd place Winner
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Best use of Filecoin and/or CO2.Storage for your environmental project.

Equivalent of $2,000 in FIL

Bonus: Interoperability in ecological assets
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Ex. Uploading Verra / GS / EcoRegistry project data onto CO2.Storage via Bacalhau wrapper & perform transformations to specific data model.

Equivalent of $1,000 in FIL

Bonus: Public verifiability in sustainability
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Ex. Write code allowing users to inspect satellite data pulled from a carbon offset GIS file, using data stored on co2.storage.

Equivalent of $1,000 in FIL

Bonus: Tracking deforestation
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Ex. Superimpose the GIS outline on the satellite images, and allow a user to inspect the area over time.

Equivalent of $1,000 in FIL

Bonus: Open Data for Sustainability
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Ex. Find a large, useful open dataset relevant to sustainability, upload to CO2.storage, auction the dataset on bigdataexchange.io (you keep the proceeds!), and run a computation the data with Bacalhau.

Equivalent of $1,000 in FIL

The HBar Foundation Bounty
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$10,000 USD in HBAR for the best new Guardian open source Methodology on Hedera.

The bounty will be paid out in HBAR, so be sure to create a valid HBAR address to include with your bounty submission.

This project must be linked to a project that will deploy the policy and be accompanied by documentation, a whitepaper, and a video showing the alignment with the HBAR Foundation Sustainable Impact Fund 5 Goals
Must use web3 or CO2.storage in guardian architecture (built in)

Challenge Description
We're looking for the best implementation of a Guardian based digital MRV methodology. This can include:
Tokenizing environmental/sustainability assets such as emissions, offsets, or RECs following existing methodologies from environmental projects or leveraging scientific whitepapers to build new methodologies.

The Guardian, which leverages IPFS (Filecoin Green’s Web3.Storage) to store verifiable credentials and methodologies (when digitized we call the Guardian community calls this a policy). The goal of the policy is to create auditable, traceable, and reproducible records that document the creation process and lifecycle of carbon credits.

The participants can watch "methodology breakdown" videos to learn how to navigate through the website and breakdown the methodology they selected.

The HBar Foundation Bounty
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$5k USD in HBAR for second place new Guardian open source Methodology on Hedera.

The bounty will be paid out in HBAR, so be sure to create a valid HBAR address to include with your bounty submission.

This project must be linked to a project that will deploy the policy and be accompanied by documentation, a whitepaper, and a video showing the alignment with the HBAR Foundation Sustainable Impact Fund 5 Goals
Must use web3 or CO2.storage in guardian architecture (built in)

Challenge Description
We're looking for the best implementation of a Guardian based digital MRV methodology. This can include:
Tokenizing environmental/sustainability assets such as emissions, offsets, or RECs following existing methodologies from environmental projects or leveraging scientific whitepapers to build new methodologies.

The Guardian, which leverages IPFS (Filecoin Green’s Web3.Storage) to store verifiable credentials and methodologies (when digitized we call the Guardian community calls this a policy). The goal of the policy is to create auditable, traceable, and reproducible records that document the creation process and lifecycle of carbon credits.

The participants can watch "methodology breakdown" videos to learn how to navigate through the website and breakdown the methodology they selected.

The HBar Foundation Bounty
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$2.5k prize for Guardian ecosystem tooling.

The bounty will be paid out in HBAR, so be sure to create a valid HBAR address to include with your bounty submission.

This project must be linked to a project that will deploy the policy and be accompanied by documentation, a whitepaper, and a video showing the alignment with the HBAR Foundation Sustainable Impact Fund 5 Goals
Must use web3 or CO2.storage in guardian architecture (built in)

Challenge Description
We're looking for the best implementation of a Guardian based digital MRV methodology. This can include:
Tokenizing environmental/sustainability assets such as emissions, offsets, or RECs following existing methodologies from environmental projects or leveraging scientific whitepapers to build new methodologies.

The Guardian, which leverages IPFS (Filecoin Green’s Web3.Storage) to store verifiable credentials and methodologies (when digitized we call the Guardian community calls this a policy). The goal of the policy is to create auditable, traceable, and reproducible records that document the creation process and lifecycle of carbon credits.

The participants can watch "methodology breakdown" videos to learn how to navigate through the website and breakdown the methodology they selected.

Climate Collective Bounty
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Technical Objective: Using data from a specific ICOS & NOAA station on Hyphen, how can we empirically demonstrate that a nearby carbon offset project, such as a forestry program, results in a measurable reduction in greenhouse gasses?

Real World Context: Project Developer A has been implementing forestry programs across hectares of forests in various regions across Europe, such as Grandas de Salime in Spain, since 2003. Based on methodologies, models, and formulas established in 2002, Forestry Project B was projected to sequester between X and Y tonnes of CO2 per year, and accordingly was issued carbon credits by Registry C dated from 2008 onwards.

More recently in 2023, questions have arisen in the mainstream media around the effectiveness of credits generated from such forestry projects. As a result, Project Developer A wants to use empirical methods to demonstrate that their forest carbon projects have measurably reduced atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gasses (GHGs).
Hyphen has indexed data from GHG observation stations operated by ICOS & NOAA that are located near forests that have been credited with carbon reductions. How will you harness this data and infrastructure to demonstrate the carbon impact of the project(s)? Given that the Forestry Project B has been active for several years, what trends can you detect in atmospheric CO2 or other data from these GHG observation stations?
What challenges do you anticipate when attributing a localized reduction in CO2 to a specific carbon offset project? What other factors must be taken into account when making such an assertion (eg. wind patterns, increased pollution from surrounding areas, isolated events that distort readings, etc.)?
Does your investigation strengthen or weaken claims from Project Developer A about GHG reduction attributed to the forestry project? How could your approach and/or findings help Registry C update its methodology and associated formulas that estimate the tonnes of CO2 credited to Forestry Project B?

Equivalent of 5000 cUSD.

Climate Collective Bounty
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Technical Objective: Using decentralized computation tools, how can we cross-reference and reconcile data provided by corporate disclosures and ICOS to determine if companies are over- or underreporting emissions?

Real World Context: Company X is a global fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company that claims to be a leader in the net zero transition. They have reported their scope 1 emissions in corporate disclosure statements for the past Y years and have released a net zero plan. Last week, an article was published by an internal whistleblower from Company X accusing the company of greenwashing. According to the article, executives within Company X have been underreporting emissions for at least the past five years.

You are working for an international verification agency whose mandate is to ensure corporate accountability for net zero disclosures. In light of this recent article, you have been assigned to investigate Company X and advise the agency on whether the claims of greenwashing have any standing.
Which data sets and decentralized computational tools would you use to verify Company X’s reported emissions with quantifiable measurements? How could tools such as Filecoin Virtual Machine or TrueBit support such on-chain verifiable computation?
Put these tools to use. Is Company X faithfully reporting their emissions? Or are they under- or over-reporting?
Company Z operates a manufacturing plant P kilometers away from Company X’s manufacturing premises. How do the emissions levels of the two companies compare?
What conclusions do you draw from your investigation? What course of action do you advise the agency to take?

Equivalent of 1500 cUSD.

Climate Collective Bounty
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Technical Objective: Using web3 geospatial tooling, such as the GeoNFT from Astral Protocol, how can we develop geospatially-aware financial instruments that both incentivize reduction of GHGs and empower local stakeholders?

Real World Context: The mayor of Municipality X was recently elected on a platform championing progressive climate policies. Her primary campaign promise was to cut the carbon emissions of Municipality X in half by the end of her four-year term. She narrowly defeated the incumbent candidate, and is now facing public pressure over rising inflation and economic concerns, which her detractors argue takes precedence over environmental concerns. The mayor only has one attempt to score a major policy win, and to bridge the growing divide in public opinion she must demonstrate that Municipality X can invest in decarbonization while improving the economic wellbeing of its populace.

The mayor has asked you, her Economic Policy team, to draw up plans for a new financial instrument that will realign Municipality X’s economic and environmental interests. To ensure that the mayor is serving the residents of Municipality X first and foremost, the mayor would like to find a way to constrain use of this financial instrument to Municipality X, such that the local community is the primary participant in, and beneficiary of, this instrument.
What financial vehicle do you propose to meet this objective (i.e. an index fund, pension fund, green bond, etc.)? Which financial institutions will you collaborate with to develop such a product (e.g. public, private, or both), and why?
Which measures of decarbonization will you recommend to determine the value of this financial vehicle (i.e. atmospheric concentration of GHGs, soil & water quality, biodiversity measures, etc.)? What will be the sources of this data? Are there any other measures of planetary health you recommend to align through this product?
How do you recommend implementing such a financial instrument using geographical demurrage, geofencing, or other geospatial mechanisms that ensure the local community of Municipality X is the primary stakeholder? How could the GeoNFT from Astral Protocol be extended to implement this geospatially-aware instrument?
How will the population of Municipality X interact with this financial product? Can they directly invest in a permissionless product, or will they need to work through a regulated broker or platform?

Equivalent of 1500 cUSD.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Marc Johnson

Marc Johnson
Environmental Solutions Architect, Filecoin Green

Momcilo Dzunic

Momcilo Dzunic
Sr. Software Developer, Filecoin Green

Nirvaan Ranganathan
Technology Lead, Climate Collective

Jenks Guo
Developer Advocate, Filecoin Foundation

Wes Geisenberger

Wes Geisenberger
VP, Sustainability & ESG, The HBar Fund

Judging Criteria

  • Novelty/Creativity
    Does it have unique and novel features or combine features of other products or services in a unique and novel way? Does it solve a new problem? Is it creative and puts a smile on people’s faces?
  • Potential Impact
    Does it fill a gap in the universe, and have the potential to be used frequently by a large, growing and diverse audience or market?
  • Technical Accomplishment
    Is the code elegant, clean, and technically interesting? Is the project complete?
  •  Filecoin & IPFS Implementation
    Does the project interact with IPFS/Filecoin under-the-hood? Does it use NFT.storage or other storage helpers? Does it deploy a solidity smart contract to Filecoin Virtual Machine to compute over the stored data?
  • Design
    How is the UX/UI/DX? Is it easy to use? If targeting developers, is the experience smooth and intuitive? Does the visual design delight you?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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