Act as an omnibus in Environmental Credit Service (preview)

Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability Technical Summit May 2024

An organization can act on behalf of, or represent, another organization as an omnibus in Environmental Credit Service (preview). Currently, this capability is enabled for marketplaces that act on behalf of their buyers as buyers in Environmental Credit Service (preview). Marketplaces double as buyers in this scenario.

Marketplaces that have a buyer market role can perform operations like post-purchase settlement, retirement, and credit splitting on behalf of their end buyers. They can update the end-use buyer details for the credit on Environmental Credit Service (preview), which provides traceability for the end buyers in the credit lineage.

These capabilities are currently only available via APIs.

Enable omnibus capabilities for an organization

If you want to enable omnibus capabilities, let the Environmental Credit Service team know while you're sharing your onboarding details. For more information about onboarding, go to Onboarding.

As a marketplace organization with omnibus capabilities, you'll have both the marketplace and buyer market roles. You'll use the buyer market role for performing omnibus capabilities on behalf of a buyer organization.

For more information about market roles, go to Market roles in Environmental Credit Service (preview).

The omnibus capabilities in the trial instance of Environmental Credit Service (preview) can be enabled by an organization with a buyer role on its own and by using the following API:

PATCH/organizations/{organizationId}

Set the isOmnibusOrganization flag to true in the API request.

Note

The isOmnibusOrganization flag can only be enabled by a user who has organization-level admin permissions and a buyer market role.

Operations available for omnibus organizations

Post-purchase settlement

Omnibus organizations can perform post-purchase settlements, or ownership transfers. After a buyer buys a credit on a marketplace that's acting on behalf of the buyer, the marketplace can transfer ownership of the credit to themselves, because they're doubling as buyers on Environmental Credit Service (preview). The marketplace transfers ownership by using the buyer market role with the following API:

POST tokens/{{token_id}}/transfer

The marketplace, using the buyer market role, can update the details of the actual buyer that has purchased the credit on the marketplace with the following API:

POST tokens/{{token_id}}/endusebuyertransfer

You can specify the following optional details for the end-use buyer:

  • Id: Specify the end buyer’s ID on your platform.
  • Details: Specify other details, such as the name or description of the end use buyer.

Split a credit on behalf of an end-use buyer

A marketplace acting on behalf of their end buyers as a buyer in Environmental Credit Service (preview) can split the credit on behalf of the buyer and can also specify the end-use buyer details while splitting the credit.

The marketplace, using the buyer market role, can split the credit with the following API. For more information about splitting credits, go to Split a credit.

POST /tokens/{{token_id}}/split

In the same split API, you can also specify the use buyer details for a credit while splitting.

Note

The child credits created in this transaction will automatically inherit the end-use buyer details of the parent credit.

Along with the quantity for each child credit, you can specify the following optional end-use buyer details for the credit that's being split:

  • Id: Specify the end buyer’s ID on your platform.
  • Details: Specify other details, such as the name or description of the end use buyer.

Retire a credit on behalf of an end-use buyer

A marketplace acting on behalf of end buyers using a buyer role can retire a credit on behalf of the end-use buyer and can also specify the end-use buyer details in the retirement request. In this case, the marketplace would submit a CreditRetire proposal. The marketplace can specify the end-use buyer details for a credit will submitting a retirement proposal.

Note

The end-use buyer details will only be updated if the retirement proposal is approved by the registry.

POST /proposals

You can specify the following optional details while submitting the CreditRetire proposal in the endUseBuyer section of the API:

  • Details: Provide other details, such as the name or description of the end use buyer.
  • ExternalId: Specify the end use buyer’s identity on the buyer organization.

After the end-use buyer details have been updated for a credit, a user of an organization with read access on the credit can view the end-use buyer details as part of the credit details and as part of the credit lineage. For more information about credit lineage, go to View credit lineage.

See also

Environmental Credit Service (preview) overview
Environmental Credit Service (preview) API reference overview
Environmental Credit Service (preview) glossary