Environmental Credit Service (preview) overview
Important
Some or all of this functionality is available as part of a preview release. The content and the functionality are subject to change. You can access the Environmental Credit Service (preview) sandbox environment for a 30-day trial. To use Environmental Credit Service (preview) in a production environment, complete the Environmental Credit Service (preview) sign up form.
Environmental Credit Service (preview) in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability brings efficiency, trust, and transparency to voluntary ecological markets. It tokenizes and manages the lifecycle of all the assets, including projects, claims, and carbon credits that are involved in the voluntary ecological market ecosystem across participants, such as suppliers, issuing registries, validation and verification bodies, marketplaces, custodians (financial intermediaries), and buyers. Environmental Credit Service (preview) connects the wide spectrum of participants in the voluntary ecological market ecosystem.
The articles in this section help you with the following tasks:
| Article | Task |
|---|---|
| Market roles supported | Learn how to use Environmental Credit Service (preview) to perform actions supported for various roles of the voluntary ecological markets ecosystem. You can either simulate all the roles to perform end-to-end flow or collaborate with other participants and perform specific roles only. |
| Register projects | Register modular benefit projects on the issuing registry. |
| Process claims | Create, submit, and verify claims. |
| Issue credits | Issue credits for verified claims. |
| View credits | Search and view credits. |
| List credits | List credits on a marketplace for trade. |
| Manage credits | Delist, transfer, or split credits. |
| Retire credits | Offset emissions and retire credits. |
| Manage files | Attach, view, and delete files for assets like project, claims, and credits. |
| Glossary | Obtain knowledge about the standards and terminology of InterWork Alliance (IWA) for voluntary ecological markets. |
To learn how to configure Environmental Credit Service (preview) and use the API, go to the following articles:
- Environmental Credit Service (preview) prerequisite
- Set up the Postman collection
- Environmental Credit Service (preview) configuration
- Role-based access control
- Environmental Credit Service (preview) API reference
Onboarding
Environmental Credit Service (preview) is in limited public preview and is being validated by a selected set of voluntary ecological market participants. To learn more about Environmental Credit Service (preview), email your details and your organizations details to the Environmental Credit Service team at ecs-pg@microsoft.com or express your interest in participating in the preview by completing the Environmental Credit Service (preview) sign up form.
As a prerequisite for onboarding, you need to have a Microsoft Entra ID tenant set up, and you'll need to share the tenant during the onboarding process. After you're onboarded, you will receive a confirmation email and details about the offering and related links for your reference.
Note
If you want to act on behalf of another organization by using the omnibus capabilities in Environmental Credit Service (preview), let the Environmental Credit Service team know while you're sharing your onboarding details with them. For more information about acting on behalf of another organization, go to Act as an omnibus in Environmental Credit Service (preview).
For more information about getting a Microsoft Entra ID tenant, go to Environmental Credit Service (preview) prerequisite.
Support forum
You can reach out to us over email at ecs-pg@microsoft.com for any issues or clarification during preview.
Introduction
To limit global warming to 1.5°C, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends cutting global annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and reducing to net zero by 2050.
Increasingly, organizations are making commitments to achieve their own net-zero targets. To achieve these targets, they're reducing emissions and offsetting emissions by purchasing carbon credits from voluntary ecological markets when they can't reduce emissions.
Currently, the market has certain challenges. Interwork Alliance (IWA) has come up with a set of standards and frameworks for addressing these challenges. For an overview of the voluntary ecological market, challenges faced by ecosystem participants, and the IWA standards for voluntary ecological markets, go to InterWork Alliance Overview.
Environmental Credit Service (preview) helps voluntary ecological market ecosystem participants to manage the entire lifecycle of project, claims, and credits as token or digital assets in conformance with IWA standards. In Environmental Credit Service (preview), assets like project, claims, and credits are implemented as tokens. The token attributes and behavior follow the Token Taxonomy Framework (TTF) - May 2020. Currently in the market, some credits don’t conform to the TTF framework. Environmental Credit Service (preview) proposes that customers should move towards TTF, but it also supports these credits.
For more information about the voluntary carbon ecosystem and terms, go to Voluntary Ecological Markets Overview.
Location of customer data
Previews typically store customer data in the United States but may store it globally.
See also
Configure Environmental Credit Service (preview) Environmental Credit Service (preview) glossary API reference overview for Environmental Credit Service (preview)