Impact Certification Concept: Greenpilling the Sustainable Development Goals
tl;dr -
We need to ensure the Impact Certificate aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDG) impact framework, so we can access large sources of capital (from commercial to philanthropic donations) and promote go-to-market
To start, we should establish a basic set of Impact Certification criteria that can be easily submitted (established through APIs, on-chain data, and / or a basic diligence questionnaire); ImpactDAOs meeting these criteria receive a DID, and their progress on creating impact can be displayed through a simple dashboard on a dApp
Units of impact (e.g., carbon credits) can be issued as NFTs and market demand for these can be generated among crypto and SDG investors (institutional and retail)
Impact Certification should be governed through flexible, neutral decision-making bodies; this could be done through ~17 sub-DAOs (based on number of SDGs), with voting power inversely correlated to an investor’s return expectations (philanthropic donations have lowest dilution and strongest voting power, followed by concessional, and profit / yield-maximizing)
Let’s work together for a month or so to build out all of these ideas, figure out what we should keep and throw out, and put together a fleshed-out concept that we can take forward
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Objective: the objective of this proposal is to outline the approach to develop an Impact Certification concept note. See Google Doc below for the unabridged version of this proposal:
Proposed Activities
Phase 1 of this study should focus on fleshing out the ‘Design Implications’ and starting to put up the scaffolding for a successful Impact Certification program. To do this, I propose the following analytical activities below:
1. Map the SDGs to currently available on-chain data
The objective of this activity is to determine the extent to which on-chain data (e.g., carbon credits) can be mapped to the SDG’s prescribed impact metrics. Since the majority of SDG impact metrics will not be a 1:1 match with on-chain data, this analysis will also explore other approaches to approximate impact. For example, we could explore the feasibility of using on-chain financial transaction data to determine increase in economic activity (and decline in poverty rates).
2. Propose 2-3 strawman governance frameworks / funding modalities for the Impact Certification
The objective of this activity is to explore how individual and collective incentives for ImpactDAOs, investors, contributors, and others can be positively shaped. A wide range of mechanisms, such as retroactive public funding, staking, and NFTs, will be considered and assembled into potential governance structures. This analysis will draw on existing literature regarding DAO governance and consider ‘best practices’ from successful comparator DAOs.
3. Generate a series of ‘minimum viable criteria’ options for the Impact Certification
The goal of this activity will be to generate a series of criteria that ImpactDAOs will have to meet in order to obtain the first level of impact certification. This analysis will take into consideration the trade-offs of including certain criteria, while ensuring that the initial burden for ImpactDAOs is minimal but meets the standards / intentions of the Impact Certification.
4. Create a high-level roadmap of what could come next
Ultimately, this rapid study will only be useful if it leads to action and concrete results. As such, I will outline what additional steps need to be taken during Phase 2 to flesh out key conclusions and validate assumptions. A critical part of this will be getting initial feedback from potential users (ImpactDAOs, crypto native investors, SDG investors, etc.).
Output: research, analysis, and recommendations can be summarized in a 20-30 slide
Timeline and Budget
This study will be conducted and finalized over the course of a month, with Robert performing the majority of the work during free evenings and weekends. The proposed budget is $2,800, with 50% of the payment due following submission of the first draft and the remaining 50% upon finalization of the report.
See consultant profile and other detailed information in Google Doc