About CLI

What is the Climate Ledger Initiative (CLI)?

The CLI is an international, multi-stakeholder initiative at the intersection of climate change and the use of digital innovations. The focus of the CLI is to accelerate climate action in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using innovative digital solutions such as blockchain and distributed ledger technology, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the use of sensors or remote sensing. The CLI is jointly governed by INFRAS and the Gold Standard Foundation and supported by governments, major international organisations, companies and foundations.

The CLI brings together representatives of developing and developed countries, international institutions, climate change practitioners and digital experts and entrepreneurs. This CLI platform facilitates the exchange of experience and joint learning from use cases on how to use digital innovation for climate action and how to deploy it. Based on this, the CLI creates knowledge products, such as the annual “CLI Navigating Blockchain and Climate Action” report and other theme-specific reports, and makes them publicly available through a cooperative multi-stakeholder dialogue.

Background of CLI

The Climate Ledger Initiative (formerly “CarbonBC”) started out of a research project of the Zurich-based Cleantech21 (C21) foundation at the international climate negotiations in November 2016 in Marrakesh (COP 22). Starting in December 2016, C21 performed a series of interviews and workshops co-funded by the LIFE Climate Foundation Liechtenstein. Early 2017, INFRAS joined as lead consultant. In June 2017, the Gold Standard Foundation joined the CLI Programme Management Group. During the workshops and team meetings, 5 use cases were selected and financed by Climate-KIC, the EU’s largest public private partnership addressing climate change through innovation.

Since Mid-2017, CLI was supported also by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) which allowed the broadening of activities and in 2018 led to the launch of the flagship CLI Navigating Blockchain and Climate Action report. Climate-KIC supported a first round of use cases and fostered the work on developing approaches to digitizing MRV in 2019. For the period 2019 – 2023 CLI is financed by SDC allowing to develop concrete use cases, capture learnings in knowledge products and provide an international platform for policy makers, technology developers and stakeholders to work at the intersection between digital innovations and climate action.