Trading green bonds using distributed ledger technology

Abstract: The promising markets for voluntary carbon credits are faced with crippling challenges to the certification of carbon sequestration and the lack of scalable market infrastructure in which companies and institutions can invest in carbon offsetting. This amounts to a funding problem for green transition projects, such as in the agricultural sector, since farmers need access to the liquidity needed to fund the transition to sustainable practices. We explore the feasibility of mitigating infrastructural challenges based on a DLT Trading and Settlement System for green bonds. The artefact employs a multi-sharded architecture in which the nodes retain carefully orchestrated responsibilities in the functioning of the network. We evaluate the artefact in a supranational context with an EU-based regulator as part of a regulatory sandbox program targeting the new EU DLT Pilot regime. By conducting design-driven research with stakeholders from industrial and governmental bodies, we contribute to the IS literature on the practical implications of DLT.