With Ethereum’s Merge finally upon us, we’ve been thinking about how this historic milestone will affect our sustainability efforts. Polygon’s initial commitment to become carbon neutral and eventually carbon negative was largely addressing emissions generated by our relationship with Ethereum. The Merge dramatically changes that equation.

Ethereum’s transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake consensus, known as The Merge, all but eliminates Polygon network’s emissions and makes it one of the most energy-efficient blockchains in existence. Mission accomplished! Right?

TL;DR Far from it. This is just the beginning.

[Read more: The Merge to Erase 60,000 Tonnes of Polygon’s Carbon Footprint]

Polygon’s commitments are about more than just zeroing our carbon footprint.  Even if the world were to achieve net-zero emissions right this moment, our current atmosphere would still contain almost double the concentration of CO2 compared to pre-industrial levels. That carbon debt does not go away and we need to act now to ensure a livable future for ourselves and the planet. 

And the work doesn't end there. We are facing other challenges, from plastic pollution to poverty to freshwater depletion and loss of biodiversity. All of these also need to be addressed collectively.

Out of Neutral, Shifting Into Gear

We believe that operating responsibly is just the starting line. We see blockchains and distributed ledger technology supporting and scaling lasting positive impact on the world, helping create a healthier, fairer, thriving planet.

Our role moving forward is to act as a base layer for collaboration between climate action leaders, conscious technologists, scientists and the Polygon community to innovate and develop new solutions to our most critical problems. We are leveraging our core products and services to accelerate action and protect tomorrow.

Today, we announce Going Beyond. The next phase of our Green Manifesto that aims to support and deliver these solutions. If you are already building on Polygon, we want to hear about it. If you just have an idea, we want to know about it. 

Going Beyond

We have informally outlined six categories of action:

• Waste
• Emissions
• Equity
• Supply
• Nature
• Education

We want to explore how blockchain and web3 can play a role in solving these crucial challenges. Can it support provability in carbon markets and better agricultural practices? What about more sustainable and efficient supply chains and fairer distribution of wealth? 

As part of our initial commitment, we set aside $20 million for sustainability projects. This is where you come in. Tell us about your idea or project that delivers a solution to these needs and get creative, you can target more than one. We’ve found that many problems are interconnected issues.

You can track our journey to becoming climate positive and tune into our blog for the latest updates from the ecosystem. 

Tune in to the Polygon Blog for the latest ecosystem updates, and let's bring the world to Ethereum!

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