Eco Currency

The research provided in this project is a first step into a possible introduction of an ECO-currency. It is clear that the proposition provided is merely a concretization of the research and opens up a world of new questions. The proposition shows that many practical issues still need to be researched, designed for and validated. Future projects could use the foundations this project has laid, to dive into these new questions, and continue the rationale.

Kickstarter is a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers etc. On this platform, creative projects can be displayed and a funding can be requested. People have to explain what they want to do and how much money they need. It’s close to the platform designed in one of the scenarios how to apply eco-currency; stewardship, where an online platform is used to show projects and to gain money.

Marketplaces of the 21st century are increasingly conscious, the information society provides more transparency. With this the demand for more ethical business processes and actions.

February 10th, over fifty charity organisations (among which Christian Aid, Comic Relief and UNICEF) proposed a global tax to raise money, basically to do good. This tax will affect mostly banks but also various types of financial dealings (such as stock and bonds dealings). Getting money from ‘the rich’ to support ‘the poor’ gives this tax it’s appealing name ‘The Robin Hood Tax‘.

Back in 1978, James Tobin proposed a small tax (the Tobin Tax) – these days the suggestion is 1/10 percent – on all foreign exchange (forex) dealings, average daily turnover in global foreign exchange markets is estimated at $3.98 trillion as of April 2007. After that many discussions about tobin tax arose, but up until now nothing like it has been introduced anywhere.

The third scenario is based on interest over environmental value. Imagine you have a piece of land, sea or something else that is worth something for the ecology. A taxator will define the worth of this specific object according to Simpson’s diversity index. Every month interest is paid in ECO’s over this amount.

The second scenario. Many of our sources and research (this, and this TED-talk give a good introduction) show that a very good way towards reaching a goal is by collaboration and a bottom up approach. We don’t need big institutions, a lot of rules and bureaucracy, but allow a self-governming emergent system to grow. This is but one of the two main pillars on which this scenario is build.

This is the first of a series of scenarios. The starting standpoint we took was that a currency should be backed up by ‘real’ value. In the past this used to be the case with gold. Gold has some good properties which make it very valuable as a trading currency, and has been used as this for over 4000 years in a almost all cultures.It is not possible to get more through manipulation, and is thus a very good way to measure wealth.

Adding monetary value to CO2

This is an overview of the carbon credit system as it was formalized in Kyoto (1997). The aim is to understand what we can learn from this system with respect to proposing an eco currency. Both try to introduce a non-material good into the financial market in order to keep it from being overrun by current economy.

The Ecosystem Marketplace, a project of Forest Trends, is a leading source of news, data, and analytics on markets and payments for ecosystem services (such as water quality, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity). We believe that by making accessible information on policy, finance, regulation, science, business, and other market-relevant factors, markets for ecosystem services will one day become a fundamental part of our economic system, helping give value to environmental services that, for too long, have been taken for granted.