Australia’s Biggest Bank Says Its ‘BioTokens’ Can Help the Environment

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is currently prototyping blockchain tokens meant to enable landowners, environmental groups, developers and governments to invest in sustainable development.

Commonwealth Bank’s “BioTokens”

The bank announced in a press release published on Aug. 21 that it is working on “BioTokens,” enabling sustainable investments co-developed with BioDiversity Solutions Australia. 

Per the report, the project is part of broader developments meant to support regional businesses across the country — and enable the creation of crypto assets representing biodiversity credits for New South Wales Government’s Biodiversity Offsets Scheme.

The government project — introduced in 2017 — requires companies to find and purchase biodiversity credits to offset development impacts. Such credits can be generated by landholders establishing stewardship sites to protect biodiversity on their land.

The tokens will reportedly be accompanied by a dedicated on-chain digital marketplace. BioDiversity Solutions Australia managing director, Rod Barnaby, said:

“Developing a digital marketplace is part of a broader project we have been working on to help stakeholders participate in the NSW Biodiversity Offset Scheme. Our vision was to help facilitate the protection of precious environmental ecosystems, while also creating an alternative source of income for landowners and rewarding them for preserving biodiversity on their land.”

BioTokens can be programmed, regulatory compliance automated

Sophie Gilder, the bank’s head of experimentation and commercialization for blockchain, AI and emerging technology, said that the project creates an accessible and transparent marketplace — enabling the trading of tokens representing biodiversity assets.

She also addressed the system’s compliance, adding:

“The BioTokens can be programmed with complex scheme rules so that compliance and administration is automated, market activity is transparent and real time, and marketplace participants have a simpler, streamlined experience.”

As Cointelegraph reported at the end of June, United States-based clean energy development firm Clearway Energy Group is launching a pilot program for trading renewable energy credits on a blockchain.