The problem the entire renewable energy market has not solved
A solar farm generates 1 megawatt-hour of clean electricity. That single MWh gets a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) issued to it. A corporate buyer purchases the REC and reports zero Scope 2 emissions on that megawatt-hour under the GHG Protocol's market-based method. So far, so good.
Now the problem. The same megawatt-hour is still in the host country's grid emissions factor, which gets used by every other entity reporting on a location-based basis. A second corporate down the supply chain may include the same generation in their Scope 3 claim because their supplier reported it. A third party may bundle and resell the certificate's underlying environmental attribute. In the worst case, that one MWh of solar gets counted by four or five different parties, each one reporting it as their own emissions reduction.
This isn't theoretical. A 2025 study in Environmental Research Letters documented widespread double-claiming in Scope 2 markets. An Icelandic regulator found companies claiming renewable electricity use without corresponding Guarantees of Origin. The GHG Protocol's mandatory dual reporting (location-based + market-based) was designed exactly to expose this, but implementation varies, audits are annual, and there is no technical enforcement at the registry level.
EDMA's fix is structural. The same evidence cannot finalise a claim twice. It is enforced at the contract layer, not at an audit step.
How EDMA's One-Claim ledger enforces 1:1:1
- 01
Every meter reading gets a canonical identifier
When a solar inverter, smart meter, or grid sensor produces a reading, EDMA normalises it into canonical JSON (device id, window start, window end, kWh, signature) and hashes the result. The hash is the EnergyID. There is one EnergyID per measured window per device, and the One-Claim ledger refuses to admit a second reading with the same identifier.
- 02
ETT mints once per EnergyID (10 kWh granularity)
For every 10 kWh of verified generation, one ETT (Energy Token) mints. ETTs are non-transferable proof units. The mint transaction includes the EnergyID; the contract checks the One-Claim ledger before minting. If the EnergyID has already been used, the mint fails. No retry can succeed.
- 03
100 ETTs aggregate into one Energy NFT (1 MWh)
When an account accumulates 100 ETTs, they roll up into one Energy NFT. The 100 ETTs are marked consumed in the same transaction. They are no longer usable for any other purpose. The Energy NFT carries the lineage of all 100 underlying EnergyIDs as on-chain metadata.
- 04
Conversion to a Carbon Credit or REC consumes the NFT
When a buyer converts an Energy NFT into a regional Carbon Credit, REC, GO, or other certificate, the NFT is marked consumed. The certificate carries the NFT's lineage so the auditor can walk back to the original meter readings. The same NFT cannot be converted twice.
- 05
Retirement is on-chain and irreversible
When the buyer retires the certificate for an ESG claim, the retirement is recorded on Ethereum L1 with the retiring entity's identity and a timestamp. The retired certificate cannot be sold, transferred, or reused. The on-chain retirement record is the auditor's source of truth.
