🌱 CarbonChain Marketplace

AI-Powered Carbon Credits & Forest Tokenization — Cross-Chain, Transparent, and Automated

🏆 Project Title & Track

Project Name: CarbonChain Marketplace
Track1: Onchain Finance & Real-World Assets (RWA).
Track2: AI & DePIN.

🚀 Overview

CarbonChain Marketplace is a decentralized platform that enables companies and individuals to buy, sell, and tokenize verified carbon credits and forest areas. Leveraging Ethereum smart contracts for marketplace logic and Hedera Hashgraph for NFT minting, consensus, and decentralized storage, CarbonChain brings transparency, automation, and real-world impact to environmental markets.

✨ Key Features

AI-Driven Dynamic Regeneration Scoring
An on-chain metric (scaled 0-1000) updated by trusted oracles (Relayers) based on off-chain AI analysis using Gemini API
- Uses satellite imagery data (based on the forest coordinates) + Rate of Carbon Dioxide Sequestration (Planet API)
- Data from the IOT sensors (Temprature, Humidity, Soil Moisture, Air Quality, Light Intensity) planted at the forest.
  Dynamic Pricing of Forest NFTs: This score dynamically adjusts the price of forest shares and determines the carbon yield generated over time.
Cross-Chain Asset Management
Ethereum smart contracts for trading and settlement; Hedera for NFT certificates (HTS) and consensus (HCS) .
Automated NFT Certificates
Every purchase mints a unique NFT (carbon credit or forest deed) on Hedera, with metadata stored on IPFS via Pinata.

Dynamic Forest NFTs: The metadata for the forest nfts changes based on the regeneration score of the forest. One would be able to see different image of the NFT based on the current regeneration scores. After changes in forest data the NFT metadata is automatically updated.
Transparent On-Chain Records
All transactions, purchases, and NFT mints are tracked on-chain and posted via Hedera Consensus Service. The Metadata of the minted NFTs also contain informations such as Transaction hash, Hedera Token ID, and buyer ID.
KYC/KYB & Compliance
Company onboarding, verification, and compliance checks integrated into the registration and trading flow. Off chain compliance and KYC can be done for our Carbon Credit as well as the Forest Tokens - built ERC3643 functionalities using HTS
Real-Time Analytics
Market data, environmental impact, and portfolio dashboards for buyers, sellers, and project owners.
DAO Governance
Forest DAOs for decentralized proposal and voting on conservation actions.

One major issue arises when native communities are displaced or banned from traditional hunting and gathering after corporations purchase forest land for so-called environmental projects. CarbonChain solves this by introducing DAO-based governance through forest tokens, giving both natives and companies an equal voice in forest conservation decisions that benefit all stakeholders.
Multi-Wallet Support
MetaMask for Ethereum, HashConnect for Hedera (Token Association).
Forest Data Oracle
The oracle streams real-time IoT data from forest sensors including metrics like soil health, humidity, and CO₂ levels directly to the blockchain. It computes a Regeneration Score that reflects the land’s ecological health and recovery potential. This enables transparent, data-backed insights into forest vitality for on-chain applications.

🪙 Hedera Integration Summary (Detailed)

CarbonChain leverages multiple Hedera services to ensure scalability, transparency, and verifiable trust for carbon markets in Africa.

🌿 Hedera Token Service (HTS)

We use HTS to mint and manage both Carbon Credit and Dynamic Forest NFTs.
Why: HTS provides native tokenization with predictable, low fees and finality under 5 seconds - ideal for high-volume, low-margin carbon transactions.
Transaction Types: Token creation, minting, association, and transfer.
Economic Justification: Compared to Ethereum gas fees (~$0.30–$3), HTS fees remain stable and affordable for smallholder reforestation projects, making carbon participation accessible in African markets.

🔗 Hedera Consensus Service (HCS)

Used for immutable logging of purchase events, AI score updates, and oracle submissions.
Why: HCS ensures trust and auditability for critical environmental data and trading records.
Transaction Types: Topic creation, message submission, and querying topic messages.
Economic Justification: At a predictable $0.0001 per message, HCS provides a cost-stable way to maintain transparent climate audit trails, ensuring operational feasibility even in micro-scale projects.

🧠 Hedera Smart Contracts (EVM)

The cross-chain Ethereum smart contracts interact with Hedera through EVM-compatible bridges for yield and DAO logic.
Why: To allow seamless interoperability while using Hedera for storage and final certification.
Transaction Types: Contract deployment, read/write state changes.
Economic Justification: Hedera’s ABFT consensus ensures secure finality while bridging low-cost operations with Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem.

🏗️ Architecture

💡 How It Works

Forest NFTs

Company Registration & KYC
Companies onboard via a KYC/KYB form, verified on-chain, off-chain compliance layer and KYC grants by admins.
Marketplace Listing
Government list forest areas, providing documentation and compliance data.
AI-Powered Scoring
Forest health and regeneration scores are calculated using AI, influencing pricing and yield.
Purchase & Tokenization
Buyers purchase assets using MetaMask (Ethereum). The backend mints a corresponding NFT on Hedera and stores metadata on IPFS.
NFT Delivery & Audit Trail
NFT certificates are delivered to the buyer’s Hedera account. All actions are recorded on-chain and via Hedera Consensus Service.
Yield Generation Based on the amount of shares and the regeneration score of the forest the share holders would get yield reward as Carbon Credits getting added to their portfolio.
DAO Governance
Forest DAOs allow stakeholders to propose and vote on conservation actions.

Carbon Credit NFTs

Company Registration & KYC
Companies onboard via a KYC/KYB form, verified on-chain, off-chain compliance layer and KYC grants by admins.
Marketplace Listing
Sellers list carbon credits, providing documentation and compliance data.
Purchase & Tokenization
Buyers purchase assets using MetaMask (Ethereum). The backend mints a corresponding NFT on Hedera and stores metadata on IPFS.
NFT Delivery & Audit Trail
NFT certificates are delivered to the buyer’s Hedera account. All actions are recorded on-chain and via Hedera Consensus Service.

🧩 Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Smart Contracts	Solidity, Hardhat
Cross-Chain Layer	Ethereum (Sepolia), Hedera Hashgraph
NFTs	Hedera Token Service (HTS)
Frontend	React, Vite, TailwindCSS
AI Engine	Gemini API
Blockchain APIs	HashConnect, MetaMask, ethers.js
Backend	Node.js, Express
Storage	IPFS / Pinata
Analytics	Planet API

⚙️ Setup & Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/carbonchain-marketplace.git
cd carbonchain-marketplace

# Install root dependencies
npm install

# Backend setup
cd backend
npm install
npm run dev
# Backend will start running at localhost:5000

# Frontend setup
cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev
# Frontend will start running at localhost:5173

# Smart contract setup
cd backend-web3
npm install
npx hardhat compile
npx hardhat run deploy.js --network < network-name > 
# Update .env files with deployed addresses

🔗 Environment Variables

Backend (`backend/.env`)

OPERATOR_ID=0.0.YOUR_HEDERA_ACCOUNT
OPERATOR_KEY=YOUR_HEDERA_PRIVATE_KEY
PINATA_JWT=YOUR_PINATA_JWT_TOKEN
GATEWAY_URL=https://gateway.pinata.cloud
PLANET_API_KEY=your-api-key
IOT_TOPIC_ID=0.0.XXXXXXX
GEMINI_API_KEY=your-api-key
HCS_TOPIC_ID=0.0.XXXXXXX
HEDERA_RPC_URL=https://
FOREST_CONTRACT_ADDRESS="0x..."

Frontend (`frontend/.env`)

VITE_HASHCONNECT_PROJECT_ID=your-hashconnect-project-id
VITE_CARBON_CONTRACT_ADDRESS="0x..."
VITE_COMPANY_CONTRACT_ADDRESS="0x..."
VITE_FOREST_CONTRACT_ADDRESS="0x..."
VITE_HEDERA_PRIVATE_KEY=your-private-key
VITE_CARBON_TOKEN_ID="0.0.XXXXXXX"
VITE_FOREST_TOKEN_ID="0.0.XXXXXXX"
VITE_BACKEND_URL="http://localhost:5000"

Backend-web3 (`backend-web3/.env`)

SEPOLIA_RPC_URL=https://
SEPOLIA_PRIVATE_KEY=your-private-key
HEDERA_RPC_URL=https://...
HEDERA_PRIVATE_KEY=your-private-key

🎨 NFT Certificates

Carbon Credit NFT

{
  "name": "Carbon Credit #512",
  "description": "Tradable carbon credit representing 5 tons of CO₂ offset.",
  "image": "ipfs://",
  "properties": {
    "credit_id": 512,
    "co2_offset_tons": 5,
    "purchase_price_hbar": "0.075",
    "owner": "0.0.123456",
    "asset_type": "Carbon Credit",
    "certification_standard": "Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)",
    "vintage_year": 2025,
    "minted_at": "2025-10-31T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

Forest Area NFT

{
  "name": "Forest Shares (10) - Amazon Rainforest, Acre",
  "description": "Fractional ownership certificate for 10 shares in Amazon Rainforest, Acre, linked to Forest ID 1023.",
  "image": "ipfs://QmHash.../forest_image.jpg",
  "attributes": [
    {"trait_type": "Asset Type", "value": "Forest Share Certificate"},
    {"trait_type": "Forest ID", "value": "1023"},
    {"trait_type": "Location", "value": "Amazon Rainforest, Acre"},
    {"trait_type": "Shares Bought", "value": "10"},
    {"trait_type": "Regeneration Score", "value": "725", "display_type": "number"},
    {"trait_type": "Baseline Sequestration (CO2/yr)", "value": "3.8", "display_type": "number"},
    {"trait_type": "Potential Sequestration (CO2/yr)", "value": "6.4", "display_type": "number"},
    {"trait_type": "Sustainability Rating", "value": "A"},
    {"trait_type": "Original NFT ID", "value": "9876"}
  ],
  "properties": {
    "asset_type": "Forest Share Certificate",
    "forest_id": 1023,
    "shares_bought": 10,
    "location": "Amazon Rainforest, Acre",
    "total_forest_area_sq_m": 25000,
    "original_nft_id": "9876",
    "ipfs_deed_hash": "QmDeedHash...",
    "owner_account_id": "0.0.345678",
    "owner_eth_address": "0xAbc123...",
    "price_paid_hbar": "0.082",
    "purchase_tx_hash": "0xTxHash...",
    "regeneration_score": 725,
    "baseline_sequestration_c02_yr": 3.8,
    "potential_sequestration_c02_yr": 6.4,
    "sustainability_rating": "A",
    "certification_status": "Verified",
    "minted_at": "2025-10-31T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

🌐 API Endpoints

POST /api/mint — Mint NFT (carbon-credit or forest)
POST /api/tokenize-purchase — Tokenize carbon credit purchase
POST /api/tokenize-forest-purchase — Tokenize forest area purchase
POST /api/ai/regeneration-score — AI-powered forest health scoring
POST /api/consensus/submitMessage — Submit message to Hedera Consensus Service
GET /api/consensus/queryTopic/:topicId — Query HCS topic messages
GET /api/forest-data/:forestId — Query forest data stored onchain , our oracle endpoint

🪪 Deployed Hedera IDs (Testnet)

Resource Type	Description	Hedera Testnet ID
Operator Account	Backend wallet used for token minting	0.0.6780075
Forest NFT Token	HTS token for forest ownership certificates	0.0.7074734
Carbon Credit NFT Token	HTS token for carbon credits	0.0.7074735
HCS Topic	storing post-purchase transaction data for carbon credit and forest share buys	0.0.6886610
HCS Topic	storing IoT sensor feed for forests	0.0.6886609

📊 Analytics & Reporting

Total Credits Traded — Volume and value metrics
Forest Area Transactions — Hectares sold and impact
Price Trends — Historical and real-time data
Portfolio Dashboards — For buyers, sellers, and companies
Environmental Impact — CO₂ offset, forest protection, and more

🛡️ Security

Smart contract access controls, reentrancy protection, and input validation
Backend key management, rate limiting, and secure IPFS handling
Frontend XSS protection, wallet security, and error boundaries

🛣️ Roadmap

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions!

Fork the repo and create a feature branch
Install dependencies in all directories
Set up environment variables as described above
Make your changes and test thoroughly
Open a Pull Request

Code Standards:

JavaScript/React: ESLint
Solidity: Hardhat best practices
Conventional commits and documentation required

⚠️ NOTE: Before testing the platform using the URLs below, please call
https://carbonchain-backend.onrender.com/api/health
to wake up the backend server.

🌐 Frontend

🔗 Open Frontend

🖥️ Backend

⚙️ Open Backend

🌲 Forest Oracle API

GET https://carbonchain-backend.onrender.com/api/forest-data/<forest-id>
Example: https://carbonchain-backend.onrender.com/api/forest-data/1

🎓 Hedera Certification

📄 View Certificate

📊 Pitch Deck

📘 View Pitch Deck

🎥 Demo Video

▶️ Watch Demo

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

🌱 Building a sustainable future through blockchain innovation 🌱
Made with ❤️ for environmental sustainability and carbon transparency

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 80 Commits
.bolt		.bolt
.vscode		.vscode
backend-web3		backend-web3
backend		backend
frontend		frontend
.DS_Store		.DS_Store
README.md		README.md

Animesh-Parashar/Carbon-Chain

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