Overview
Climate Neutral Cardano is a group of Cardano stake pool operators who run their servers on renewable energy and send a share of their rewards to climate projects, such as planting trees in Madagascar and Kenya. It is the sustainability-focused arm of the Cardano stake pool alliances, and it pairs energy commitments with published research on Cardano's carbon footprint.1
The group works as a loose network rather than a single company. Some members take part in shared projects, others simply pledge to run their servers on renewables. Climate Neutral Cardano partners with the Cardano Foundation, IOG, Veritree, and a Madagascar-based charity called Tetikasa Ala on reforestation and ecosystem restoration projects.1
For delegators, taking part is simple: pick a member pool and delegate as usual. Your normal ADA rewards stay the same, and you can opt into some bonus tokens during specific campaigns.
Key Features
- Members run on renewable energy. Every member pool commits to running its servers on wind, solar, hydro, or biomass power2.
- A reforestation campaign with tokens. A campaign called CNC Ala raises ADA for a permaculture tree-planting project in central Madagascar. The campaign aims for 100,000 trees across 20 hectares of land, and delegators to participating pools also earn special CNC Ala tokens and partner NFTs on top of regular ADA rewards3.
- Published carbon footprint research. The group has put out a paper measuring Cardano's environmental impact using widely used international standards, splitting out direct energy use from indirect electricity costs4.
- Public donation receipts. Each month, the alliance posts receipts showing exactly where donations from member pools went, which acts as the group's accountability mechanism2.
- More than just one project. Beyond the Madagascar campaign, the alliance helps run a Cardano-funded tree-planting drive in Kenya, a charity raffle, NFT drops, and a public dashboard tracking progress across projects5.
What to Expect
Delegators take part by simply staking with a member pool. Pick a pool from the published roster, delegate using any Cardano wallet, and rewards arrive on Cardano's normal five-day cycle. If you delegate to one of the Madagascar campaign pools during an active period, you also receive CNC Ala tokens you can claim alongside your ADA rewards.3
The website is split across a few pages. The main site has project pages, the carbon footprint paper, donation receipts, and the member list. Other pages, on separate subdomains, host the CNC Ala dashboard, the raffle, and the Madagascar partner page. Content is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese, which reflects the international group of operators behind the alliance.
People who want to go beyond delegation can donate directly using published addresses, buy a CNC Ala NFT, or apply to add their own pool if it meets the renewable-energy rules.1 An independent security audit of the alliance has not been identified, so accountability instead runs through the monthly donation receipts and reports from the partner charities.
