What is Klima?
Klima is open, rules-based market infrastructure for carbon markets, delivering transparency and real-time execution for carbon credit retirements.
Non-investment notice Klima is market infrastructure, not an investment product. Participation does not confer ownership of protocol-held assets or any right to redeem, withdraw, or monetise carbon credits, which may only be accessed for retirement via irreversible destruction.
Introduction
Today’s spot carbon markets are fragmented, slow, and opaque.
These structural issues prevent the market from scaling into a reliable, accessible market and restrict capital flow to high-quality climate projects.
The core challenges are well-known:
inconsistent standardisation
limited fungibility
fragmented liquidity
opaque pricing
slow settlement
lack of trust and comparability
Klima exists to address them. By providing transparency and standardisation, and a transparent incentive mechanism for those who contribute. The infrastructure takes no fees or retained surplus.
How Klima Works
Klima coordinates carbon market activity through open-source smart contracts on the Base network:
Dynamic market parameters: The protocol automatically adjusts execution rates and eligibility constraints based on live market inputs (e.g. new supply, retirement demand).
Supplier-centric: Suppliers sell carbon credits directly to the protocol at programmatically determined, real-time prices (Carbon seller’s handbook).
Instant retirement: Buyers purchase carbon retirement certificates at guaranteed, real-time rates (Carbon buyer’s handbook).
Always-on: Liquidity providers supply continuous market depth, enabling market access and consistent execution (Liquidity provider’s handbook).
Incentive-driven value flow: Protocol incentives are used to encourage liquidity provision, usage, and system integrity (Governance handbook).
The result is a coordinated, credibly neutral, rules-based market.
What Klima Enables
Standardised carbon classes
Credits with shared characteristics are grouped into transparent carbon classes, improving comparability and accessibility.
Real-time, rules-based execution
Smart contracts price and settle transactions continuously based on live market inputs, reducing dependence on intermediaries.
24/7 market access
Users can transact across a range of whitelisted carbon credits, at any time, with low slippage and consistent execution quality.
Transparent market data
Pricing, inventory composition, flows, and value distribution are visible onchain. Market participants and auditors can inspect, analyse, and build on the data in real time.
Impact over extraction
The Klima Protocol charges no fees and does not extract value. Protocol incentives are allocated according to transparent, pre-defined rules to support participation and system operation.
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