From Restoration to Results: How Spera Impact’s Ecosystem Can Scale Article 6 Climate Finance and Socio-Economic Co-Benefits

BY

Chris Atkins: Sepideh, as we gather here on the eve of yet another global climate summit, the air is thick with declarations and pledges. But let me begin with a simple question: why are we still talking about the credibility crisis in carbon markets?

Sepideh Widmer: Because Chris, credibility is the currency of transformation, and right now, it’s undervalued. We’ve built a $2 billion voluntary carbon market on good intentions but flimsy data. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement—if implemented with integrity—offers a historic chance to realign capital with climate outcomes. But we need trust, traceability, and technology. That’s where platforms like the Spera Impact ecosystem come in.

CA: Spera Impact, you say. Let’s unpack that. What makes this ecosystem more than just another sustainability app with pretty satellite maps?

SW: Spera Impact is not an app; it’s an infrastructure, a full ecosystem if you want. It’s a full-stack platform that integrates blockchain, AI-driven monitoring, on-ground sensors, and community governance through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, or DAO. It tracks the journey of a carbon credit from seed to retirement. More importantly, it bakes equity, biodiversity, and resilience into the DNA of each project. It creates a digital audit trail that aligns with the UN’s Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), making it compatible for both voluntary and compliance carbon markets. It’s the only way forward for climate finance.

CA: Let’s bring this into the realpolitik of Article 6.2 and 6.4—those elusive clauses about cooperative mechanisms and international transfers. How does Spera Impact fit in?

SW: Precisely by design. Spera Impact’s architecture is aligned with the Enhanced Transparency Framework of the UNFCCC. It enables host countries to generate ITMOs—Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes— that are credible, traceable, and fully auditable. Countries like Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Japan are actively looking for ITMOs that aren’t just emissions on paper but transformations on the ground. Spera Impact enables them to back projects with robust cobenefits and verified impacts.

CA: Bold words. But how do you translate that into investment-grade confidence?

SW: Through the ERPA—the Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement. The World Bank’s ERPA framework isn’t theoretical. It’s already integrating legally binding contracts that cover pre-agreed volumes, pricing, third- party verification, and transparent revenue-sharing. Investors don’t just get credits—they get impact. Jobs created. Biodiversity restored. Women and Young people empowered. Spera Impac’s digital registry ensures that every stakeholder, from ministries to financiers to local communities, sees the same data in real time. With full KYC/KYB/AML we offer actually a investment banking compliant asset to the global market.

CA: Give me a tangible example. SW: Mangroves in Panama, Kenya, Madagascar, Sri Lanka etc. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of hectares, integrating with seaweed cultivation and seagrass meadows. That’s hundred of million tons of CO2e sequestered over 40 years, backed by satellite imaging and drone LiDAR. But also: fisheries revitalized, coastal communities stabilized, and climate migration reduced. The carbon is just the headline. The real story is resilience, biodiversity, and jobs.

CA: That’s quite the portfolio. Are there others?

SW: Absolutely. In Africa, we are planning regenerative coffee farming through the Coffee for Forests initiative. It links each cup of coffee to fractional carbon credits—backed by the Spera Impact Token. That means even a 100g offset from a coffee is traceable, verifiable, and fractionalized. In Kenya and Uganda, mahogany, moringa and bamboo agroforestry projects will couple carbon sequestration with superfood supply chains and local enterprise development. In Northern Europe, urban cooling projects are using green roofs and climate-smart parks to reduce heat islands in vulnerable city zones.

CA: That brings us to governance. You mentioned a DAO. Doesn’t that sound a bit utopian for bilateral agreements between sovereigns?

SW: Not if you understand what’s at stake. DAO governance is not an ideology—it’s infrastructure for trust. With blockchain-based voting, grievance mechanisms, and participatory MRV, we ensure that Indigenous Peoples, local communities,

Host

COUNTRIES GET CLIMATE-ALIGNED INVESTMENT WITHOUT SURRENDERING SOVEREIGNTY. EVERY SIS-CERTIFIED PROJECT IS ANCHORED IN NATIONAL PRIORITIES—BE IT REFORESTATION, BLUE ECONOMY, REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE, OR URBAN RESILIENCE. OUR PLATFORMS OFFER FULL COMPATIBILITY WITH NATIONAL ADAPTATION PLANS (NAPS), NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS (NDCS), AND THE UNFCCC’S REPORTING PROTOCOLS. COUNTRIES CAN REPORT ON PROGRESS IN REAL TIME, IMPROVING THEIR NEGOTIATING POSITION IN GLOBAL FORUMS.

and private investors have visibility and voice. It eliminates the opacity that has plagued climate finance for decades. And we’ve shown that governments are more willing to co-invest when governance is transparent and disputes can be resolved algorithmically, not politically. With Savimbo Kapital we actually deliver even 3rd party certification of all payments.

CA: Let’s talk compliance. How does Spera Impact ensure alignment with major international standards?

SW: We align with the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.2 and 6.4 guidelines, of course. But more than that, we’ve built the Spera Impact Standard (SIS) on top of frameworks like the UNEA Nature-Based Solutions definition, the UNDRR’s CRM Toolkit, and the CBD’s Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework. SIS includes plant-level verification, stakeholder engagement protocols, AI-driven adaptive MRV, and criteria for cobenefit assessment. In short, it meets or exceeds the requirements of Redd+, OxCarbon, VCMI, ICVCM and SBTi.

CA: And what’s in it for donor countries?

SW: Norway can e.g. get ITMOs aligned with its NDC. Switzerland could meet its 2030 targets without fearing double counting. And both can report cobenefits across most of the SDGs, especially 5, 13 and 15. But beyond compliance, they gain something more elusive—climate diplomacy with credibility. Through ERPAs with SIScertified projects, they not only meet mitigation targets but also fulfill development and biodiversity mandates. Imagine an ERPA that sequesters carbon, restores ecosystems, and supports women’s cooperatives— all backed by AI and blockchain.

CA: This is about more than just nature-based solutions then?

SW: It’s about nature-based economies. That’s the true frontier. Spera Impact makes nature investable—but not extractive. Our approach includes DAO-based cooperative governance, circular finance via tokens, and climate-linked bonds. We are e.g. enabling nations in the Global South to leapfrog into a new era of verified green growth.

CA: You mentioned SPIT—the Spera Impact Token. Is this a cryptocurrency?

SW: It’s a digital instrument—but it’s not speculative like crypto. Each SPIT is backed by a ton of verified CO2e reduction or removal. It can be fractionalized for microtransactions, making climate action accessible to everyone—from corporate buyers to consumers buying a verified “green coffee”. And it’s compatible with both Solana and Ethereum blockchains, ensuring scalability and cost-efficiency. →

CA: How do host countries benefit from these instruments?

SW: Host countries get climate-aligned investment without surrendering sovereignty. Every SIS-certified project is anchored in national priorities—be it reforestation, blue economy, regenerative agriculture, or urban resilience. Our platforms offer full compatibility with National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and the UNFCCC’s reporting protocols. Countries can report on progress in real time, improving their negotiating position in global forums.

CA: What about the future? What does this model look like in five years?

SW: I envision a distributed, DAOcoordinated network of the Spera Impact ecosystem across continents— each offering real-time data on carbon removal, biodiversity health, job creation, and risk reduction. Article 6 markets will mature into trust-based ecosystems, where a mangrove credit from Madagascar is interchangeable in quality and traceability with a forest credit from the Amazon or a coastal buffer in Northern Norway. Governments will invest not just in tonnes but in outcomes: resilience, livelihoods, and peace.

I ENVISION A DISTRIBUTED, DAOCOORDINATED NETWORK OF THE SPERA IMPACT ECOSYSTEM ACROSS CONTINENTS—EACH OFFERING REAL-TIME DATA ON CARBON REMOVAL, BIODIVERSITY HEALTH, JOB CREATION, AND RISK REDUCTION.

CA: You make it sound almost poetic.

SW: Chris, when climate finance works, it is poetry. It’s the alchemy of carbon, community, and capital. And Spera Impact is the verse that makes it rhyme.

CA: Let me bring us toward a close. What’s your message to G20 leaders, carbon market regulators, and finance ministers reading this?

Widmer: Article 6 is not just a clause. It’s a covenant. But a covenant needs infrastructure to become real. Spera

Impact offers that infrastructure. It’s ready. Scalable. Auditable. Inclusive. My call to action: integrate Spera Impact into your national Article 6 registries. Prioritize SIS-certified ecosystems in your ERPA portfolios. Launch blended finance vehicles that accelerate adoption. Let’s turn pledges into progress, not just for carbon— but for people and the planet.

CA: And for those countries waiting on the sidelines?

SW: I say: the sidelines are sinking. The future belongs to those who regenerate. And we now have the tools to regenerate at scale, with trust, with justice, and with precision.

CA: And with that, we’ll leave our readers with a choice: recycle old frameworks, or regenerate with new ones. Sepideh, thank you.

SW: The pleasure—and responsibility— s ours - we all come from nature and we all return to nature! ■

Editor’s Note: This article is part of the G20 Official Magazine’s Climate Finance Series. For more on Spera Impact and SIS 3.0, visit speraimpact.foundation.