GreenPoints: A Gamified Platform to Democratize Carbon Credits for Small-Scale Plant Owners

Abstract

Climate change mitigation requires participation beyond industrial-scale interventions. Traditional carbon credit systems emphasize large projects, excluding small contributors like farmers, rooftop gardeners, and plant enthusiasts. This paper proposes GreenPoints, a gamified platform enabling individuals to register plants, estimate their CO? absorption, and earn digital points. Agencies can aggregate these points for CSR reporting, while the model can evolve toward certified carbon credits for industries. The platform’s goal is to increase awareness, incentivize plantation, and build a community-driven sustainability ecosystem.

Introduction

• Carbon credits assign value to CO? reductions, enabling emissions trading.

• However, small-scale contributors (e.g., gardeners, farmers) are excluded from formal markets due to high verification costs and lack of accessibility.

• GreenPoints introduces a gamified digital platform to bridge this gap by turning estimated CO? absorption into digital points, creating both awareness and pathways toward formal certification.

2. Key Contributions

1. Role-based platform architecture connecting users (Planters), organizations (Agencies), and Admins.

2. A simple CO? estimation model mapped to digital points.

3. A scalable data model using structured relational design.

4. A roadmap from informal awareness points to certified carbon credits.

3. Related Work & Gaps

• Existing platforms like Pachama, Verra, and Climate Impact X serve large projects and institutions, not individuals.

• Technologies like IoT, blockchain, and crowdsourcing show promise but are not integrated in a user-friendly, micro-level platform.

• Gamification (leaderboards, badges, points) has proven effective in sustainability apps but is underused in carbon tracking.

• GreenPoints fills this gap by enabling individual participation in a gamified and verifiable way.

4. System Overview

A. User Roles

• Planter: Individuals register plants with species, age, photos, location.

• Admin: Verifies data and assigns points.

• Agency: Monitors aggregate environmental impact and uses data for CSR or sustainability reports.

B. System Architecture

• Web-based platform with secure authentication.

• Includes modules for plant registration, verification, point assignment, and dashboards.

C. Data Model

• Key entities: Users, Plants, Credit Ledger, Agency Notes.

• 1:N mapping between users and plants; each plant links 1:1 to a credit entry.

D. User Flow

1. User registers and submits plant data.

2. Admin verifies the plant.

3. System estimates CO? absorption → awards digital points.

4. Points stored in ledger; agencies access impact summaries.

E. CO?-to-Points Conversion

• Simplified estimates:

  • Tree: 20 kg CO?/year

  • Shrub: 5 kg/year

  • Small plant: 1 kg/year

• Formula adjusts for age and days since planting.

5. Pilot Simulation Results

• 100 users registering 5 plants each.

• Estimated absorption: ~10,000 kg CO?/year.

• Points, badges, and leaderboards boost engagement.

• Agencies can export data for CSR documentation.

???? Pilot Impact Breakdown (Annual):

6. Comparative Analysis

7. Strengths, Limitations & Opportunities

? Strengths

• Inclusive: Empowers individuals and small communities.

• Engaging: Gamified interface sustains user participation.

• Scalable: Aggregates micro-contributions into macro-impact.

?? Limitations

• Early reliance on user honesty.

• Simplified CO? estimation lacks formal certification.

• Points currently treated as awareness tools, not official credits.

???? Opportunities

• IoT integration for real-time validation.

• Blockchain for transparent ledgers.

• NGO/CSR partnerships for adoption.

• Alignment with India’s Net Zero 2070 & UN SDG 13 goals.

Conclusion

GreenPoints democratizes carbon credits by turning micro-sequestration efforts into measurable points, creating a bridge between individual action and institutional reporting. The architecture, data model, and gamified mechanics provide a scalable foundation, while a staged pathway supports eventual certification and trading.

References

[1] United Nations, Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, 1997. [2] Pachama – AI & Satellite Monitoring for Carbon Credits. [Online]. Available: https://pachama.com [3] Climate Impact X – Global Carbon Exchange. [Online]. Available: https://climateimpactx.com [4] Verra – Verified Carbon Standard. [Online]. Available: https://verra.org [5] Deterding, S., et al., “Gamification: Toward a Definition,” CHI 2011 Workshop on Gamification, Vancouver, Canada, 2011. [6] Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H., “Does Gamification Work? A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification,” 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), pp. 3025–3034, 2014. [7] IPCC, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, Sixth Assessment Report, Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2021. [8] Gold Standard Foundation, The Gold Standard for the Global Goals – Standard Documentation, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.goldstandard.org [9] IBM, Blockchain for Carbon Credits: A Whitepaper, IBM Research, 2020. [10] A. Kumar, R. Singh, and P. Sharma, “IoT-Based Tree Monitoring for Carbon Sequestration,” IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 112233–112245, 2021. [11] C. Newman, J. Silva, and M. Thomas, “Crowdsourcing Environmental Data: A Review of iNaturalist and Citizen Science Contributions,” Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier, vol. 276, pp. 124–136, 2020. [12] Government of India, National Carbon Credit Registry (NCCR): Draft Framework, Ministry of Power, 2022.

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Nikhil Bhilare. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.