- Built using blockchain technology in cooperation with Rakuten Blockchain Lab -
Rakuten, Inc. have launched the Rakuten Energy Trading System (REts), a J-Credit trading system built using blockchain technology, in cooperation with CARBON VALUE CREATING & CONSULTING Co., Ltd., and GLOBAL ENGINEERING Co., Ltd.Certified by the Japanese government, J-Credits are carbon offset credits that can be earned when corporations reduce emissions or increase absorption of greenhouse gases by saving energy, managing forests and other activities. To date, the only options available to corporations wanting to trade their earned J-Credits have been conventional bidding or direct trading systems. REts brings greater transparency to the J-Credit trading process by enabling traders to clarify J-Credit value and trade volume in real time.
REts offers two grades of membership: Viewing Members are able to view a list of J-Credit products registered on the system by completing a simple free-of-charge registration process; and Purchasing Members are able to both view and purchase J-Credits after completing a screening process. Corporations wishing to sell J-Credits may do so after contacting REts and completing an individual contract.
REts also offers a range of ancillary services, such as help with the offsetting procedures of J-Credits, and assistance with the generation of J-Credits for trading purposes. Rakuten hopes to stimulate trading in J-Credits by offering comprehensive support from creation through to utilization.
REts was developed with the cooperation of Rakuten Blockchain Lab (R.B.L), an R&D organization based in Belfast, U.K. that specializes in blockchain technology. The system represents the first use in Japan of blockchain technology to operate a J-Credit trading system. J-Credits that can be traded on this system are issued on a private blockchain as digital assets and changes of ownership resulting from trading are registered on the blockchain. The goal is to eventually establish a consortium that will encourage open trading in J-Credits and other so-called “Environmental Values” by permitting the use of this blockchain on other similar systems.
Rakuten Energy, a provider of energy solution services, has offered J-Credit trading mediation services since March this year. In the course of these activities Rakuten Energy was able to confirm the diverse needs and trading appetite of new energy producers and suppliers (PPS) and other corporations, and so decided to build this system in cooperation with CARBON VALUE CREATING & CONSULTING and GLOBAL ENGINEERING.
The three companies will continue to keep close watch on trends in the newly formed negawatt (power saving) market, which was established in April 2017, and in the non-fossil value trading market regulated under the Sophisticated Methods of Energy Supply Structures Law, and consider in due course the potential to add other products to REts.
