Existing carbon trading is somewhat controversial, for the simple reason that impact can only be claimed once the credit has been retired. A tonne of carbon which is bought and traded multiple times is still only one tonne of carbon. Moreover, the secondary market allows brokers and financial institutions to profit from future price rises, while the communities receive no further benefit. 

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Native addresses this by ensuring that project owners benefit from secondary trades of their Squares via an 8% secondary fee (split 5/3 between the project owner and Native). In effect this means that project owners become passive commodity traders ensuring that they benefit from any future trading.

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Alternatively, Square owners may retire their NbS Squares and claim their carbon, biodiversity, and community impact as mitigation of their environmental footprint or business activities. 

Square owners may also hold their Squares, pending a decision on whether to trade or retire them, but only Squares which are retired will show up in users’ impact scores. This ensures that no two profiles can claim impact for the same NbS Square before and after trading.