Glossary

Credits currently in circulation — issued minus retired.

A finer classification under sectoral scope describing the specific intervention type.

The full path a credit takes: issuance, transfers, and eventual retirement.

The span of time during which a project is eligible to generate and issue credits.

A user-added chart built from any tracked metric.

The organization that designs, implements and owns a sustainability project.

Decentralized Identifier — a portable, blockchain-anchored ID for a project, organization or registry.

An interchangeable unit of credit — any one is equal in value to another.

Browsing the Atlas without signing in.

Hedera's public block explorer.

The open-source platform that runs verification policies and issues sustainability credits on Hedera.

The Hedera topic recording one specific project's policy execution.

InterPlanetary File System — decentralized storage for larger documents referenced by a credential.

The creation of new carbon credits on-chain once a project's emissions reduction is verified.

Hedera's live public network, where real, financially-binding transactions happen.

The technical protocol a project follows to calculate and prove its emissions reduction or removal.

The quantity of credits created in a single mint transaction.

Placeholder figures shown where a live data source isn't wired up yet.

A unique token representing one specific, non-interchangeable credit batch or certificate.

Recorded directly on the Hedera public ledger, rather than in a private database.

A Guardian workflow that encodes one methodology's rules as an auditable, on-chain process.

The Hedera topic recording the shared policy workflow definition a project runs on.

A one-click preset filter, like 'Vintage 2022' or 'Gold Standard.'

The original, unprocessed documents and credentials behind a displayed figure.

An independent body that verifies projects and administers official credit issuance under its standard.

Permanently removing a credit from circulation once it's used to offset an emission.

The originating verifiable credential a project's entire trust chain branches from.

The structured data format a document must follow within a policy.

Sustainable Development Goal — one of the UN's 17 global targets for social and environmental progress by 2030.

The broad activity category a project belongs to (e.g. Energy, Land Use & Forestry).

The rulebook a registry enforces — its methodology approval, verification and issuance requirements.

How current the Atlas's data is relative to the live Hedera network.

An elevated account that manages the Atlas instance itself, not just personal data.

A signed-in account with standard access to personalized features like a Watchlist or custom dashboard.

Tonne of CO2-equivalent — the standard unit one carbon credit represents.

A free, non-production Hedera network used for testing — nothing on it carries real value.

The total number of units of a token that currently exist on Hedera.

The address of a Hedera Consensus Service topic — a stream where messages are recorded in order.

The cumulative number of credits a project has generated across all its issuances.

The all-time sum of every mint transaction for a token.

Moving ownership of active credits from one holder to another without retiring them.

A tamper-evident digital document proving a claim — like "this project's emissions were reduced by X tons."

The calendar year in which the emission reduction or removal represented by a credit actually occurred.

A saved shortlist of projects, credits or registries a signed-in user tracks.

The catalog of chart and KPI widgets available to add to a dashboard.