R4: Energy-side Carbon
What this route does.
R4 pays for measured, avoided emissions created by energy projects that pass a strict additionality and emissionality test. It issues ex-post, independently verified tons, only after any overlapping energy certificates are retired or immobilized, and it enforces one-claim law in code. No evidence → no ton → no settlement.  
PoV in Action
Issue, sell, settle
A verifier signs the batch; EDMA mints tons ex-post, sells on forwards/floors or spot, and pays proceeds to your vault in stablecoins. Fees are 4% total (2% seller at claim, 2% buyer at settlement), in $EDM; 50% of every fee burns on-chain. If you don’t hold EDM, the action fails cleanly—no auto-swaps. A $0.50/EDM denomination floor is used only to compute how many tokens are due; it is not a price peg.
Who qualifies
You’re in scope if EDMA caused the project (or a material upgrade) or you shift clean kWh into dirtier hours with provable storage dispatch. Clean-grid rooftops without storage typically don’t qualify and are routed to R1/R2 so they still earn.
Where this pays
The lane is strongest in high-emission grids (coal/gas-heavy, peaky marginal EF), in mixed grids with evening peaks where batteries can prove emissionality, and in captive/private-wire situations that visibly displace fossil supply. Typical price band: $30–$60 per ton (quality-dependent).
Worked example
Plant: 100 MW solar
Sun hours: 1,500 h/year → 150,000 MWh/year
Method: ex-post avoided-emissions using marginal emission factors (MEF)
Conservative deductions: 3% technical × 5% uncertainty ⇒ 0.97 × 0.95 = 0.9215
Fees: 4% total (2% buyer + 2% seller), paid in $EDM; 50% of every fee burns (so effective burn = 2% of gross)
Scenario A — No storage (additionality only)
Saleable tons = MWh × MEF × 0.9215
Grid band (MEF)
Saleable tCO₂/yr
Price $/t
Net to park / yr
Net / month
Burn / yr (2% GMV)
Coal/gas-heavy (0.70)
96,757.50
30
$2,844,670
$237,056
$58,055
40
$3,792,894
$316,075
$77,406
50
$4,741,118
$395,093
$96,758
Mixed grid (0.45)
62,201.25
30
$1,828,717
$152,393
$37,321
40
$2,438,289
$203,191
$49,761
50
$3,047,861
$253,988
$62,201
Net to park = saleable × price × 0.98 (your 2% seller leg).
Burn = gross × 0.02 (half of the 4% protocol fee). Settlement requires $EDM; no EDM, no action.
Scenario B — With BESS (time-shifting into dirtier hours)
Assumptions: 25% of annual energy is shifted to evenings via 100 MW / 200 MWh BESS, RTE = 88%.
Delivered energy splits: 112,500 MWh day (not shifted) + 33,000 MWh night (discharge).
Avoided tons are computed hour-by-hour with the relevant MEF, then the same 0.9215 factor is applied.
Mixed grid uplift (e.g., 0.45 → 0.70 from day to evening):
Saleable = 67,937.59 t/yr (vs 62,201.25 without BESS) → +5,736 t/yr
Grid band (day → peak MEF)
Saleable tCO₂/yr
Price $/t
Net / yr
Net / month
Burn / yr
Mixed (0.45 → 0.70)
67,937.59
30
$1,997,365
$166,447
$40,763
40
$2,663,153
$221,929
$54,350
50
$3,328,942
$277,412
$67,938
Coal/gas-heavy uplift (e.g., 0.70 → 0.80) is small because the MEF spread is narrower: 96,895.73 t/yr vs 96,757.50 (≈ +138 t/yr).
Summary
At $40/t, a 100 MW park on a coal/gas-heavy grid nets about $3.79M/year ($316k/month) with no storage.
On a mixed grid, no storage nets about $2.44M/year ($203k/month) at $40/t.
Adding BESS (25% shift, 88% RTE) on a mixed grid lifts that to about $2.66M/year ($222k/month) at $40/t—the uplift depends on the day→evening MEF spread.
In all cases, 4% fees in $EDM apply; 50% of every fee burns on-chain (≈ 2% of gross burned).
One-claim law: if you also sell energy attributes (RECs/GO/I-REC) for any portion of those MWh, EDMA retires/immobilizes them first and excludes those MWh from carbon. One kWh funds one claim.
Earnings bands
Storage-shift in mixed grids: commonly $300–$2,000+/yr for residential batteries; higher for C&I systems, depending on cycles and EF spread.
New capacity we cause in high-EF grids: $30–$60/t × measured tons; legacy PV in clean grids usually not eligible.
What you actually do (first week → first payouts)
KYC + wallet (minutes) → run the additionality gate (fast yes/no).
Connect data; ETT begin minting automatically.
Buy a small EDM buffer (the app shows a fuel gauge). Admission Prefund (USD) = min( max( 0.02 × projected 3-month carbon revenue, $20 ), $1,000 )—staked in EDM so deposits/claims never stall; withdrawable on exit in good standing.
Thereafter: compute hourly emissionality → retire/immobilize any attributes → verify → issue → sell → claim, with 2% seller fee in EDM and 50% burn published per region.
Integrity
Double counting: impossible by design—retirement/immobilization comes before tons; external IDs and consumed ETT are recorded on-chain.
Factor drift hand-waves: each batch stores EF source/version; material restatements follow a documented SOP (no ad-hoc repricing of settled vintages).
Pay without EDM: not on EDMA—no EDM, no action (gas and fees).
Risks & how we manage them
EF quality. Transparent hierarchy, versioned sources, losses/buffers; SOP for restatements.
Failing the gate. Fast triage and reroute to R1/R2 so value isn’t lost.
Verifier backlog. Panel of accredited verifiers, batch scheduling, published timelines.
Buyer concentration. Two-sided marketplace, per-buyer caps, broker standby.
Payout/AML. Regulated rails; KYC/sanctions; travel-rule compliance; geofencing as needed.
Non-negotiables
Ex-post only
One-claim law (energy attributes retired/immobilized first)
EDM only; no auto-swap
4% total fee with 50% burn until circulating supply reaches 100M.
Cross-links
PoV Layer (§9):
quorum, equality, one-claim, revocationFees/Tokenomics (§14/§18): 4% rule, denomination floor, 50% burn
Routes (§20): stacking with R1/R2/R3 without violating one-claim.
Bottom line. Route 4 is how we turn projects we cause—and storage that actually pushes clean energy into dirty hours—into defensible carbon tons. Corporates get auditable impact; you get predictable, on-chain payouts; and every transaction tightens EDM supply by design.
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