The DigitalArt4Climate is an unprecedented multi-stakeholder partnership initiative which uses blockchain technology to turn art into digital assets, also known as NFTs, which can be collected and traded, thus opening up a socio-technological innovation space which helps to unlock extraordinary potential for resource mobilization in support of Sustainable Development Goals and UN Agenda 2030 implementation in general and action for climate empowerment in particular. 

The DigitalArt4Climate is an opportunity to showcase innovative ideas for climate action, support diversity and inclusion globally, and underscore the value of technology enabled art - as a key part of the human experience in the 21st century.

As UI & UX & web designers, software, game and marketplace developers, you can participate already in the preparatory phase of the initiative by joining the Designathon.

As artists you are invited to submit your artwork, both digital and traditional to the DigitalArt4Climate Art Competition ending in October 2021 and offer your artwork on the future DigitalArt4Climate NFT marketplace launched in aprox July 2022.

The DigitalArt4Climate is an opportunity to showcase innovative ideas for climate action, support diversity and inclusion globally, and underscore the value of technology enabled art - as a key part of the human experience in the 21st century.

If you are curious, motivated, skilled, and eager to be challenged to solve problems concerning sustainability, this is the perfect place for you. We are looking forward to receiving your application!

Implementation of climate protection of the Paris Agreement, adopted in the context of the United Nations system in the year 2015, needs everyone everywhere to be empowered and engaged.  

The main program through which the United Nations support and accelerate climate action of sub-national and non-state actors is the Action for Climate Empowerment programme.

IAAI GloCha, the lead organizer of DigitalArt4Climate is working with the United Nations on Action for Climate Empowerment Innovation and resource mobilization innovation for Action for Climate Empowerment in the context of the project ACE_AT. 

Resources mobilized through DigitalArt4Climate will be used to implement ACE support structures developed within the ACE_AT project as well as individual ACE projects, which will be available for participating artists and buyers to select as beneficiaries once the DigitalArt4Climate marketplace will be operational. 

Culture - in all its manifestations - is at the heart of all societal engagement, and it will be critical in achieving the global goals of the Paris Agreement. Culture helps to envision new pathways towards a better world and it energizes individuals and communities to work for the common good.

Currently, there remains an extreme lack of easily accessible entry points for artists to contribute to global sustainability goals. There is also a lack of mechanisms that can recognize and reward culture-related contributions to the common good, as it is difficult to verify and transfer ownership through conventional media platforms. 

The DigitalArt4Climate has approached the blockchain opportunity with open eyes, as it sees the potential of the technology to not only disrupt existing inefficient supply chains, but also the ability to transform how disparate communities communicate and trust each other through permissionless, distributed ledger technology. 

A non-fungible token, also known as “NFTs” is a unit of data on a digital ledger that certifies a digital asset to be intrinsically unique. Simply put, it is a way to represent the ownership of a particular digital asset. They can be 2D, 3D images, programmable art, traditional art, AI-generated or enabled art, avatars, memes, music, virtual fashion garments, in-game items and videos, the opportunities are endless. These provably unique assets are bought and sold digitally, more frequently with cryptocurrency.

NFTs are collectible tokens that can be exchanged on the blockchain, maintaining a publicly verifiable history of ownership from original creation to present ownership.In addition to providing traceability and transparency for creator’s work, NFT’s also earn creators previously unattainable royalties for all present and future sales. 

NFTs serve a similar purpose to authenticating ownership for physical collector’s items, only its all used digitally. Instead of a certificate from an art auction house that proves the provenance of an oil painting, NFTs offer an entirely digital, and publically accessible, authentication mechanism. Currently, NFTs are most popularly used for digital art, which authenticates each digital art piece as being unique, and proscribing a certain level of scarcity therefore. Buyers today can collect NFTs for, among many options, such things as social media avatars, virtual reality identities, and even presented in digital frames for the real world.

With the advancements made in distributed ledger technology, digital collectors can now possess the immutable ownership of digital assets, while investors can also seek to profit from them just like any other asset class. 

With regards to sustainability, NFTs have lately been used for representing unique donations made to local and global charity projects. Contributors can donate fiat or cryptocurrency, and receive an NFT that confirms their receipt of their donation to the local charity project. In addition, digital and conventional art created, sold and traded as NFTs are being auctioned off for charities, in the same way events are auctioned for charity. There is even further experimentation happening with utilizing NFT technology for certifying carbon certificates for offsetting emissions. 

The DigitalArt4Climate is offering a unique opportunity for creatives and artists to engage in climate action. They are invited to attend the first Designathon for UI & UX & web designers, software, game and marketplace developers that focuses solely on climate change mitigation. 

Our Designathon is an intensive hands-on event where creative and motivated people from different backgrounds get together to think critically about the future and search for productive solutions for all of society engagement in climate action. There will be 10 days of ideation and rapid prototyping to develop solutions for a climate related digital collectibles/NFT platform and app including marketplace functionality. By applying, you can co-create together with like-minded, passionate, and curious people who challenge each other.

Pre-launch, 4th of June 2021, Milan, Italy
Designathon, 19th - 29th of July 2021 (virtual event)
Launch of the Art Competition, 12th of August 2021 (virtual event)
Introduction of the Art Competition on 30 September 2021, in Milan, Italy in the context of the Pre-COP Youth event of the Italian co-presidency of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 for a wider audience
The Art Competition Winners Celebration in the context of the UN Climate Conference COP26, 11 November 2021, Glasgow, UK (virtual and physical event)

The DigitalArt4Climate marketplace will be a digital ecommerce solution where artists are able to present their digital and conventional art, and list it for sale directly, or through an auction of the art itself.

The technological pillars of the DigitalArt4Climate marketplace solution are supported by the Unique Network, an NFT infrastructure for functions within the Polkadot and Kusama proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain ecosystems. These PoS blockchains have an incredibly reduced energy footprint compared to other blockchain technologies, as it uses significantly reduced computational power to operate, and therefore less energy to run their computer systems.

The DigitalArt4Climate marketplace launched in aprox July 2022 will offer a self-determined revenue sharing between:

• artists (0-40 %)
• youth climate action projects which are 40 % plus the difference between 40 % and the share the artist decides to claim for him/herself
• and 20 % global technical and institutional Action for Climate Empowerment support infrastructure development, including World Environment Situation Room Youth engagement programme.

The creative economy covers the knowledge-based economic activities upon which the creative industries are based. These industries include advertising, architecture, arts and crafts, design, fashion, film, video, photography, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, software, computer games, electronic publishing, TV and radio, NFT and crypto art.

The creative industries are critical to the sustainable development agenda. They stimulate innovation and diversification, are an important factor in the burgeoning services sector, support entrepreneurship, and contribute to cultural diversity. 

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding, international treaty that commits countries to action on  climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and came into enforcement  on 4 November 2016. The goal of the Paris Agreement is to reduce global temperatures to1.5 degrees Celsius lower than compared to pre-industrial levels. To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries committed to reducing carbon emissions so much that there is a carbon neutral world by 2050.

The Paris Agreement is a landmark agreement in climate diplomacy because, for the first time, a binding agreement brought all nations into a common effort to to take radical steps to reverse the effects of climate change.

The International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges IAAI is a youth-focused United Nations-accredited civil society organization that is based in Klagenfurt am Wörtheersee, Austria.

The GloCha Global Challenges Action Empowerment Consortium is a flagship initiative of IAAI which is operating independently through the Global Challenges Foundation New York.

Glocha is a climate action empowerment ecosystem, some kind of United Nations for and with non-state actors, intellectual, technological and institutional infrastructure for all of society societal engagement and youth empowerment in the implementation of United Nations’ goals and programs and especially in the field of climate protection.

Unique Network is an infrastructure for the next generation of NFTs. Designed as an NFT chain for Kusama and Polkadot, Unique Network offers greater flexibility for anyone who wants to build their own NFT marketplace, NFT gallery, or NFT video game applications.Unique Network’s team built the first NFT collection on Polkadot, called Substrapunks, which won Hackusama in 2020, and also created Substrate’s pallet for NFTs.

Unique Network was created to solve  the ‘gas dilemma’ that was afflicting the primary network that NFTs have become popularized on (Ethereum). Unique Network aims to lower the education barrier for engaging and developing NFTs, while expanding the interoperability of NFTs across disparate blockchains. Unique Network sponsored the world’s first crypto exhibition called ‘Virtual Niche’ in Beijing, which featured prominent crypto artists such as Robert Alice and Beeple.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1978 as an outcome of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development held in Vancouver, Canada, in 1976. 

UN-Habitat operates in over 90 countries to promote transformative change in cities and human settlements through knowledge, policy advice, technical assistance, and collaborative action.

UN-Habitat seeks to enhance national and city level decision-makers’ understanding of the challenges facing urban youth, as well as of the opportunities for dealing with those challenges 

Though youth are vital to the prosperity of cities in the developing world, they still face many barriers — most notably underemployment and unemployment, and a lack of access to basic services such as healthcare and education — which prevent them from reaching their potential. UN-Habitat has worked with cities globally to overcome these barriers through the development of programmes that achieve three key objectives:

• Improve youths’ livelihoods by increasing their employability
• Decrease their vulnerabilities
• Integrate them fully into the economic and social life of the city

These programmes assist youth to become leaders in their communities and to lead healthy and productive lives. 

Social Alpha Foundation (SAF) is a a non-profit organization that focuses on supporting blockchain education, outreach, and projects to empower communities utilizing blockchain technology for social good. 

Since its founding in 2018, Social Alpha Foundation has funded and partnered with a number of organizations including the Blockchain Trust Accelerator, New America, United Nations Environment Program, Yale OpenLab, and The Bitfury Group. Most recently, SAF worked with Open Earth Foundation to organize the CarbonDrop, which organized an NFT art auction to raise $6.6 mln for Open Earth Foundation.  

Exquisite Workers is a social media platform and the largest and fastest growing NFT community of artists (currently 572 creators from 50 countries) with the ultimate goal of creating a more humane society through empowering creators to utilize innovative technologies and by bringing the Exquisite Corpse tradition online and on blockchain.

Exquisite Corpse, the immortal Surrealists’ game, is the library of wisdom and it teaches that each next individual contribution to the collective expression hugely counts. Exquisite Workers is the creator and global ambassador of the "NFT to stay" mission and partners with FlashBack NFT ticketing platform, BeInCrypto, Open Earth Foundation, SNA Displays, Morpheus project, Unique Network, NFTsTips among others. Featured on front page of OpenSea, NFT Art Week in Beijing, China and Global NFT Summit 2021.

Palette69 is an official Designathon partner. It is a design services company from India founded in 2015. With allies in the UK, US and India, it offers diverse creative solutions from Gamification, UX/UI to Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Branding, Videos and Advertising. With more than 100 clients globally, Palette69 has worked with Bayer, World Remit, Weill Cornell University among others.

Palette69 offers a unique combination of excellence in behavioral science and systems design solutions, which has been recognized as industry standard practice around the world.
The core team counts with more than 3 decades of experience working in different segments of entertainment from Movies, Games and Corporate Branding. Palette69 is currently launching an NFT ecosystem named Boolien which aims to bridge creators and wide audiences.