# Introducing Return, an automated on-chain offsetting subscription By [Return Protocol](https://paragraph.com/@return-protocol) · 2022-01-29 --- The Problem ----------- Our planet is at a crisis point. Carbon dioxide is in abundance in our atmosphere, leading to global warming and the subsequent detrimental effects. Earth’s most valuable species of animals, critical to the balance of nature, are dying and at our current trajectory, by 2050 more plastic will inhabit our oceans than fish. These impacts have all been accelerated drastically by humanities activities. Environmentally offsetting your off-chain transactions and activity is inconvenient, time consuming and opaque. You transact from a bank account, usually through a website which mostly doesn’t provide offsetting. If offsetting is offered, you have to trust the website is purchasing a valid and applicable offset to cover your transaction, which is hard to determine due to a lack of information. In most cases when a website doesn’t provide offsetting, you find a voluntary offsetting platform and guess the amount of emissions you have created. It’s a clunky, inaccurate and time consuming process. Leading most users to avoid offsetting all-together. Enter, Web3. A transparent operating system empowering builders to innovate through composability and empowering consumers to own and participate, rather than simply use. Enabled by wallets, smart contracts, coins and tokens. In late 2021, two projects called Toucan and Klima DAO launched, kickstarting regenerative finance (ReFi) on the blockchain. Suddenly, off-chain environmental credits (starting with carbon) could be bridged on-chain and tokenised, with all the data there for everyone to see. Although, transacting on the blockchain can be inefficient and energy intensive. Far more so than off-chain. This is because of validation processes such as Proof of Work and the block space available. For example, A single transaction on the Ethereum mainnet has the carbon footprint equivalent to that of nearly 200,000 Visa transactions. Although, innovation is continuing, with solutions such as Layer 2 scaling solutions. At Return, we believe blockchain technology is the most important innovation this century. So, as efficiencies develop, we need to enable environmental neutrality as quickly and easily as possible to ensure the risk to our planet is minimised whilst enabling such innovation to sustainably continue. With this new level of transparency, anybody can see a single transactions energy level, calculate its environmental impact and choose their preferred tokenised offset based upon the actual environmental project it’s supporting. Then, purchase it in an accurate quantity themselves. Even providing choices for use of the offset once owned, such as staking with Klima DAO (providing financial return) or ensuring an offset is completed by burning it yourself. But, each of these steps alone currently require an adequate technical understanding to complete, never mind completing every one individually. `So, why wouldn’t we simplify the entire process by automating it? This is how Return was born.` The Solution ------------ ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d1ee98d1e51cc973c89a58b0a5407b6fb59012cef6831710e310eb50c042db18.jpg) Offsetting Subscription: A completely automated subscription allowing accurate and passive on-chain environmental offsetting across every blockchain. Simply purchase the offset NFT and store in your on-chain wallet: 1. Purchase the Return NFT — Purchase the Return NFT as a lifetime wallet subscription. You receive access to your Return dashboard 2. Personalise your offsetting preferences — Choose your offset (BCT or PRC for example), preferred type of project to fund within a specific offset and the percentage of each transaction you would like to offset. Then, choose what happens to your offset once purchased (Burn, Stake, Hodl or Mint). 3. Enjoy an environmentally offset wallet — Make your transactions as normal, see an “offset fee” in relation to a transactions gas fee and track all progress in your Return dashboard. Environmentally neutral and negative transactions are achieved, ensuring transacting on the blockchain can be more sustainable than off-chain. Return Protocol --------------- At Return, we’re enabling mass adoption of climate finance in Web3 to make blockchain transactions environmentally sustainable. To achieve this, we’re launching the Return Protocol: an environmental offsetting process for on-chain wallets. By automatically offsetting an on-chain wallet’s transactions across any blockchain, we enable a net-positive climate impact on our planet. We aim to accelerate an environmentally positive blockchain for all, by allowing on-chain wallets to drive capital to planet positive projects in a simple, automated and financially beneficial way. Making on-chain transaction more sustainable than off-chain. Follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ReturnProtocol) to be an early contributor. --- *Originally published on [Return Protocol](https://paragraph.com/@return-protocol/introducing-return-an-automated-on-chain-offsetting-subscription)*