Contribution Terms

These Contribution Terms are entered into between Single.Earth OÜ, a company registered in Estonia (registration number 14873080) with registered address at Volta str. 1, 10412 Tallinn, Estonia, (“Single.Earth” or “we”) and a Contributor that registers themselves on Single.Earth platform (“Contributor” or “you”). Single.Earth and the Contributor are also referred to as the Parties.
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Single.Earth and the Contributor are deemed to have entered into these Contribution Terms when the Contributor accepts the terms and conditions of this contract by clicking ‘I Accept’ on the Single.Earth platform and Single.Earth grants the Contributor access to the Platform.

These Contribution Terms are an annex to the General Terms of Service of Single.Earth. In these Contribution Terms, the capitalized terms and expressions shall have the meaning given to them in the General Terms of Service, unless specifically defined otherwise in these terms.

Background

(A)   Single.Earth and the Contributor share a common goal of conserving the natural environment through maintaining and improving the provision of ecosystem services (namely carbon sequestration in biomass) and ecosystem integrity (function, structure, and composition of ecosystems, i.e., biodiversity) on planet Earth. With this we help to halt climate change and biodiversity loss - the most critical global challenge of our time;
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(B)   Single.Earth is operating a platform which brings together landowners owning or managing the natural environments, on the one hand, and persons who want to financially contribute to the conservation of these natural environments, on the other hand;
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(C)   as part of its services, Single.Earth operates a Digital Twin of nature and models through which it assesses gross carbon removal in biomass on a specific land area pre-qualified as biodiverse. The described assessment is made regarding the lands that are registered with Single.Earth and is carried out in accordance with the Science Whitepaper made available on Single.Earth website. The Assessment is carried out continuously and the results of the assessment together with the land information are recorded by using blockchain technology, i.e. a predefined set of assessed ecosystem services and integrity represented in the form of digital units called tokens;
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(D)   the Contributor intends to make a financial contribution to achieve a positive impact on natural environments as being assessed by Single.Earth.

Against this background, the Parties agree on the following:

1.   Making a contribution?
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‍1.1   As a Contributor, you can make a monetary payment to the account of Single.Earth. 
On the Platform, you may freely choose the amount you want to contribute, provided however that we may set a minimum amount of a contribution or limit the amount that can be contributed. After you have confirmed the amount, you will be sent an invoice  with our bank account details and the payment deadline for executing the payment. The contribution amount must reach our account in euros. The amount credited to our bank account will be deemed as your payment to us (i.e. less any transfer fees and costs, if any).
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1.2   You may choose to make several contributions over time.
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1.3   In general, your contribution paid to us is non-refundable. You may claim a return of the contribution only if we have not been able to allocate (see clause 2.2 below) the contribution and issue a Contribution Certificate within the 2 (two) months period of us receiving the payment or if you terminate the Agreement in accordance with the General Terms of Service. In such cases, you are entitled to claim back the amount that has not been allocated by the time (less applicable fees and taxes). 
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2.   How Do We Use the Contribution?
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2.1   The aim of your nature-positive contribution is to reward the owners and managers of ecosystems for the services these ecosystems provide to us all and consequently, contribute to the preservation of these ecosystems.
Such ecosystems can be located anywhere all around the world, provided however, that the Landowners being rewarded must be our registered Users and we must be able to carry out the Assessment on such lands.
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2.2   Having received the contribution, we shall allocate the amount received (less applicable fees and taxes) among the Landowners at our discretion, both in terms of value and persons. However, although it is our discretion, the allocation is only made regarding ecosystems for which the Assessment has confirmed the provision of ecosystem services. NB! The allocation does not mean immediate payment to the Landowner(s) (see Clause 2.4 below).

The above means that your contribution, when made, is not directly tied to any specific land or Landowner but is a general contribution for the benefit of conservation of ecosystem services. Please contact us at onboarding@single.earth should you prefer to contribute to the conservation of ecosystems in a specific continent or region.

The above also means the amount and quality of ecosystem services supported by a contribution may vary across different ecosystems and over time.

2.3   For the purposes of avoiding double counting, the same ecosystem services for another contribution made by somebody else, we shall mark the included records as deleted, i.e. the tokens representing the assessed ecosystem service on certain lands are burned in the blockchain network. As a result, the same records of our Assessment cannot be allocated to any other contribution made (i.e. no-one else can claim to have made a contribution for the benefit of the same ecosystem services).

2.4   We shall make payments to the Landowners included in the allocations at least once per month.
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3.   Contribution Certificate

3.1   Based on each contribution, Single.Earth prepares and issues you a Contribution Certificate. The certificate is unique and issued only to you as the Contributor in return of your contribution. Your certificate also includes a unique ID, which confirms the amount of tokens burnt.

3.2   The Contribution Certificate describes how your contribution is important for the forest ecosystems receiving the allocation through the Platform, and how this all contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land) (as defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations Member States). Please note that the international and domestic environment and sustainability goals, or the interpretation of them, may change over time, and the exact wording of the certificate may change accordingly.

In addition, we stress once more that it is very important that you clearly understand what our Assessment is about and what is achieved by your contribution. For the avoidance of doubt, your contribution is not to be used for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions and should not be reported, advertised, or promoted as such. You may only claim to have achieved what is explicitly written on the Contribution Certificate.

3.3   The Certificate will be sent to your e-mail address in .pdf format within 2 (two) business days after the respective records of ecosystem services are deleted (i.e., the related tokens as records are burnt, see Clause 2.3 above for further details).
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4.   Fee
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Single.Earth is entitled to deduct a fee of no more than 10% (ten per cent) of the amount paid by you (inclusive of any applicable tax). The exact amount of the Single.Earth fee will be shown on the Platform on the site you can enter your contribution.Please note that Single.Earth may also receive a fee for the services provided to the Landowners and thus the aggregate money amount reaching the Landowners through the Platform is smaller.
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5.   Other Important Terms
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5.1   The General Terms of Service apply to matters not regulated in these Contribution Terms. Given that in connection with the Contribution Service no virtual asset services are provided to you, Section 5 of the General Terms of Service do not apply to these Contribution Terms. You will not be opened a Token Wallet and you will not receive any MERIT tokens.

5.2   In addition to the limitations on our liability under the General Terms of Service, you agree that we cannot accept any liability for fitness of Contribution Certificate for your particular purpose nor can we accept liability for how third parties understand or acknowledge the contribution made through Single.Earth. We accept liability only for correctness of the claims made on the Contribution Certificate and our activities carried out under the Concept Papers (as defined in the General Terms of Service).