1. introduction
In recent years, the demand for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) certifications has grown significantly as consumers, investors and regulators have demanded greater transparency and responsibility from companies. However, the global certification market faces challenges such as lack of credibility, high costs and greenwashing, making the need for a new model even more evident.
Kanna’s ESG Protocol emerged as a solution to validate producers and guarantee traceability and compliance in complex markets such as cannabis. However, its modular, blockchain-based structure allows it to go far beyond cannabis, being applicable to many other sectors that require trust and transparency in their production chains.
This article explores how Kanna’s ESG certification can be adapted for new markets, ensuring more secure, decentralized and efficient audits for sectors such as agribusiness, responsible mining, sustainable fashion, the pharmaceutical sector and carbon offsetting, etc. Shaping the future of decentralized certifications.
2. How Kanna’s ESG Certification Works
Kanna’s ESG certification is a decentralized auditing system based on blockchain that aims to validate and certify sustainable practices within the production chain. Unlike traditional certifiers, which are centralized and vulnerable to fraud and conflicts of interest, Kanna’s protocol allows information to be validated in a distributed manner, increasing transparency and reliability.
2.1 Decentralized Audit Process
Kanna’s certification system operates as follows:
- Registering on the Platform – The interested producer or company enters their information and starts the certification process.
- Providing Evidence – Documents, declarations and evidence of ESG practices are sent.
- Validation by the Community and Smart Oracles – The audit is carried out by members of the community and smart oracles programmed to validate the required criteria.
- Generation of the ESG Seal – After validation, the producer receives an ESG seal attesting to its compliance with good environmental, social and governance practices.
- Blockchain registration – Information is immutably stored on blockchain, guaranteeing total transparency and auditability.
2.2 Criteria assessed for certification
The criteria analyzed in Kanna’s ESG certification include factors such as:
- Environmental: Soil management, efficient consumption of resources, recycling and waste disposal.
- Social: Working conditions, diversity and inclusion, social programs and local impact.
- Governance: Anti-corruption policies, financial transparency, tax compliance and corporate governance.
Each certified company receives an ESG score, which can be adjusted and improved over time based on the continuous improvement of its practices.
2.3 Blockchain and Transparency in the Process
Blockchain is the core element of Kanna’s ESG certification. Unlike conventional certifiers, which are vulnerable to manipulation and conflicts of interest, the use of blockchain guarantees:
- Traceability: All certifications are recorded in a public and immutable ledger.
- Security: The process is protected by encryption, preventing tampering.
- Elimination of intermediaries: Certifications are validated by a decentralized network, without the need for a central trusted entity.
3. The need to expand into other markets
The global ESG certification market faces structural challenges that compromise its credibility, transparency and accessibility. Centralized models, high costs and the growing practice of greenwashing make it difficult to adopt reliable certifications, especially for small producers and emerging companies. By developing a decentralized blockchain-based protocol, Kanna proposes an innovative solution to make the certification process more transparent, accessible and efficient.
3.1 Problems in the Global ESG Certification Market
Currently, ESG certification suffers from a lack of reliable audits, high costs and operational inefficiency. Many companies create inflated ESG reports without real proof, generating distrust among investors and consumers. This reality undermines the credibility of the sector and reduces the positive impact of certifications.
- Greenwashing and Lack of Transparency
- According to a survey by PwC (2022), 42% of global companies are looking for blockchain solutions to improve their ESG certification and compliance processes due to growing mistrust over the veracity of environmental declarations.
- In Brazil, 98% of consumers believe that companies practice greenwashing, manipulating or exaggerating their sustainable credentials(Exame, 2023).
- Only 29% of Brazilian companies that report ESG initiatives undergo an independent external audit, according to Carta Capital. This means that most certifications can be manipulated without real validation.
- High Cost and Limited Accessibility
- The traditional ESG certification model is financially unviable for many businesses, as audits are conducted by large firms that charge high fees. This excludes small producers and start-ups from the market, making it difficult for them to access sustainable markets.
- Small and medium-sized producers, who already face reduced margins, find it difficult to obtain ESG certifications due to the high cost, leaving this process restricted to large corporations.
- Problems in the Carbon Credits Market
- The carbon credit sector is also facing credibility crises. Verra, the largest global certifier of carbon credits, was the subject of an investigation by Mongabay (2024) which revealed that 90% of the credits issued had no real impact on reducing emissions.
- This kind of scandal leads to a loss of investor confidence, discourages regenerative practices and harms companies that really do adopt sustainable measures.
Against this backdrop, Kanna proposes decentralized certification based on blockchain, guaranteeing an auditable, accessible and secure system. The use of a distributed model can solve these shortcomings and increase market confidence.
3.2 How Can Blockchain Solve These Problems?
Blockchain technology is one of the most promising tools for ensuring transparent and accessible ESG audits. Kanna’s decentralized certification offers significant advantages over traditional models:
✅ Immutability and Transparency: Each certification recorded on the blockchain is auditable and immutable, preventing manipulation and ensuring that the data is verifiable by any interested party.
✅ Multiple Independent Validations: Unlike traditional certifications, which depend on the reputation of a single auditor, Kanna allows several validators to confirm the veracity of the data.
✅ Cost reduction: The decentralized model eliminates intermediaries and significantly reduces certification costs, making it affordable for small and medium-sized producers.
✅ Fraud and Greenwashing Prevention: The blockchain prevents companies from manipulating information to artificially fit ESG criteria.
Kanna’s protocol is ready for expansion, and its flexibility allows new criteria to be inserted into the administrative system, adapting to different segments.
3.3 Which sectors can benefit from the Kanna Protocol?
The technology and methodology applied by Kanna can be easily adapted to other markets, guaranteeing reliable and accessible ESG certifications in various industries. Below, we highlight some of the sectors that can be positively impacted by the protocol:
- Agribusiness: Certification of crops such as coffee, soy and cocoa, guaranteeing sustainable traceability, transparency in the use of inputs and compliance with good environmental practices.
- Sustainable Mining: Validation of compliance with environmental regulations, labor rights and reduced impact in mineral exploitation.
- Sustainable Fashion: Guaranteeing the origin of materials, transparency in the supply chain and verification of fair working conditions.
- Pharmaceutical sector: Strict control of inputs, production traceability and compliance with environmental and health regulations.
- Carbon Credits: Decentralized validation of environmental projects to prevent fraud and increase confidence in the carbon market.
Kanna’s certification has already proven its efficiency in the cannabis sector, one of the commodities that suffers most from mistrust due to drug trafficking and a lack of clear regulation. By solving the transparency challenges in this sector, expanding to other industries becomes a natural step.
With a scalable protocol and a flexible administrative model, Kanna can serve new segments without the need for a technological overhaul, simply by adjusting the certification criteria.
The global ESG certification market is facing a credibility crisis due to a lack of transparency, high costs and deceptive practices such as greenwashing. Kanna proposes a decentralized solution based on blockchain, which eliminates intermediaries, reduces costs and makes the process auditable by multiple validators.
In addition, the protocol’s flexibility allows it to be adapted to different sectors, such as agribusiness, mining, sustainable fashion, pharmaceuticals and carbon credits. The transparency, traceability and cost savings provided by the blockchain ensure that Kanna’s certification system is more efficient, reliable and affordable than traditional models.
By solving the problem of trust in the cannabis production chain, Kanna is demonstrating its ability to expand into new markets, consolidating itself as a key pillar in the ESG certification revolution. 🚀
4. Preparing Kanna to Expand ESG Certification to New Markets
The ability to adapt and expand an ESG certification is essential in order to serve different sectors of the economy effectively and reliably. Kanna has already demonstrated its competence by structuring a certification that solves complex challenges in the cannabis market, a highly regulated sector full of mistrust. Now, the same technology and methodology can be applied to various other segments, while maintaining reliability, decentralization and accessibility.
Unlike traditional certification models, which are rigid and require lengthy restructuring processes to cater for new industries, Kanna’s ESG protocol is modular and flexible, allowing it to be quickly adapted to new market realities without compromising its credibility.
4.1 Modularity and Flexibility of the ESG Protocol
The great advantage of Kanna’s certification lies in the modularity of the protocol, which allows adjustments and customizations for different industries without the need for complex reformulations. The model was developed to ensure that different audit criteria can be configured according to the needs of each sector.
For example:
- In the agricultural sector, criteria such as soil management and the use of sustainable pesticides are essential for assessing the environmental impact of production.
- In the sustainable fashion industry, these criteria can be replaced by the use of recyclable materials, optimization in the production chain, social impact, etc?
- In the sustainable mining market, it is possible to include audits on the restoration of degraded areas and the treatment of toxic waste.
This modularity makes Kanna’s certification highly adaptable, without compromising the security, reliability and traceability of the information audited.
Another essential point is that the integration of new criteria does not require structural reformulation of the protocol. This means that if a new sector needs specific validations, it is enough to add new audit parameters to the system without changing the technological basis of the certification.
This model reduces the costs, time and complexity of adapting Kanna’s ESG certification to different industries, making it a superior alternative to traditional certifications.
4.2 Administrative system for new seals
One of the main distinguishing features of Kanna’s certification is the presence of a robust administrative system, which allows for the rapid configuration and launch of new ESG seals without the need to call in the technology team.
In practice, this means that companies and organizations wishing to implement ESG certifications in their respective sectors don’t have to go through lengthy and expensive bureaucratic processes.
✅ Creation of new audit criteria: The platform is prepared to receive the registration of new criteria, with a view to structuring new seals.
✅ Launching new seals independently: Kanna’s admin allows new seals to be configured for different industries without having to modify the protocol structure.
✅ Less dependence on traditional audits: As the model uses decentralized validation, the need for intermediaries and large auditing firms is reduced, reducing costs and increasing reliability.
With this system, Kanna positions itself as a scalable and replicable solution for different sectors of the economy, allowing any industry to structure a transparent and accessible ESG certification.
4.3 Comparison with Traditional Certifications
The table below highlights the advantages of Kanna’s ESG Protocol over traditional certification models:
| Features | Traditional Certification | ESG Kanna Protocol |
| Centralization | High | Low (decentralized) |
| Transparency | Low | High (blockchain) |
| Cost | High | Reduced |
| Certification time | Slow | Quickly |
| Accessibility for Small Producers | Restricted | Wide |
| Adapting to New Markets | Limited | Modular and scalable |
Traditional certification models are expensive, time-consuming and not very accessible to small and medium-sized producers. Kanna’s ESG Protocol, on the other hand, offers a transparent, decentralized and efficient solution, guaranteeing reliable certifications at a reduced cost and with greater accessibility.
4.4 Why is Kanna ready to expand?
Kanna’s ESG certification is not just a concept – it is already being used in the cannabis sector, guaranteeing reliability for one of the world’s most challenging markets. If Kanna’s technology can solve problems of transparency, traceability and reliability in a sector historically linked to drug trafficking and informality, its application to other segments is a natural and viable process.
The main factors proving that Kanna is ready to expand include:
🔹 Platform already operational: Kanna’s certification already works in the cannabis sector, guaranteeing that its structure is robust and validated in the market.
🔹 Scalable technology: The modular model allows new certifications to be created without the need for additional technical development.
🔹 Independent admin for creating seals: Companies and organizations can launch new certifications without depending on Kanna’s technical team.
🔹 Blockchain as a pillar of transparency: Unlike traditional certifications, which depend on the reputation of a single auditor, Kanna’s protocol guarantees multiple validations, increasing reliability.
🔹 Reduced costs for ESG certification: Small and medium-sized producers can access ESG certifications at a much more affordable cost.
Kanna is now ready to expand its certification to new markets, guaranteeing transparency, traceability and reliability for different sectors of the economy. 🚀
5. Opportunities for Expansion and New Business Fronts
Kanna’s decentralized ESG certification has already proven its worth within the cannabis sector and is now ready to extend its reach. As well as expanding into new markets, Kanna can establish strategic partnerships to strengthen its credibility, facilitate the adoption of the certification and ensure that its methodology adapts to different realities around the world.
Adoption of the protocol is not just limited to the private sector, but can also be incorporated by academic institutions, regulatory bodies and governments, increasing its relevance and socio-economic impact.
5.1 Strategic Partnerships: Universities, NGOs and Governments
The sustainable growth of any ESG certification depends on collaboration with renowned institutions, research centers, governments and third sector organizations. Kanna can structure strategic partnerships on different fronts, ensuring greater legitimacy, impact and global reach.
📌 Universities and Research Centers
Universities play a key role in advancing ESG standards, as they conduct scientific research, develop new methodologies and ensure that certification criteria evolve in line with market best practices.
Partnerships with universities can bring many benefits to Kanna’s ESG Protocol:
✅ Scientific validation – Universities can test and validate certification criteria, improving the protocol’s methodology.
✅ Development of new audit modules – Academic institutions can propose new specific criteria for different sectors.
✅ Support for decentralized auditing – Universities can act as validators within the protocol, helping to ensure the reliability of certifications.
✅ Encouraging research into decentralized ESG certifications – The academic partnership can encourage the development of studies into the effectiveness of the blockchain certification model.
In addition, students and researchers can be trained to audit Kanna seals, making the certification a real case for study and application in the market.
📌 Governments and Regulators
The adoption of ESG certifications recognized by governments and regulatory bodies can accelerate the credibility and adoption of the Kanna Protocol in different sectors. Many countries are creating stricter environmental legislation and demanding real proof of good sustainable practices.
With Kanna, governments can:
✅ Implement affordable ESG certifications for small and medium-sized producers, democratizing access to quality seals.
✅ Strengthen environmental and social monitoring with transparent and verifiable blockchain audits.
✅ Create fiscal and tax incentives for companies that adopt verified and traceable ESG certifications.
📌 NGOs and Third Sector Organizations
NGOs and institutions focused on sustainability and social impact are natural allies of Kanna’s ESG protocol. Partnerships with these organizations ensure that certifications are effective and meet the real needs of society and the environment.
NGOs can:
✅ Helping to formulate specific ESG criteria for different segments.
✅ Validate audits within the protocol and ensure compliance with international standards.
✅ Use Kanna certification to lobby for environmental and social public policies.
In this way, Kanna can work collaboratively with organizations that already have a consolidated impact, strengthening the credibility and adoption of the certification.
5.2 Global Expansion: Adaptability of the Protocol to New Countries
Blockchain technology offers a unique advantage for ESG certifications: global transparency and decentralized auditing. This means that Kanna can operate in different countries without regulatory barriers, making its certification an international benchmark.
🌎 How Can Kanna Certification Be Applied Globally?
1️⃣ Flexible Standards for Every Market
The protocol can be adjusted according to the requirements of each country, ensuring compliance with local regulations. Criteria such as “carbon footprint” or “tax compliance” can be configured according to the needs of each region.
2️⃣ International compliance
Certification can be integrated with global regulations such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the European Union’s sustainable finance standards (EU Taxonomy) and the SEC’s ESG guidelines (USA).
3️⃣ Adoption by Multinational Companies
Organizations operating in different countries can use Kanna certification to standardize their ESG auditing globally, ensuring reliable traceability.
4️⃣ Reducing Fraud and Greenwashing
Blockchain-based certification reduces manipulation of ESG data, allowing for reliable and transparent audits.
📍 Use Cases by Region
- 🇪🇺 European Union: Companies can use the protocol to meet the environmental requirements of the EU Green Deal.
- 🇧🇷 Brazil: Expansion into agribusiness and corporate ESG, following Central Bank regulations on sustainable finance.
- 🇨🇳 China: Companies exporting to international markets can adopt the Kanna certification as an ESG seal of reliability.
- 🇺🇸 USA: American multinationals can use the protocol to trace their production chains more efficiently.
The global scalability of Kanna certification positions the protocol as one of the most innovative in the sector, allowing companies, governments and institutions to use a reliable, decentralized and fraud-proof system.
5.3 Kanna Certification as the ESG Standard for the Future
The expansion of Kanna’s certification to universities, governments and new international markets places the protocol as a benchmark for the future of ESG audits.
The differentials that make this possible include:
🔹 Modularity of the protocol: Simple adaptation to any sector or country.
🔹 Blockchain transparency: Public and decentralized audits, eliminating fraud.
🔹 Affordability and democratization: Small producers can access ESG certifications without excessive bureaucracy.
🔹 Partnerships with universities and NGOs: Scientific validation and continuous improvement of the protocol.
🔹 Global scalability: Adaptation to different legislation and international standards.
By combining technology, innovation and strategic partnerships, Kanna is positioning itself as one of the leading ESG certification protocols of the future, ready to transform the global sustainability market. 🚀🌍
6. Conclusion
Kanna’s decentralized ESG certification represents a significant innovation in the sector, offering a scalable, transparent and accessible model for different industries and global markets. By using blockchain technology as the pillar of the audit, the protocol eliminates intermediaries, reduces costs and guarantees multiple layers of independent validation, combating fraud and greenwashing.
This differential allows companies and producers, regardless of sector, to adopt a reliable and auditable seal, while the modularity of the system guarantees adaptation to any type of ESG criteria required. More than a technological breakthrough, Kanna proposes a revolution in the way ESG certifications are conducted, democratizing access to compliance and ensuring that any individual can independently validate and verify information.
With the capacity to expand into new markets, partnerships with universities, governments and private sector companies, Kanna is positioning itself as an ESG protocol ready to become a global standard. Its proven methodology in the certification of cannabis crops, one of the most challenging sectors in terms of transparency and credibility, demonstrates that its application in other industries is not only feasible, but necessary.
By bringing an affordable and reliable solution for ESG traceability, Kanna strengthens confidence in the sustainable market and enables any organization, regardless of its size, to prove its positive impact in an auditable and transparent way. 🚀