MeetZero: Driving Water Positivity With Blockchain

The world has a water crisis. By the end of this decade, demand for fresh water will exceed the available supply by 40 percent, according to the UN.
 
People and communities around the global will be hit hard – as will businesses and economies. Data centers, industrial operations, manufacturing plants, energy generation, and much more all rely on water.
 
That’s why water positivity must be at the top of corporate sustainability agendas.
 
Put simply, water positivity is a commitment organizations make to return more water to the environment than they consume. This includes watershed restoration, wetland conservation, groundwater recharge, and other measures that regenerate rather than just preserve freshwater ecosystems. And, not only can it help to preserve dwindling fresh water supplies, but for corporations it can have a significant impact on operational efficiencies, reputation, regulatory compliance, and long-term viability.  
 
To support water positivity, and help to address climate action and environmental accountability, NTT DATA EUROPE & LATAM (hereafter referred to as “NTT DATA”) has developed a technological platform called MeetZero – a fully digital, blockchain-powered platform for environmental asset trading. Bridging regulatory compliance, sustainability impact, and business value, MeetZero enables the management and promotion of water positive projects by registering new initiatives, independently verifying and certifying associated tokenized credits, and facilitating their trade through a digital marketplace.

Blockchain and automation: The future of transparent water positivity

The integration of environmental regulations and economic imperatives has reshaped business strategy. Sustainability is no longer optional. It has become a regulatory and reputational necessity.
 
Regulatory bodies are demanding more accountability, and consumers and investors increasingly favor companies making a true environmental commitment.
 
Environmental asset markets have emerged as an important way to help organizations meet these expectations. These markets assign financial value to environmentally beneficial projects such as carbon reduction or water regeneration and enable organizations to trade “credits” generated by those activities. Companies can purchase the credits to offset their own negative environmental impacts, helping them meet both regulatory requirements and voluntary ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) goals.
 
In carbon markets, for instance, companies that exceed their emissions limits can buy credits from others that have reduced emissions below their targets. However, concerns over transparency, double counting, and administrative inefficiencies have plagued the system.
 
MeetZero addresses these challenges. It provides a highly automated platform for supporting water positivity trading markets through:

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  Project registration

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  Independent monitoring and verification

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  Credit certification

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  Transparent trading via a blockchain ledger

The solution complies with the frameworks set by the Paris Agreement, particularly Article 6, which emphasizes the importance of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) to ensure environmental integrity. Although the Paris Agreement applies to climate change, MeetZero’s water positivity platform complies by automating MRV processes and using tokenization backed by distributed ledger technology. MeetZero ensures that every water credit traded is traceable, unique and fraud-resistant.

Measurable impact in water conservation and sustainability

It is critical for businesses to measure the impact of their sustainability projects using verified data. MeetZero provides a clear way to do this; in particular, it enables Water Positive Credits (CAPs), which recognize and certify companies’ efforts to reduce their water footprint and restore water ecosystems.

MeetZero supports the generation and certification of CAPs, ensuring they are real, additional and permanent. The credits are then tokenized and stored on a blockchain ledger, eliminating the risk of double counting or fraudulent claims.

One key initiative was conducted in partnership with the environmental management company Veolia, co-promoter of Act4Water – a standard developed to enable water footprint offsetting while promoting projects that generate a positive impact on water and the environment. Under the standard, a company’s water offset projects are assessed by independent experts and, if found to be compliant, granted a Water+ label. The requirements for the standard are rigorous, and it provides a common and transparent guideline for reporting and offsetting an organization’s water footprint.   

Together, Veolia and MeetZero created Spain’s first voluntary water credit market, which generated 13,065 Water Positive Credits, each representing 1,000 liters of water saved or returned to the environment – for a total of 13,065,000 liters.

NTT’s underlying technology platform facilitated not only the registration and certification of these credits but also their market exchange, using blockchain to create a transparent and verifiable system for companies to demonstrate their sustainability efforts. 

The European market for water-positive initiatives is currently valued at €1.763 trillion, and NTT DATA projects a €35 million business opportunity for MeetZero over the next three years. This value reflects not just potential revenues from trading credits, but also the strategic benefit of providing compliance solutions and enabling measurable ESG leadership.

Measuring the impact of water positivity projects

Too often, sustainability efforts stall at the strategy or commitment phase. MeetZero is engineered to close that gap by translating climate pledges into tangible environmental and financial outcomes.

In addition to the 13 million+ litres of verified water savings through water positive initiatives in Spain, dozens of companies are now actively reducing their carbon and water footprints. MeetZero has also enabled verified, tokenized credits that eliminate ambiguity and provide clear ESG accounting, and has expanded into both voluntary and regulated credit markets.

The value of such an approach is not only environmental but also economic. Environmental asset trading helps companies control investment costs, mitigate regulatory risks, and generate new revenue streams, all while making credible progress toward climate goals.

NTT DATA’s foundational role in MeetZero

NTT integrates deep environmental expertise, advanced technology, and a business-first mindset to deliver sustainability solutions.

This includes:

End-to-end platform capability

From project registration to trading, MeetZero simplifies and accelerates all stages of the credit lifecycle.

Blockchain and tokenization

Ensures secure, tamper-proof tracking of credit generation and ownership.

Partnerships with leaders

Collaborations with organizations like Veolia position NTT at the center of growing environmental markets.

Integrated ESG strategy consulting

Beyond technology, NTT provides clients with the tools and support to turn climate goals into credible, operational plans, covering risk assessment, net-zero strategy design, carbon accounting, and natural capital valuation.

NTT’s platform empowers companies not only to report their impact but to scale it, turning sustainability from a cost center into a strategic asset.

A blueprint for scalable sustainability 

The global shift toward environmental accountability is accelerating. As regulatory frameworks become more demanding and stakeholders expect greater transparency, the need for reliable, scalable and efficient solutions will only grow.

A trusted digital infrastructure, MeetZero is transforming how companies manage their obligations to the environment and to their investors, customers and other stakeholders.

And, crucially, it is addressing water scarcity – one of the most critical issues of the climate change crisis – for the good of people, prosperity, and the planet.

The MeetZero project was recently honored with a Grand Prize award at the NTT Group Sustainability Conference.

• Net Zero
• Protecting Nature