Payne Institute Identifies EarnDLT's Quantified Emission Token as AI-Ready, ISO-Aligned Compliance Architecture for EU Methane Regulation

Independent research finds that agentic, token-based MRV infrastructure resolves the complexity and cost barriers that have long impeded environmental compliance in cross-border energy trade.

New York, NY – April 17, 2026 — EarnDLT today announced the publication of an independent study by the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines identifying EarnDLT's Quantified Emission Token for LNG (QET-LNG) as a machine-readable, AI-ready, and ISO-aligned compliance architecture for the EU Methane Regulation and a broader set of environmental disclosure requirements shaping global energy trade.

The study, Tracking and Transacting Clean Natural Gas: Operationalizing Environmental Attribute Tokens (April 7, 2026), by Payne Institute researchers Liam O'Byrne and Brad Handler, examines how the QET-LNG translates complex, multi-jurisdictional MRV obligations into a standardized, interoperable, and auditable data layer that can travel with every cargo.

The EU Methane Regulation (Reg. EU 2024/1787) imposes phased import-facing obligations, including MRV equivalence by January 2027, annual methane-intensity reporting from August 2028, and maximum methane-intensity thresholds for new contracts from August 2030. Its preference for trace-and-claim documentation has raised legitimate questions about whether the industry has the infrastructure to comply at a commercial scale.

The Payne Institute study concludes that it does. The QET-LNG encodes verified carbon intensity values, ISO-aligned methodological provenance under ISO 14067 and ISO 14064-3, and a cryptographically secured chain of custody in a structured, machine-readable JSON schema. The token is also measurement-standard agnostic, accepting upstream data from recognized North American MRV frameworks, including OGMP 2.0, MiQ, NGSI, OneFuture, and ISO 14067, and normalizing outputs into a consistent structure.

Just as importantly, EarnDLT's AI-driven tools automate the measurement, verification, and minting of QET-LNG tokens, making production straightforward and cost-effective for producers of any scale. As the study notes, an EU importer that receives QET-LNG certificates can satisfy MRV equivalence requirements without requiring suppliers to change their existing reporting methodologies. In practical terms, that removes the cost and complexity that have long been cited as barriers to compliance.

The study also identifies the convergence of environmental tokenization and agentic AI as a defining development for energy markets. As autonomous agents play larger roles in procurement, compliance verification, and reporting, digital artifacts that embed full methodological provenance in a DID-compliant, machine-readable structure become foundational.

EarnDLT's QET-LNG is built for that environment. Through its integration with Greentruth, buyers and trading counterparties can deploy AI agents that autonomously measure, verify, mint, discover, evaluate, transact, and retire verified emission certificates in real time, materially reducing transaction friction, audit cost, and counterparty risk.

"The Payne Institute's analysis makes clear that the infrastructure question for EU methane compliance has been answered," said EarnDLT CEO Aaron Lohmann. "The QET-LNG gives producers, importers, traders, and regulators a single, verifiable, machine-consumable evidence artifact that satisfies trace-and-claim requirements regardless of the MRV framework a producer uses."

About EarnDLT

EarnDLT's blockchain-based enterprise software enables energy and commodity companies to quantify, tokenize, and transact on supply chain carbon intensity, in partnership with the emissions data marketplace Greentruth. Its compliant EAC registry supports certificate issuance, transfer, and retirement for producers, importers, traders, and corporate buyers. For more information, visit earndlt.com/qet-lng or read the full Payne Institute study here.

‍

Media Contact:

Monica Spiteri | Head of Operations
EarnDLT
‍monica@earndlt.com | 877-905-EARN (3276)