Terms of Service
Claim provisions · R3CKON · R3CKON LLC
1. What the service does
Estimates the usage-phase environmental footprint of AI inference and retires third-party-issued environmental certificates against those estimates.
In plain language: you send us metadata about your organization's AI API usage (model names, token counts, regions, timestamps; never prompts or completions). We estimate the water, carbon, and energy footprint of that usage, and we purchase and retire environmental certificates against the estimate for your benefit: Water Restoration Certificates, carbon credits, and Renewable Energy Certificates. Each month you receive a certificate documenting exactly what was retired, and one consolidated invoice.
R3CKON LLC is a reseller and merchant of record. We are not a project developer, not a registry, and we never proxy, gate, or touch your actual AI traffic. If service lapses, your AI tools are unaffected.
1a. Free accounts: what they include, and what they do not
A free account estimates the usage-phase footprint of the AI usage you send, from token metadata alone, and shows every figure with its 90 percent range. Estimation is limited to 10 million billable tokens per calendar month. Usage beyond that limit is still recorded and shown, but it is not estimated until the account moves to a tier that estimates it, at which point the recorded usage is estimated retroactively.
A free account retires nothing. No environmental certificate is acquired, retired, or held for a free account, and no certificate record is issued. Nothing about a free account supports any statement that anything was funded, restored, reduced, or generated.
The claim license in section 4 does not apply to free accounts, because that license attaches to retirement records that free accounts do not have. A free account holder may state an estimate as an estimate, with its 90 percent range and the methodology version, exactly as the console presents it, and may say that the estimate was produced by R3CKON. That is the whole of it. Where the monthly limit has been reached, any statement of that month's figure must say that it covers part of the month, because it does.
Free accounts are provided as they are, with no service level, and may be changed or discontinued with notice to the account's email address. We may suspend a free account that is used to attack or overload the service.
Deletion. You may delete a free account from the console at any time. Deletion is immediate and irreversible and removes your account, usage records, estimates, stored credentials, and user record. A signup that is never completed is removed after 30 days. See the Privacy Policy.
2. How it works
- Metering. Usage arrives as metadata-only events. Content-shaped payloads are rejected at the API boundary; this is an architectural invariant, not a policy.
- Estimation. A versioned, public methodology (currently 1.1.0, published at /methodology) converts usage into footprint estimates. Every figure carries a stated 90 percent plausible range, and every estimate records the exact coefficient values used, so historical numbers remain reproducible. Covers the usage-phase (inference) footprint only. Excludes model training, hardware manufacturing beyond the amortized embodied-carbon adder described in the methodology, network transport, and end-user devices.
- Accrual. Estimates accrue as obligations in a double-entry ledger at the 90th percentile of the methodology's modeled parameter distribution (P90) for every account: deliberate conservatism headroom over the central estimate. The interval reflects stated parameter uncertainty, not every source of uncertainty. Accrual at P90 is labeled exactly that way, never as guaranteed coverage.
- Retirement. Each monthly close retires whole registry units against the accrued obligation: prepaid buffer inventory first, then supplier orders for any shortfall. Fractions carry forward. Certificates report confirmed retirements only; a funded order awaiting supplier confirmation stays in the ledger and is not available to support any public statement until confirmed.
- Documentation. The monthly certificate has four parts: the confirmed retirements with project identities; the estimate that sized them, with its range; required disclosures; and a summary of the claim language the record supports.
3. The nature of estimates
Footprint figures are modeled estimates generated by the versioned methodology. They are not measurements, they carry a stated plausible range that often spans more than an order of magnitude, and they are not suitable for regulatory, statutory, or assurance-standard reporting without independent review. R3CKON LLC warrants that the methodology was applied as published; it does not warrant that any estimate corresponds to actual physical consumption or emissions. The retirements themselves are exact: whole registry instruments, documented per certificate.
4. What you may say: the claim license
Customers receive a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to reference their Certificates in their own communications, conditioned on using only the approved language in Schedule A and including the required disclosures in Schedule B. Statements outside Schedule A are outside the license. The approved claims are activity claims: they state what was funded and retired, identified by project and vintage. They are specific, verifiable, and documented, which is what survives regulatory and litigation scrutiny.
Schedule A: Approved claim language
| Surface | Approved template |
|---|---|
| Product description | Estimates the usage-phase environmental footprint of AI inference and retires third-party-issued environmental certificates against those estimates. |
| Water retirement | Retired {n} Water Restoration Certificates, representing {n x 1000} gallons of water restoration as documented by {supplier}. |
| Carbon retirement | Retired {n} carbon credits ({n} tCO2e), issued under {registry} as project {projectCode}, vintage {vintage}. |
| REC retirement | Purchased and retired {n} Renewable Energy Certificates ({n} MWh) from {resourceType} generation, vintage {vintage}. |
| Estimate disclaimer | Footprint figures are modeled estimates, not measurements. Central estimate {p50} {unit}; 90 percent plausible range {p05} to {p95}. Most providers do not disclose per-token energy, water, or emissions. Methodology {version}: {url} |
| Water contribution share (personal tier) | Funded a {gallons}-gallon share ({percent} percent) of the retirement of {n} Water Restoration Certificates ({reference}), as documented by {supplier}. |
| Water geography | Water restoration occurs in the project watershed identified above, which may differ from the watersheds where AI infrastructure consumes water. |
| Embed geography note | Restoration occurs in the project watersheds identified on the linked record, which may differ from where AI infrastructure consumes water. |
| Backfill dating | retired upon purchase, sized against estimated usage from 2025-09-01 to 2026-09-01 |
| Scope note | Covers the usage-phase (inference) footprint only. Excludes model training, hardware manufacturing beyond the amortized embodied-carbon adder described in the methodology, network transport, and end-user devices. |
Schedule B: Required disclosures
| Disclosure | Renders when |
|---|---|
| Estimate range and disclaimer | Whenever any estimate figure is shown, in the same visual block. |
| Water geography statement | Whenever a water retirement figure is shown. |
| Pooled-retirement share disclosure (whole certificates purchased, shares allocated) | Whenever a fractional contribution share is shown. |
| Published activity records carry the estimate range, the issuer material-connection statement, and a link to the verifiable record | Whenever a customer publishes the shareable activity record. |
| REC resource type and supplier Green-e® or CRS disclosure | Whenever a REC figure is shown; never in the same block as any carbon quantity. |
| Carbon project identity (registry, project, vintage) | Whenever a carbon retirement is shown. |
| FTC 260.5 timing disclosure | When any retired credit funds a reduction occurring two or more years after purchase. |
| Unclassified-model disclosure | When unclassified model traffic exceeds 15 percent of period tokens. |
| Hidden-reasoning methodology note | When the hidden-reasoning multiplier applied to any usage in the period. |
| Not-an-audit statement | On every certificate. |
Prohibited claims
Customers will not state or imply that their AI usage, products, services, or organization is of neutral, reduced, or positive environmental impact on the basis of the service; will not describe any footprint as having been cancelled or neutralized; will not describe estimates as measurements; and will not describe the footprint estimate as verified or audited (verification attaches to the certificate record, never to the estimate). Prohibited phrasing includes, without limitation:
fully covered · carbon neutral · carbon-neutral · climate neutral · co2 neutral · net zero · net-zero · zero emission · water neutral · water positive · net water positive · water balanced · footprint-free · impact-free · offsets your footprint · offsets your emissions · offset your · cancels out · neutralizes · compensates for · makes up for · zeroes out · nullifies · green ai · clean ai · sustainable ai · eco-friendly · environmentally friendly · climate friendly · guilt-free · 100 percent renewable ai · 100% renewable ai · we measure · measured footprint · actual footprint · exact footprint · verified footprint · we restored · we have restored · r3ckon restored · tahosa systems restored · restored by r3ckon
5. One claim per attribute, no double counting
Each retired attribute may be claimed once, by the customer it was retired for, and in no other program, registry, framework response, or public statement. Customers will not claim attributes already claimed on their behalf by a cloud or model provider, and will disclose on request any provider-level renewable-energy or carbon claims covering the same consumption. One overlap deserves candor: if your model provider already reports its market-based emissions as zero by matching annual RECs, a separate REC retirement here covering the same consumption arguably claims the same megawatt hour twice. Our methodology uses location-based accounting partly for this reason, and we disclose the overlap rather than paper over it.
6. Retirement mechanics, pending orders, and water geography
R3CKON LLC purchases and retires credits in its own name for the customer's benefit; customers do not take title to or hold any certificate or registry instrument. Whether the supplier names the customer as beneficiary of record is stated per supplier relationship; where a supplier cannot, that limitation and its consequence for customer claims will be disclosed here before any sale.
Personal tier: pooled retirements. No individual's monthly footprint reaches a whole registry unit, so personal-tier obligations are pooled. Each period, R3CKON LLC sums personal accounts' accrued water obligations, purchases and retires whole Water Restoration Certificates against the pool, and allocates each account a proportional share of the named retirement; the certificate issued to the account states the retirement reference, the account's share in gallons and as a percentage, and the pooling mechanics. Shares of any one retirement are never allocated beyond its whole, and the unallocated remainder of an account's obligation carries forward to that account's next period rather than being lost or reassigned. The share statement in Schedule A is the claim this mechanism supports.
A funded order awaiting supplier confirmation is exactly that: Funded; retirement pending supplier confirmation. Expected by the date shown in the console. Not yet available to support any public statement. If fulfillment fails, the remedy is substitution with credits of equal or better vintage and verification, or refund at the customer's election, within a stated window.
Water restoration occurs in the project watershed identified above, which may differ from the watersheds where AI infrastructure consumes water. Customers will not claim local or watershed-specific benefit absent project-specific support; water benefits are not hydrologically fungible across basins.
No badge or seal use; EU notice. The R3CKON name, wordmark, three-bar mark, and certificate stamp may not be used as a badge, seal, trust mark, or label on customer products, packaging, or marketing. The certificate may be reproduced only in full and unaltered. In particular, customers marketing to consumers in the European Union must not display the certificate or any mark derived from it as a sustainability label: from 27 September 2026, Directive (EU) 2024/825 prohibits sustainability labels that are not based on a qualifying certification scheme, and this certificate is a service record from a paid provider, not an independent certification.
The one licensed publication: the activity record. As a narrow exception to the paragraph above, customers may publish the activity record R3CKON generates for their account, using the embed provided in the console and without alteration. That record is licensed because of what it is: it states what was funded and retired in the approved language, carries the estimate with its 90 percent range and disclaimer, and links to a page where the underlying retirement can be checked. It is a record of activity, not a label, seal, or mark of certification, and it must not be presented as one, including by cropping it, restyling it, extracting a figure from it, or placing it so as to imply certification of a product or of the customer. R3CKON may revoke a shared record at any time, and the customer may stop sharing at any time; either takes effect immediately wherever the embed appears.
Internal instrument overlap. The renewable energy and carbon categories are sized from the same estimated electricity: a REC covers a megawatt hour's generation attribute while a carbon credit is sized from that same electricity's estimated emissions. Retiring both funds two distinct instruments against one energy quantity; it is disclosed here and on certificates precisely so it cannot be mistaken for two independent remedies.
Wind-down. If an account is closed or the service is discontinued, buffer inventory attributable to that account's basket purchases will, within ninety days, either be retired with attribution to the account or have its disposition disclosed to the account's billing email.
Retirement basket. Each paid tier retires a fixed monthly basket of environmental certificates, published on the pricing page and pinned as of the stated methodology version and supplier pricing. The basket is sized above the accrual-basis footprint of the tier's full token allowance in every category, may only grow or hold for a subscriber within a paid term, and is reviewed at methodology version changes and supplier repricing, with changes applying prospectively and with notice. Fractional remainders carry on the account's ledger until they retire whole. The basket is a defined product allowance; it is not a representation about footprint coverage, which is governed by the estimate basis stated on the certificate. Certificates issued under prior pricing models carry the disclosure line of the model they were issued under.
6a. Subscription renewal and cancellation
Paid tiers are monthly subscriptions billed through Stripe that renew automatically at the then-current price for the tier until canceled. Customers may cancel at any time from the console's billing portal; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, with no cancellation fee. The estimation service for the period already paid continues to that period's end, and certificates for retirements already funded are issued regardless of cancellation. Renewal terms are also stated on the pricing page before purchase and in the confirmation email after it.
7. Methodology changes; no restatement
The methodology may be revised prospectively, with notice and a public changelog. Retirements already executed are never reversed, and prior-period estimates are not recomputed, because credit retirement is irreversible. A revision that would have materially increased a prior obligation is disclosed, not back-billed.
8. California AB 1305
California law imposes independent website disclosure obligations on entities that purchase or use voluntary carbon offsets and make carbon-related environmental claims.R3CKON LLC publishes its own seller disclosures at /disclosures and makes project-level data available to customers, but does not assume customers' obligations. Staying within Schedule A is designed to avoid making the kinds of claims that trigger the buyer-side provision; that design intent is not a legal opinion, and customers should consult their own counsel.
9. Conformity, cure, and survival
R3CKON LLC will review customer public communications that reference Certificates for conformity with Schedule A on a recurring basis, and on notice and require correction or retraction within a stated period, and may suspend the claim license and service for uncured breach. Customers indemnify R3CKON LLC against third-party claims arising from statements outside Schedule A. Retirements survive termination, certificates remain accurate as to their periods, and the Schedule A restrictions and no-double-counting covenant survive.
Questions: info@r3ckon.com. This page renders its schedules from the same configuration that generates certificates and enforces the console's disclosures, and it updates with the methodology changelog.