7 Ways Blockchain Can Save The Environment

Photo by Studio Dekorasyon on Unsplash

By now most of you have heard about Bitcoin’s potential and how blockchain is helping to reshape our economy. These new technologies certainly carry the major potential to positively impact the way people live, but they do come with a few complications and risks. In this article, we explore the ways blockchain can help protect our environment.

1. Supply Chain Management

• By increasing supply chain transparency, blockchains can be used to trace goods from the point of manufacture to the retail shelf, reducing waste, inefficiencies, fraud, and unethical behaviour
• Additionally, they can assist customers in making more ecologically friendly decisions by providing better information about how each product was produced and distributed
• For instance, if we tracked food, consumers would be able to buy locally sourced vegetables with confidence
• Due to the food not having to travel great distances, this would also reduce carbon emissions
• Blockchain technology may confirm that a bag of coffee genuinely came from a fair trade supplier or that a fish being sold at a fish market actually came from a sustainable fisherman

2. Recycling

• By offering a financial incentive in the form of a cryptographic token in exchange for the deposit of recyclables like plastic containers, cans, or bottles, a recycling program on the blockchain could promote participation
• Similar arrangements are already in place in a number of locations throughout the world, particularly in Northern Europe
• It would be simple to track data like volume, cost, and profit transparently and to assess the effects of any location, business, or participant in the program

3. Energy

• Due to the centralization of traditional power grids, there may be inefficiencies in the distribution of energy, such as unused surplus
• Additionally, power outages can prevent people from accessing electricity in regions of the world where there are frequent natural catastrophes or extreme poverty
• An energy system built on a peer-to-peer blockchain would eliminate the need to transmit electricity across great distances, which can cause losses along the way
• Because such trade can shift electricity locally from where it is being produced in excess to where it is needed, it would also assist in reducing the need for energy storage

4. Environmental Treaties

• The actual effects of environmental treaties can be hard to measure, and there isn’t always a strong incentive for governments or businesses to follow through on their commitments
• In this domain, fraud and data manipulation are also issues
• Due to its ability to transparently track crucial environmental data and demonstrate whether obligations were reached, blockchain technology may prevent businesses and governments from breaking their environmental commitments or falsely claiming their progress
• Once information is added to the public blockchain, it is permanently stored there

5. Non-profits

• It can be challenging to monitor where donations to environmental charities go or how they are used
• In the world of charities, bureaucracy, fraud, and incompetence are still widespread
• Blockchain technology can make sure that funds meant for conservation incentives or charitable donations don’t get lost in bureaucratic mazes and end up in the wrong hands
• Even automatic distribution of blockchain-based money to the appropriate parties upon achievement of predetermined environmental targets is a possibility

6. Carbon Tax

• In the existing system, it is challenging to assess each product’s environmental impact, and its carbon footprint is not taken into account when determining the price
• This means that customers have no motivation to purchase goods with a minimal carbon footprint, and businesses have less reason to market such goods
• By using the blockchain to track each product’s carbon footprint, we can prevent data from being altered and use it to calculate the appropriate carbon tax to impose at the time of sale

7. Changing incentives

• It can be challenging for people or businesses to see the immediate consequences of their actions in a complicated society
• As a result, there aren’t always obvious incentives to act in a sustainable manner for the environment, especially in the short term
• Blockchain technology can make it easier for people and businesses to understand the true effects of their activities and motivate them to take environmentally friendly steps
• The carbon footprint of each product, greenhouse gas or waste emissions from a facility, or a company’s overall environmental compliance record may all be publicly tracked using the blockchain

REFERENCES:

1. https://futurethinkers.org/blockchain-environment-climate-change/

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