Climate change has become one of the most pressing issues in the modern world with mounting pressure on companies to develop and implement climate str
Climate change has become one of the most pressing issues in the modern world with mounting pressure on companies to develop and implement climate strategies. Politicians around the globe have also been actively involved, with several nations pledging to go carbon-neutral in the next couple of decades.
Amid all the initiatives and conferences led by politicians and billion-dollar companies over the years, the threat of global warming and the carbon emissions spilling into the atmosphere have only risen.
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, was the 27th United Nations climate change conference. More commonly referred to as COP, the conference is one of the largest of its kind that sees attendance from top policymakers and tech CEOs.
COP27 ultimately resulted in minimal progress on loss and damage, with high-emission countries agreeing to compensate those countries enduring the brunt of the climate mayhem that they played a negligible role in causing. But, once again, no promise was made to stop the emissions fueling this disaster.
Politician-led conferences such as COP27 have become a glaring example of everything that is wrong with such initiatives. COP27 was host to more than 600 representatives of fossil fuel companies and many others who were there to prevent rather than support progress and action. Above all, the event was sponsored by the largest polluter of plastic in the world — Coca-Cola.
The annual climate carnival concept was probably not the best way to encourage meaningful action on global warming. The presence of the fossil fuel industry and continued failure to fulfill their intended purpose means the problem of climate change needs a modern solution, and for many, decentralized tech is the key that can benefit climate initiatives in the long run.
Decentralized solutions
Decentralized tech has proven revolutionary in data management for many industries apart from the financial sector. Climate change initiatives are already integrating blockchain tech to their benefit including an increasing number of projects at COP held yearly conferences.
KPMG U.S. climate data and technology principal Arun Ghosh told Cointelegraph:
“One of the major outcomes of COP27 was landing on the loss and damage set of agreements enabling wealthier nations to help provision and plan for the recovery of people and livelihoods in under-resourced nations. Blockchain not only provides the trust and transparency set of enablers but with the introduction of CBDC pilots as well as the adoption of BTC as a recognized medium of exchange in countries like El Salvador, there are accelerated investments and plans emerging to integrate and transact between organizations, countries and citizens.”
Blockchain tech can be implemented in many ways to make climate change-related initiatives more efficient.
Recycling is one sector where blockchain can encourage participation by giving a financial reward for depositing recyclables like plastic containers, cans, or bottles. Similar setups already exist in several places around the world.
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Plastiks is a nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace that sponsors initiatives to cut down on plastic waste. Plastiks partners with recycling firms and certifies their plastic recycling using NFTs that can become an additional source of income for the recycling firms. The project claims that recycling data, once recorded on the blockchain, also becomes a hard receipt of how much plastic has been removed.
Due to its ability to transparently track crucial environmental data and demonstrate whether obligations were reached, blockchain technology can also deter businesses and governments from breaking their environmental commitments or falsely claiming progress.
For example, Regen Network offers blockchain-based fintech solutions for ecological claims and data. Some of their offerings include a public ecological accounting system and the Regen Registry, which allows land stewards to sell their ecosystem services directly to buyers around the world.
EarthFund DAO is another environmental initiative that organizes a decentralized community looking to tackle humanity’s environmental problems. The platform enables tokenholders to vote for and crowdfund “world-changing projects” such as the EarthFund Carbon capture project.
Crypto Climate Accord is a private sector-led initiative focused on decarbonizing the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. To date, more than 250 companies and individuals in crypto, finance, NGOs and more have joined the movement.
Amid all the major use cases of blockchain tech, its progression in aiding the very complex carbon credit market has been most talked about — for both good and bad reasons.
Carbon markets and how they work
A carbon credit represents one metric ton of carbon dioxide, which can be bought, sold or retired. If a business is subject…
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