In 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the planet is in the middle of a climate crisis with ‘once in a 100 year events’ occurring in an unprecedented manner.
The report further said that climate change and extreme weather events were leading to disruption in no just infrastructure related to transportation, sanitation and water, but were also having an adverse impact on the environment and economies across the globe. In this scenario, the world is looking towards technologies like Blockchain as a means to a sustainable future. But at the same time, there are certain doubts regarding how this new-age tech could become the answer to climate crisis. In this write-up, an attempt has been made to find out how that will be possible.
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Why Blockchain Tech?
Blockchain technology is a trust-based system of users where a P2P network, adhering to a certain protocol, communicates and validates new blocks. Transactions validated through Blockchain don’t need the nod of a central intermediary, thereby reducing time and cost but enhancing transparency and security. As far as technological innovations go, Blockchain has opened doors of endless opportunities in recent years, in fields as diverse as energy and environment. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that every sector is today keen to amplify its daily operations within the gamut of Blockchain. In fact, dedicated environmentalists as well as social entrepreneurs are voting for Blockchain technology being the key to sustainability amidst climate crisis.
Blockchain Tech for Renewable energy
One of the reports of a UN Environment Programme has spoken about how the Distributed Ledger Technology or DLT facilitates collaboration between investors, renewable energy developers and purchaser to achieve ‘global standards for compliance and due diligence.’ In this regard, a pilot project in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, as part of an Australian app project, has homeowner installing solar panels on their rooftops and selling solar power through a grid. Blockchain is taking care of setting up real-time prices and helping with transactions. The project is already shining a new light on the efforts to move away from traditional electricity system and subsidies.
India’s ‘Eco Man’ Zeeshan Khan is a strong proponent of Blockchain technology and its ‘positive impact’ on creating a sustainable environment in the future. An environmentalist and an angel investor, Zeeshan has been invited to the Goal 17 Partners Lounge at the World Economic Forum Week in Davos, to speak about the ways to conserve environment through this technology. Speaking about the technology’s paradigm shift to AI and Blockchain, Zeeshan predicted, “Blockchain technology has the calibre to move towards sustainability, help companies improve their efficiency and let investors make sound decisions.”
Smart contacts offered by Blockchain are also going to help people fight against climate change through regenerative agriculture programmes and sustainable land-use. Another major contribution of Blockchain would be empowering environmentalists and social entrepreneurs by propagating tokenized remuneration for individuals, organizations, crowd-funding campaigns for making a green impact.
However, this powerful technology needs to be combined with several other technologies like AI, IoT and drones, in order to create a more promising impact on the sustainability of the environment. Sometimes, one technology gets caught in the crosshairs of another technology, which sets off an undesirable chain of impact. Like cryptocurrency, which is working at a suitable momentum right now, thus, creating a surge in the demand for digital mining through Blockchain technology. This is creating a considerable carbon footprint as a large amount of energy is being consumed in the process. However, Zeeshan says, new Blockchain technologies like 5ire chain are already working to resolve this side-effect.
But, in order to derive the best benefit from Blockchain technology vis-a-vis climate crisis and sustainability, Zeeshan Khan has already said this at WEF that this sustainability can be achieved only if environmental conservation is considered as an ongoing process rather than a one-time indulgence.
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