{"id":32987,"date":"2022-09-20T21:33:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T20:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pley2win.com\/crypto-gaming\/saving-the-planet-could-be-blockchains-killer-app-cointelegraph-magazine\/"},"modified":"2022-09-20T21:33:56","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T20:33:56","slug":"saving-the-planet-could-be-blockchains-killer-app-cointelegraph-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=32987","title":{"rendered":"Saving the planet could be blockchain\u2019s killer app \u2013 Cointelegraph Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The sustainability movement has emerged as a 21st century megatrend, and it shows no signs of abating. Record heat in Europe, wildfires in the U.S. West, floods in Pakistan, drought in China, and accelerating ice cap melt in Greenland and Antarctica have driven home to many the looming threat of climate change.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the New York Times <\/span>declared<\/span> in December \u201cthe sustainable industrial revolution is just getting started,\u201d and even heavy industries like shipping, steel, and plastics are beginning to grasp the importance of an ecologically sustainable future \u2014 developing products like \u201cgreen steel,\u201d which is a fossil-free steelmaking process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But hurdles remain, including questions about transparency, accountability, traceability, trust, data integrity, and even greenwashing (making false or insincere environmental claims.) Or as the Times asked: \u201cCan some of history\u2019s highest-polluting industries be trusted?\u201d in spite of their professed good intentions.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is where blockchain technology could make a difference. Like the sustainability movement itself, blockchain tech is global, 21st century, and mostly unformed though likely to be shaped soon by new laws and rules. Blockchains can simplify and lower costs of ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting, build trust in \u201ccollected\u201d data, develop new eco-related trading markets, and suggest new sources of innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Blockchain can prove that green energy is really green. (Source: Pexels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In March, for instance, automaker Volkswagen announced that it was using blockchain technology to help ensure that electric vehicle (EV) charging stations were using sustainable sources to recharge their electric cars. This move is aimed at consumers who want validation that the energy being used to recharge their vehicles isn\u2019t coming from brown coal-powered electric companies or the like. BMW is said to be developing something similar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, energy giant Shell <\/span>announced<\/span> in June the launch of Avelia, a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) solution for business travel.\u00a0 The project uses a public blockchain to promote and validate SAF, which can reduce lifecycle emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many now foresee a blossoming partnership between environmentalists and blockchain developers, especially as Ethereum with its big Merge, as well as other networks, <\/span>move closer<\/span> to carbon zero and even carbon negative platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI continue to believe that putting <\/span>Paris Agreement<\/span> carbon markets on Ethereum and connecting the national carbon accounts of the world, is blockchain\u2019s killer app,\u201d Joseph Pallant, climate innovation director at Ecotrust Canada and founder and executive director of the Blockchain for Climate Foundation, tells Magazine.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if this promise of a blockchain\/ESG alliance is to reach fruition, some questions need to be resolved, including:<\/span><\/p>\n