ASHLAND, OR / ACCESSWIRE / February 6, 2019 / Climate change is at the forefront of social consciousness and has elevated concerns over the future direction of human production by shedding a spotlight on everything from energy waste to harmful pollutants plaguing the environment. The consequences of human influence on the climate are widespread and touch on numerous sectors.
As the energy sector shifts focus to more green energy sources, some notable hurdles are stifling broader adoption of renewable energy sources. Global carbon emissions continue to skyrocket, but the lack of adequate infrastructure to support a wholesale transition to green energy, along with complex challenges like integrating emerging markets and high deployment costs, have hindered the progress in sustainable energy.
The collateral effects of global warming and pollutants also lead to more pronounced threats to wildlife where -- particularly in the world’s oceans -- animals are suffering from overfishing and illegal fishing practices.
Correspondingly, environmental pollutants continue their exponential rise, especially with the astonishing scale of plastic in the ocean. Effectively reducing pollutants also requires identifying more obscure means of environmental toxins, such as the adverse effects of using carcinogens in burials.
Blockchains may not provide the panacea to all of the environmental problems present today, but they do offer some unique advantages, particularly in intermediating trust and enabling more efficient systems for supply tracking, energy production/trading, and reducing pollutants. As a result, numerous initiatives are working on integrating the innovative technology with non-profit organizations, climate advocates, and tech-focused companies.
Overcoming Climate Barriers With Blockchain Projects
Projects working at the convergence of blockchain and preserving the environment range from high-profile partnerships for cleaning the world’s oceans to more abstract initiatives to reduce carcinogens used in burial practices. However, fossil fuel energy emission and the lack of green energy sources remain some of the most pressing concerns going forward.
Energy-Focused Projects
One of the principal barriers to achieving a more sustainable environment is reducing the production of carbon. Carbon emissions produced by fossil fuels are unlikely to go away anytime soon as that would require bypassing industries -- like coal -- that dwarf renewable energy production. Instead, several blockchain projects are tackling enhancing the efficiency of carbon emissions and slowly transitioning to more renewable sources.
ClimateCoin is a project focusing on providing better infrastructure for managing carbon credits, built on a blockchain. The platform creates a P2P trading layer for exchanging regulatory-compliant carbon credit assets, removing much of the transaction friction associated with cross-country or cross-market payments. The goal is to democratize the market for carbon credits and drive an ecosystem where energy producers can compensate energy offsets by buying carbon credits through the platform’s ERC-20 token on Ethereum.
Other plans emphasize providing an incentive for transitioning to renewable energy sources. SolarCoin is targeting individuals and enterprises to provide valid certificates of solar energy production, and subsequently rewarding them for doing so in the native token. One SolarCoin equates to one MWh of energy produced through a solar energy source, and it is already used across 73 countries.
Environmental Impact and Pollution Projects
Supply chain management and efficiency have emerged as one of the more compelling use cases for blockchains, with several platforms like VeChain and WaltonChain making headway. Blockchains provide an integrated infrastructure that consists of an immutable record of transactions, which can include data such as certificates for legal fishing hauls and catch tracking.
Provenance -- a blockchain-based supply chain project -- has already experimented with a pilot for tracing yellowfin and skipjack tuna in Indonesia, from the initial catch to the consumer. Fishers provide verified social sustainability claims, and the platform can track the precise numbers and provenance of responsibly caught fish. Such initiatives have vast potential to help protect against fishing of endangered species and building a robust, global database for certified catches, mitigating instances of overfishing or illegal fishing practices.
Another initiative focusing on marine life -- but instead targeting harmful pollutants -- is PlasticBank, who partnered with IBM for building a secure blockchain exchange that enables users to trade digital tokens for removing plastic from the world’s oceans. The scale of the plastic problem in the world’s ocean is well-documented, and PlasticBank is poised to have both an environmental and social impact, particularly in developing nations where pollution is more rampant.
Finally, one of the more newer eco-friendly blockchain initiatives out there is from TransitionCoin, who is raising awareness in the harmful toxins commonly used in Western burials, such as embalming fluid and tons of various metals that preclude decomposition. TransitionCoin comes from Transition Green Burials, who has worked with the Green Burial Council on promoting more eco-friendly natural burials, known as ‘green burials.’ TransitionCoin enables people to buy green burials services at a fixed cost, which is much lower than traditional funeral services that can often lead to financial struggles for grieving families.
The variety of blockchain-based projects tackling climate change and adverse environmental impacts serves as an indication of the growing movement towards the convergence of tech and ecological conservation. Many obstacles still need to be overcome, but blockchains are helping guide promising initiatives to more efficient solutions.
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SOURCE: Transition Coin