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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Clean air, technology, glocalization: how can we clean up the Planet with small little actions that resonate globally? Blockchain may be the answer

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Amongst the lessons that the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, there is at least one lesson for each of these three words: clean air, technology and glocalization. Clean air: research has noticed a link between polluted air and the spread of the virus, in a game where the former helps the latter. Do we need further evidence that polluted air is bad? Technology: smart working, schools, everything during lockdown functions thanks to stable internet and connected devices. Glocalization: small actions can resonate, as a virus can spread if citizens move across countries or go out without wearing masks. To make sure we reach our goals – be them the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the thresholds set by the Paris Agreement, or both – the collaboration between those three elements may be our golden ticket for a greener Planet. The utilization of blockchain technology for the environment, may represent the materialization – or tokenization – of this golden ticket. Creating value directly out of solar energy, exchanging clean energy with our neighbors, improve supply chain management for the sustainable provenance of goods, exchange environment-friendly practices at business and consumer level: these can become reality by using blockchain, thanks to its transparency, decentralization and immutability. But all that glitters is not gold. Blockchain mostly uses the resource-intensive Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm. Estimates have shown that to make the famous Bitcoin work, amounts of energy comparable to that of sovereign states are burned. At the same time, changing the consensus algorithm e.g., switching to Proof-of-Stake or Proof-of-Identity, can lower its energy consumption. After around 10 years since its first appearance, blockchain wanders unregulated, either because it is misunderstood or in the name of technology neutrality. To solve the paradox of employing a resource-intensive solution for a greener Planet, has the time come to put blockchain under statutory wings?