Supported by Caisse des Dépôts, Bpifrance, the Blockchain@X Chair at École Polytechnique, the Louis Bachelier Institute, Positiveblockchain.io and the ELYX Foundation, the Blockchain for Good association is publishing the fifth issue of the 2022 “Blockchains and Sustainable Development” report on Wednesday 19 October. Organized into twelve sectoral themes, this report analyzes, through numerous concrete projects, the contribution and usefulness of blockchain-based distributed registries in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Following on from the previous edition, published in 2020, this report attempts to answer the question of whether and in what ways blockchains contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study is based on the Positiveblockchain.io directory, which lists more than 700 blockchain projects, each of which is linked to the pursuit of one or more of the SDGs2. These projects are divided by sector of activity:

  • Agriculture and food
  • Aid and philanthropy
  • Environment and climate
  • Education and employment
  • Energy
  • Government and democracy
  • Health
  • Identity and property
  • Internet and telecommunications
  • Logistics and traceability
  • Peer-to-peer money and programmable money
  • Web 3.0, arts and sciences

Each is the subject of a stand-alone booklet published from September to December 2022. The #Environment & Climate booklet is based on the 67 active initiatives that are explicitly part of the fight against global warming and the preservation of the environment. Beyond these initiatives, it is important to underline that the issue of climate and the environment is driving the whole crypto community, and has been for several years.

What lessons have been learned?

Today, there is a twofold movement: the first is to decarbonise the blockchain sector and the second is the emergence of a number of initiatives whose primary objective is to fight climate change and preserve the environment. Aware of the environmental and ecological issues they raise, some blockchain players are working to decarbonise the sector. This is the stated objective of the Crypto Climate Accord, which was initiated in 2021 and already brings together more than 250 market players. The common ambition is to reduce the carbon emissions of the global crypto-asset sector by “prioritising climate management and supporting the transition of the entire crypto sector to zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2040″3.

The other observable trend is the proliferation of blockchain initiatives dedicated to fighting climate change and preserving the environment. The variety of projects in this field is worth highlighting: decentralisation of voluntary carbon markets, water markets, financing of waste collection, donations in crypto-currencies earmarked for environmental projects, and agroecology and reforestation projects. The topics of decentralisation of energy exchanges and collective self-consumption of electricity, energy certificates (savings, renewable sourcing guarantees, etc.) and optimisation of electricity networks are addressed in the #Energy section, while finance dedicated to the development of renewable energies is dealt with in the #Peer-to-Peer Electronic Currency and Programmable Money section.

 

Download press release in French

 

Go to the “Environment & Climate” booklet – www.blockchainforgood.fr