This week, we list 11 blockchain-driven projects from across the world, where the use of blockchain technology is expected to drive improved ESG/ SDG performance1.
Recycling
Tracing recycled material in automotive supply chains | Japan
Project Description: Automotive Industry is a plastic-intensive industry, meaning it consumes a lot of plastic. According to Resource Innovation, the automotive industry is the third most consuming sector of polymers after packaging and building & construction. This indicates that changes in the material usage by Automotive industry can have a huge impact on the environment. To achieve this goal, some companies are actively working to regulate waste disposal and improve their recycling technologies. However, transparency and traceability of recycled materials remain an ongoing challenge, creating a demand for a secure and trustworthy system to track and trace recycled materials in the supply chain. To address this issue, Teijin and Fujitsu have partnered for a blockchain-based platform to promote sustainable use of recycled materials and provide manufacturers with reliable and transparent information on the origin of recycled resources and data on GHG emissions. Teijin’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Calculation Method will be used for measuring the environmental impact of manufacturing processes across the value chain, and blockchain technology, developed by Fujitsu, will be used for collecting and tracking primary data on environmental impact (including GHG emissions) to deliver reliable and transparent traceability. This project will provide manufactures various design products to choose from, all made from recycled materials, and data including provenance of the material and GHG Emission information. This project will start its pilot by addressing FRP (fiber-reinforced plastic), which is commonly used in aviation and EV manufacturing. Blockchain will enable manufacturers to collect, store and share primary data on environmental impact (including GHG emissions) across the value-chain. All this data would be easy to share, secure and immutable, due to blockchain, to eliminate any foreign intrusion.
Expected Benefits:
This project will increase the recycled materials’ share in the overall economy, paving way for circular economy.
OEMs can verify the supplier’s ESG claims on blockchain.
This project will encourage other Automotive companies to use recycled materials for their product lines.
More Information: Green Car Congress and Resource Innovations
Tracing recycled materials in Apparel industry | United States
Project Description: The apparel industry is one of the biggest industries in the entire world, having multiple branches connected to other industries as well. This implies that a small change in the apparel industry could have a massive impact in the overall economy. A sustainable way to impact the environment through Apparel Industry is the introduction of recycled material (recycled fabrics) in its supply chain. However, the tracking and tracing with respect to the recycled product in the supply chain, remains a major challenge, making companies hesitant. According to McKinsey’s State of Fashion Survey 2022, Digital and Sustainability are the biggest opportunities for growth, while Supply Chain remains the biggest challenge. To address this, Eastman and TextileGenesis are partnering to track and trace Eastman’s Naia cellulosic yarns and fibers across its entire supply chain. Naia cellulosic yarns and fibers are sourced from sustainably managed pine and eucalyptus forests to ensure no deforestation of endangered forests. This fiber is produced from 60% sustainably sourced and traceable wood pulp and 40% certified recycled waste materials. The blockchain solution used in project to track and trace the supply chain is developed by TextileGenesis. Blockchain traces every phase of garment making, citing farm and factory locations and every process used to get a product from point of origin to final retail destination. All this data collected, is stored on a blockchain-based ledger platform for an easy, secure, and immutable data sharing experience among the relevant stakeholders. The blockchain solution verifies the point of origin of the fiber (provenance), capture all the shipment transaction in real-time, create supply chain model using AI for better and efficient supply chain management, create cross-industry ecosystem to engager all the stakeholders onto a single platform, and indulging in third-party verification of the ESG credentials of suppliers.
Expected Benefits:
Eastman could command a higher premium on their garments, by verifying their sustainability story through blockchain.
This project would encourage Eastman to increase the recycled product’s share in their supply chain.
A transparent supply chain would enable quick, efficient and data driven decision making for the management.
More Information: Just-Style and State of Fashion Survey
Renewable Energy
Enabling renewable energy trading marketplace | United Kingdom
Project Description: Human activity is overloading the atmosphere with GHGs, which are harmful for the environment. These harmful gases are majorly released from burning various dirty fuels as an energy source. A sustainable way is to decrease the use of these fuels and encourage the use of renewable energy sources. This will prevent the further release of GHG in the atmosphere, curtailing the ill effects of the same. The use of renewable energy will also facilitate reduction in the over-dependence of energy grid, which will help curtail energy prices. To address this, Rebel Energy is partnering with UrbanChain to develop a peer-to-peer marketplace for renewable energy trading, under a pilot project. Households (more than 3000) across the UK have been the first to sign up as part of a new peer-to-peer (P2P) energy exchange program to receive traceable renewable energy from local sources. This project aims to provide 100% green energy to British homes and drive the country’s energy transition amid a cost-of-living crisis in the UK. To trace this green energy source, the companies will be using a blockchain-based tracking system, developed by UrbanChain. This solution will use AI with blockchain technology to trace the provenance of the said energy sources, to enable users access this information. Rebel Energy will supply the renewable energy from a combination of solar, wind and hydro assets. All this data, including the financial data, would be stored on the blockchain protocol for an easy, secure, and immutable data transmission among the relevant shareholders.
Expected Benefits:
This project’s aim is to promote a more predictable energy market, and help address rising fuel poverty in the UK, by facilitating a decentralized marketplace.
This project will Increase the share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix
This project would eventually reduce the dependence on the electric power gird, eliminating transmission loss.
Enable consumers to become Prosumers (producer + consumer), paving the way for a circular economy.
More Information: Engineering and Technology
Financing renewable energy projects through blockchain | South Africa
Project Description: Some countries in the world are facing energy crisis, which further escalated after the Russia-Ukraine war, indicating the need for sustainable energy sources. While many countries have the required resources to fund the redevelopment of energy infrastructure, South Africa is relying on internal and private funding. South Africa is currently facing a drastic energy crisis as widespread national-level blackouts become more frequent as electricity supply falls behind electricity demand, threatening to destabilize the national power grid. There is also a lack of sustainable energy infrastructure and the slow funding process of sustainable projects by local governments. To address this situation, South African energy firm, Megatech (MGT), has acquired Project Beta, a 60MW solar farm that will include a 100MWh battery (storage technology). To finance this project, the company is utilizing blockchain technology. The company is using blockchain technology to bridge the gap between investors and sustainability project. The company would be tokenizing this project on Binance Smart Chain (BSC), under the name MGT Token. This token would enable investors to invest in Project Beta. By acquiring this green token, token holders could earn from a sustainable business model that creates a solution to the current energy crisis in South Africa. All this financial data would be stored on the blockchain to prevent corruption and illicit activity in this whole process.
Expected Benefits:
This project would provide sustainable funding opportunities of environment friendly projects, eliminating funding-related costs and time required.
Blockchain would store all the financial records involved in the funding process to eliminate any fraudulent activity.
This project will eventually minimize the over-dependence on the national energy grid, curtailing the prices.
More Information: Street Insider
Financing solar energy projects through tokenized bonds | France
Project Description: Solar energy is one of the greenest and cleanest renewable energy sources available to mankind. If managed properly, this energy ecosystem can reduce our over-dependence on power grids and non-renewable energy sources, including fossil fuels, which have a huge environmental impact. However, the one-time installation cost of these solar plants is extremely high and it discourages many consumers and organizations to take advantage of this energy source. According to Energy Center, a typical 5-kW solar residential system can cost upwards of $15,000-$20,000. To address this concern, BNP Paribas structured and tokenized a project-finance bond on the Ethereum blockchain. Exaion tokenized these bonds into the blockchain network. The proceeds of which will be used to fund solar energy projects through EDF ENR, which helps businesses and individuals install solar panels. Ethereum blockchain will be used for tokenization of green bonds as it will enable investors to invest in these environment-friendly projects and will bridge the gap between thematic investors and these projects, in addition to allowing the projects to raise smaller funds. Blockchain will help the companies eliminate greenwashing, as it will provide transparency, security, and immutability. These bonds where purchased by BNP Paribas Asset Management, as the digital bonds were converted into traditional bonds within 48 hours, showcasing its interoperability. All the data, including the transactional data, was stored on the blockchain network as it will provide transparency and security, which is a crucial aspect of any fund-raising activity.
Expected Benefits:
This project creates a funding opportunity for other solar projects, increasing the share of solar energy in the overall energy mix.
With the help of blockchain, the fund-raising process will become seamless, easy to manage, and secure & transparent to prevent any fraud.
This project will bring the required liquidity in the ESG/Impact Investing space, in addition to better transparency to avoid green washing.
More Information: Ledger Insights and Energy Center
Responsible Supply Chain
Blockchain-based marketplace for fresh produce | Japan
Project Description: Lack of transparency in supply chain is a bottleneck for every industry. However, it becomes a critical challenge for Food Industry as lack of transparency with regards to perishable food items (fruits, vegetables, and seafood) can put the health of consumers at risk and creates a challenge if the products are to be recalled. To address this, Release Social Commerce has developed a blockchain-based marketplace for fresh produce to improve the supply chain and logistics in the Food Industry. Blockchain will be used with Data Analytics (Big Data) and AI to forecast trends in customer purchases and marketing, prevent equipment failures and predict consumer purchases. Farmers, fishermen and other users can upload the picture of the product on the marketplace, and AI will do all the rest, including listing, sales, collection operations, and delivery at the online store. According to Release’s website, blockchain will be used as a payment mechanism in this marketplace, by issueing REL tokens, along with transferability of data among all the stakeholders on the network. Users can publish images on the marketplace and viewers can validate and evaluate the image, receiving REL tokens for their efforts. This process will combine the element of social media with that of an online marketplace. The company will also use blockchain technology in the logistics operations of the fresh produce to bring in efficiency and transparency, which are crucial elements in the food industry. All the financial data between participants will also be stored on the blockchain network as it presents a secure, immutable, and easy to comprehend digital ledger, eliminating any fraudulent activity.
Expected Benefits:
This project will enable easy access to fresh produce for consumers.
Blockchain will help in the payment and track the logistics operations, eliminating any exit points.
Farmers would have access to a wider and larger market to sell their produce.
More Information: Global Newswire and Release
Tracking brown sugar on blockchain | Brazil
Project Description: Sugar is one of the most consumed food ingredients in the world, creating an easy opportunity for adulteration with this high demand. Adulteration can put the health of consumers at risk, and it is very difficult to track if proper supply chain traceability systems are not in place. According to Index Box, Brazil is the biggest exporter of sugar, and it becomes imperative for companies operating in Brazil to adopt a more secure and immutable supply chain management practice. To address this concern, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) has developed a blockchain-based traceability system for agriculture produce, under the name Brazilian Agricultural Traceability System (Sibraar). This solution would enable the company to trace brown sugar as a part of their pilot project. This pilot would be application in the agro-industrial pant of Usina Granelli. The blockchain-based traceability solution would mimic the brown sugar movement in its system to provide real-time actionable insights. All the data related to the product’s supply chain would be stored on the blockchain for an easy and secure data sharing capability, among the various stakeholders. Cooperativa dos Plantadores de Cana do Estado de São Paulo (a cooperative of sugarcane planters) is also supporting the development of this project. A QR code would be generated and attached with the product to enable users access their product’s whole supply chain story.
Expected Benefits:
Blockchain would eliminate adulteration in brown sugar, in addition to any other exit points in the supply chain.
The company can command a higher premium to cover their technology overheads, which consumers would be willing to pay.
More Information: Brasil Agro and Index Box
GHG Emissions
Sequestrating carbon using IoT and blockchain | United States
Project Description: Industrial Hemp is a natural and sustainable carbon sequestration plant, proven to absorb more CO2 per hectare than any other forest or commercial crop, according to a report by GoodEarth Resources PTY. Although, some farmers cannot bear the operational overheads of this farming. Carbon Credits is a great tool for companies to offset their carbon emissions and fund various carbon-positive projects. However, since its inception, the global carbon credit market has been plagued with a multitude of issues, ranging from lack of transparency, low permanence, high additionality, double counting, confirmation bias, lack of quality controls, and lack of strong international standardization. This creates an opportunity for a better and efficient carbon credit marketplace, bridging the gap between companies and project owners. SmartLedger and Smart Grow AgriTech are trying to address these challenges by combining the power of blockchain, IoT sensors and drone technology to capture a verifiable stream of real-time, carbon sequestration data of Industrial Hemp fields, known for its rapid growth rates and high ratios of carbon sequestration. The aim of this project is to improve the current carbon credit ecosystem by utilizing BSV blockchain, to capture IoT and other relevant data, providing regulators, consumers, buyers and sellers, an auditable evidence trail of CO2 sequestration data from farmers' fields. Blockchain, developed by SmartLedger, creates a digital twin of the crop and its carbon sequestration life cycle on the protocol, mimicking the actual crop. IoT sensors and Drones will be used to capture the data around carbon sequestration of hemp crops, enter the data onto blockchain for future verification. BSV blockchain will convert this data to a tokenized carbon credit, that will be used by the companies to offset their data. BSV blockchain functions as a secure and immutable ledger, allowing farmers to capture, store, verify, and monetize their authenticated data. The incredibly low, inexpensive transaction fees and high throughput facilitates efficient capturing of data points from multiple sources, allowing the creation of verifiable CO2 credits.
Expected Benefits:
Farmers can apply this technology to their operations that will enable them access new revenue streams.
IoT sensors, with blockchain will help validate the farmers’ claims about their carbon sequestration limit, eliminating any greenwashing.
This would encourage farmers to implement land-beneficial farming techniques to be able to create a better value carbon credit.
More Information: EIN Presswire and GoodEarth Resources PTY
Capturing and neutralizing carbon footprint of blockchains | United States
Project Description: While blockchain technology has proven to be effective in several use cases across industries, including many use cases that create positive sustainability impact, there has been a persistent question mark on the sustainability credentials of blockchain infrastructures, even though modern blockchains are highly energy efficient. To address this challenge, Flowcarbon and Menthol Protocol have announced a partnership that allows Algorand to measure its carbon impact and offset it by purchasing a corresponding amount of qualified tokenized carbon and renewable energy credits. The middleware provided by Menthol Protocol, can be integrated into any tool of the web3 tech stack including applications and blockchains, to automatically calculate the on-chain entity’s carbon footprint and offset it. The Menthol Protocol and Flowcarbon partnership will make it easy for entities to fully mitigate their carbon impact by offsetting the balance of emissions that cannot be further reduced, also known as ‘hard to abate emissions’. Menthol’s process involves curating high-impact tokenized carbon and renewable energy credits, calculating on-chain emission and energy consumption, and neutralizing emissions and dirty energy usage in partnership with other sustainability projects. The protocol commits that all tokenized offsets or credits that originate from these projects will have verifiable, measurable, and permanent benefits for both the ecosystem and the local community. All this data will be stored on the same blockchain for enabling safe, secure, and immutable data sharing capability, in a public and transparent manner. In future, the companies will track and capture off-chain’s carbon emissions.
Expected Benefits:
This project will drive funding to carbon projects around the world and increase overall transparency, adoption, and liquidity.
The companies no longer need to handle complex calculations and solve sourcing issues in order to obtain carbon credits, reserving their resources for other BAU operations.
More Information: Businesswire
Celebrating green planet through NFTs | Global
Project Description: Electric Vehicles (EVs) are an important part of meeting the global goals on climate change. These vehicles do not burn the conventional fuel types, but they run on electricity, saving a lot of GHG emissions during usage. A sustainable way to promote EVs could be through motorsports. To promote EVs, Envision Racing has partnered with Algorand for a series of NFTs to tie in with the ABB FIA Formula E electric race series. The project will be minting a total of 1,000 limited-edition NFTs, designed by creative agency Funday, depicting a helmet representing one of the eight locations hosting an ABB FIA Formula E race. These NFTs depict local foliage of respective eight locations, which grows overtop the visuals to signify project’s desire to create a healthier planet. Additionally, the NFTs are also promoting the ABB FIA Formula E series, which is a motorsport championship for electric cars (EVs). One holder will receive a Gold NFT that entitles him/her to claim a 1 of 1 physical racing helmet with art inspired by their City Edition helmet. All these NFTs will be minted on the Algorand’s blockchain network. Algorand uses a novel Pure Proof of Stake (PPoS) consensus that makes it the greenest blockchain, according to their website. Algorand also claims that a final transaction on its PPoS blockchain generates around 0.0000004 kg of CO2 versus 338 tons of CO2 for a Bitcoin transaction.
Expected Benefits:
This project will promote EVs among younger audience through the launch of their NFTs.
These NFTs will provide the holders a sense of entitlement, making it a strong marketing tool.
More Information: Decrypt and Algorand
Financial Inclusion
Enabling financial services for unbanked | Indonesia
Project Description: Indonesia is a South-East Asian country, having one of the largest economy in the region. Internet penetration in Indonesia is also one of the highest among its neighbors. However, according to e-Conomy, a report by Google, Temasek and Bain, Indonesia has an unbanked population of 92 million and an additional 47 million are underbanked, meaning citizens who have a bank account but no access to credit, investments, and insurance. Having no bank account in this day and age can be problematic for the citizens, as they do not have the access to basic financial services, and if government plans for an aid program, they will not be able to avail it. This presents an opportunity for companies to provide solutions for financial inclusion and betterment of the economy. Mastercard is partnering with Fasset, a crypto exchange and gateway, to provide Indonesian citizens an access to cryptocurrency. As the world is moving towards digital finance, this project aims to lower the barriers to digital finance and drive greater opportunities to benefit from the use of emerging financial services. This project is doing so by providing the citizens an access to cryptocurrencies, or blockchain-based digital money. Crypto would eliminate the intrusion of intermediaries, extra and redundant charges, and facilitate safer & secure financial transactions. A digital wallet will be provided by Fasset, in addition to a payment gateway. Citizens can deposit fiat money onto their digital wallet with the help of Mastercard. Once the money is in the digital wallet, the fiat would be converted to cryptocurrencies for fast, secure, and safe transactions. A person can send cryptocurrency to anybody who have the same digital wallet. Citizens can also use this feature during cross-border transactions, as this will save them from the remittance charges.
Expected Benefits:
Crypto will eliminate any intermediatory charges and will decrease the cost of remittance.
Transparent and secure financial transaction between citizens of Indonesia.
Encouraging other developing nations to adopt blockchain as a financial service.
More Information: Coin Telegraph and e-Conomy
Disclaimer: The information in this newsletter does not constitute investment or professional advice and investors and other users of this newsletter should not rely on it for investment or other purposes. While we have taken due care and caution in the compilation and presentation of the information and data in this report, no warranty is made as to the completeness, accuracy, or utility of this analysis. Users are also advised to review the detailed disclaimer, terms of use, and privacy policy on our website.