This week, we list 12 blockchain-driven initiatives from across the world, where the use of blockchain technology is enabling improved ESG/ SDG performance.1
GHG Emissions
Tokenization of carbon credits | Japan
Project Description: Carbon credits trading plays an important role in a nation’s Climate Action commitments. Currently, carbon emissions are traded in an over-the-counter mechanism in Japan. This could facilitate easy intrusion of fraudulent activities as there is no transparency in the system. This creates an opportunity to bring a public ledger system onto the trading marketplace for a better and sustainable financial experience. To do this, DeepMarkit’s First Carbon Corp. has signed a letter of intent with BloomX. BloomX will bring ASEAN carbon credits onto the First Carbon’s platform to be converted into security tokens. Blockchain will be used by First Carbon to convert/mint the carbon credit into a Non-Fungible-Token (NFT). NFT would provide a secure and seamless trading experience, while maintaining immutability and interoperability. This will give First Carbon the exposure in Japanese carbon trading market as well an increased validation that cross continent carbon trading could happen seamlessly.
Expected Benefits:
By converting credits into tokens, it can be quickly and securely traded.
Digitizing the current over-the-counter trading system for transparency.
Small and medium sized projects in Japan would be incentivized.
More Information: Yahoo Finance
Enabling individuals to offset their carbon footprint | United States
Project Description: According to Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, a total of 137 countries have committed to carbon neutrality by ~2050, showcasing the immediate threat it possesses. One of the ways in which companies offset their carbon footprint is to buy carbon credit. However, there is a limited access to carbon credits for the public who wants to offset their carbon footprint. This is where Climate Futures is positioning itself. Climate Futures has created a marketplace for minting and buying carbon negative NFTs. Users can calculate their carbon footprint, choose a project which they like and offset their emissions by purchasing the NFT. Blockchain would provide immutability and security that is required to mint a carbon credit, while giving full traceability to the credit. Users can also mint a NFT for events or tickets to automatically offset the event’s carbon footprint in an auditable and transparent manner. The company has chosen polygon as their layer-2 blockchain because they will be going carbon-negative in 2022, as per their website.
Expected Benefits:
Individuals can offset their carbon footprint.
Many small-scale projects will have liquidity.
Other companies would be incentivized to start a small-scale carbon reduction project.
NFTs or carbon credits will become a tradable commodity.
More Information: Innovation & Tech Today, Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and Polygon
Tracking tree plantation using Blockchain | UAE
Project Description: GHG emission is a major hindrance towards achieving sustainability goals. Tree plantation or afforestation is one of the ways to counter the harmful impact of GHG emissions. This project aims to do so by making a pledge to plant 10,000 mangrove trees in the Jubail Islands area of Dubai. This is in the line of UAE’s 2030 vision to achieve sustainable development. Every employee of IFZA Partners has received a sampling of Mangrove tree, to be planted by them. Blockchain would be used to track and trace the tree plantation drive by the company. Remote Sensing (Satellite Imaging) will be used to track the growth and development of the trees. All the information would be stored on Blockchain as it provides security, immutability, and transparency. Tree planters would be able to see the date of planting, geolocation, CO2 sequestration and species of the tree. They can also see the growth of their trees in real-time.
Expected Benefits:
Improve the life span of the trees by real-time tracking
Help support the country’s climate initiative
More Information: Zawya
Providing accessible insurance to small farmers | Germany
Project Description: Climate change is intensifying global weather disasters, and while this affects everyone, the extreme weather events resulting from climate change take a heavy toll on smallholder farmers. For small scale farmers, the uncertainty and volatility of weather conditions directly affects their income generation. This effect can be reduced to certain degree by insurance. But insurance has its bottlenecks, the process is time consuming, requires complex actuarial algorithms due to involvement of several stakeholder and multiple uncertain variables, requires local insights, and the premium can be high for the small-holder farmers to afford. Etherisc is trying to address these issues through a blockchain based decentralized insurance protocol that relies on smart contracts for its operations. Blockchain would provide seamless and user-friendly experience, while maintaining security and immutability. The insurance records would be stored on Blockchain, which is a public ledger that can be accessed by all the stakeholders. This automates the insurance claims, significantly reducing the time it takes for payouts. This will help small-scale farmers to take insurance against their crops and be covered by inclusive insurance.
Expected Benefits:
Insurance would act as a income protection measure for smallholder farmers
Inclusive insurance would reduce the gap between uninsured and insured citizens.
More Information: Be In Crypto
Responsible Supply Chains
Tracing olive oil provenance through blockchain | Greece
Project Description: Olive oil tends to be counterfeited and adulterated, because it is easy to command a high price for fraudulent activity, like mixing other oils with olive oil. Adulterated cooking oils can also lead several health hazards. This is the reason why EU Agri-Food Fraud Network (EU FFN) has placed olive oil as a vulnerable food product for fraud. BioCoS is working with InTTrust to develop a Blockchain-based anti-fraud traceability tool for olive oil supply. BioCoS would establish DNA profiling for specific olive varieties and store them on Blockchain. InTTrust has developed a Blockchain platform called DNAblockchain. Another platform will use this DNA data to verify the authenticity. This information will be deployed on Blockchain with other data such as quality, provenance and quantity produced, that would be useful to track and trace the supply of olive. All this will be shared on Blockchain as it provides immutability, security, and interoperability between different parties. The whole traceability can be accessed by users via QR code place on the bottle.
Expected Benefits:
Minimize counterfeiting and fraud in olive oil industry
Avoid health hazards caused due to adulterated oils
Authentic olive growers would be incentivized and can claim premium price
Consumers could trust the olive oil producers
More Information: Food Ingredients First, EU FFN
Diversity & Inclusion
Gender inclusion through NFT | United States
Project Description: Queer are a group of people who doesn’t fall into the traditional binary category of gender. There is a lack of representation of this group in the Web3 ecosystem as well as in the apparel industry. To promote the participation of Queer people, Play Out Apparel, which is a gender-equal clothing brand owned by Queer and trans founders is launching NFTs based on the artwork made by their Chief Design Officer. These clothes, especially underwear is designed for people from this category. Having NFTs related to such apparel will promote the involvement of people from this community in the web3 ecosystem as well as create awareness among other brands to make clothing designed for these individuals. The project is addressing SDG 10’s target by empowering and promoting LGBTQ+ group. 20% net profits from the business would be donated to LGBTQ+ and BLM organizations. The NFT launch would eventually encourage other artists belonging to other cultures to actively participate in Web3.
Expected Benefits:
Promoting inclusion in Web3 space
Spread awareness about special clothing requirements of Queer and trans community
Encouraging diverse artists to actively participate
More Information: Grit Daily
Addressing unpaid labour issue using blockchain | Vietnam
Project Description: In Vietnam, the rapidly growing middle class has produced high demand for paid domestic workers, and domestic workers have become an important part of the countries gig economy. However, the unpaid labor has been unaddressed and undervalued. The unpaid labor majorly consists of women and girls and these domestic responsibilities hinder the women participation in education and employment. These women typically cannot provide employers and recruiters with formal documentation of their identities, training, and prior work experience. As banks and public services are going digital, the issue of unpaid labor remains unaddressed. They are unable to access basic social and financial services because of paperwork and administrative requirements. The Asia Foundation and Vietnam Blockchain Corp has developed a Blockchain-based digital identity solution for JupViec. This system keeps an immutable record, which can be used by workers. Blockchain creates a digital identity with various records embedded with a time stamp, which cannot be modified or deleted. Blockchain would make it easy for unpaid labor to get access to basic social and financial needs.
Expected Benefits:
Financial services can be accessed by unformal labor.
Having digital records will allow female workforce equal paid employment opportunities
Unorganized labor workforce could become more organized
Record keeping would become seamless for end-users
More Information: Asia Foundation
Waste Management
Managing e-waste using blockchain | Spain
Project Description: Consumer technology is an ever-growing space, both in terms of innovation and consumption. This growing consumption of consumer electronics devices results in rapidly increasing e-waste, which is called waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). E-waste generation also leads to the release of various harmful chemicals and gases into the atmosphere. According to UN Institute of Training and Research’s Global E-waste monitor report, e-waste generated in 2019 saw a spike of 21% in just 5 years. The same document reported that the figures could get doubled by 2030. This creates a pressing need for a sustainable e-waste management solution. Telefonica Tech, in partnership with Exxita Be Circular, has developed a Blockchain solution that converts an electronic device into a digital passport that can be stored on Blockchain. This digital passport contains a unique digital signature which can be verifiable per device. A QR code is assigned to the passport for quick identification and easy access. Other details such as repairs could also be recorded on the Blockchain, ensuring authenticated information, and eliminating a possibility of falsifying information. The company could track and trace their products, giving them an option to improve its sustainability performance, when it comes to managing e-waste. This project is in the line with European Green Pact and Circular Economy Action Plan. This project also aims to address SDG 12’s target, by 2030, reduce waste generation through recycling.
Expected Benefits:
Ensure timely and adequate recycling of e-waste
Reduce harmful chemicals released by e-waste in the environment
Give companies a transparent traceability of their end-product.
More Information: Market Screener, Global E-Waste Monitor
Eliminating plastic waste from mineral water supply chain | Switzerland
Project Description: The marine ecosystem has been negatively impacted by the tons of plastic bottles that enter the oceans every day. Plastic bottles used for mineral water is one of the biggest sources of plastics entering the oceans. The water mineralization process is highly industrialized and has a significant carbon footprint as well. Therefore, there is a dire need to find alternative ways of consuming mineral water, by using innovative technologies. Iperborea SA has developed a tokenized carbon marketplace called Fight The CO2 (FCO), which is accessible to small innovative companies focusing on carbon reduction. By partnering with them FCO would provide a certain amount of its tokens as a carbon credit. The first partner of this project would be Future Springs, that uses a patented technology to distill and sterilize water by using a machine at home. By adding a capsule that contains hyper-mineralized water, the distilled water can be turned into drinkable water, while reducing the need for plastic bottles and transportation costs. The company claims it uses 90% less CO2, that can generate carbon credits. Blockchain would be used to convert the carbon credit into a security token for security and interoperability. The main aim of this project is to convert the carbon trading marketplace, considered an elite one, into a democratic one.
Expected Benefits:
Giving carbon trading access to small and medium sized company.
Improving the liquidity of carbon token on the platform
Funding the carbon positive projects and increasing their impact.
Eliminating plastics from mineral water ecosystem
Minimizing GHG emissions related production and transportation of mineral water
More Information: PR Newswire
Renewable Energy
EV charging eco-system on blockchain | Germany
Project Description: Electric Vehicles (EVs) are an important part of meeting the global goals on climate change. While the EVs adoption continues to grow, their charging experience is still fragmented with many stakeholders involved, operating across different regions. In addition to this, EV owners have no choice regarding supplier or the origin of energy they use. Energy Web’s protocol, ReBeam, in partnership with 50Hertz and bloXmove have built an EV charging ecosystem to integrate various parties involved in the energy distribution and consumption, including charging points, transmission and distribution system operators. Blockchain would enable easy data sharing, transaction verification and messaging between various parties, while maintaining security and trust. This enables users to choose the charging station and electricity source at their convenience. A successful pilot has been done in Berlin where traditional energy supplier was switched by a green energy supplier, Lichtblick. The charging station was provided by LamA.
Expected Benefits:
Users will be able to select a more greener energy supplier
Electricity supplier would have full visibility of the demand from the consumers
Energy suppliers would get encouraged to use green energy
More Information: Smart Energy
Financial Inclusion
Financing Zimbabwe’s citizen through blockchain | Zimbabwe
Project Description: Due to various sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, the citizens are left with very limited sources of finance in the country. These sanctions have also made the legacy economic system unreliable. This creates a pressing need for an alternative financial system for the country to rely on. To sustain the Universal Basic Income (UBI) of the citizens of Zimbabwe, Bitflex, in partnership with GoodDollar is using Blockchain. GoodDollar facilitates UBI in African subcontinent. The funds receive from GoodDollar is distributed by BitFlex, while educating the citizens on Blockchain technology. By using Celo, the money could be sent directly to the citizen’s mobile phone. This would eliminate the use and cost of owning a computer. Blockchain would provide a transparent and secure financial transaction system that would be immutable, meaning that it would eliminate any third-party illicit activities.
Expected Benefits:
Easy and secure fund deployment
Providing access to basic financial measures
Encouraging other under develop countries to use Blockchain
More Information: Techpoint Africa
ESG Reporting
Enabling ESG reporting using AI and Remote Sensing | Hong Kong
Project Description: Lack of transparency and inconsistency in the ESG reporting has been a pressing issue from a long time. This creates an opportunity for a transparent and verifiable ESG data reporting mechanism. Xels is enabling companies to report and disclose their carbon emissions data by encouraging the production of NFT based records of company's carbon offset activities that are certified, traceable, and accurate. This would eventually improve the company’s credibility among its customers, suppliers, and investors. To verify the inputs and claims companies give, Xels uses remote sensing (satellite imaging) and AI analysis, which provides accurate and quantifiable readings. All this information is stored on a non-fungible token (NFT) that enables security, immutability, and trust among the stakeholders.
Expected Benefits:
NFT would reduce the chance of greenwashing
Offers a cost-effective way to report carbon emissions, especially for companies who currently do not report this data.
Confidence building from customers and investors
Easy and seamless record keeping and data sharing
Prompt more companies to adopt ESG reporting
More Information: AMB Crypto
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