Blockchain makes it possible to create a global system to manage resources including transportation and energy, reduce utility costs, improve business processes, and facilitate collaboration between countries to combat pollution. Among other things, blockchain platforms help organizations monitor greenhouse gas emissions and work together on climate action. Platforms and infrastructures based on decentralized technology are growing rapidly.
A key feature of blockchain is its decentralized management, which enables the creation of global networks of foundations, institutions, and even countries to effectively monitor and manage resources. Several projects are already attempting to unify CO2 emissions monitoring within a distributed registry.
Using blockchain to monitor greenhouse gas emissions offers six key benefits:
traceability and open access to data;
lower costs through process automation;
transparent financial flows and efficient climate financing;
improved accountability and the ability to measure climate policy effectiveness across individual companies, collaborations, states, and government associations;
simplified offsets trading;
avoidance of human error in data collection.
A global emissions monitoring system would collect CO2 footprint data in a single, distributed, georeferenced information hub. CO2 monitoring data flow directly from companies and national campaigns into a single
transparent data system.
Blockchain technology stores the results of readings from CO2 monitoring devices and provides a technological guarantee against falsification and enables intelligent analysis of the data. Based on the processing results of the GHG monitoring data, the system automatically creates digital certificates for the status of emissions. When successful campaigns reach their targets, they receive bonuses and preferences, as well as a corresponding rating.
The CO2 emissions data is represented digitally and can be easily processed on a blockchain. This means that they can also be represented as digital assets – that is, tokenized. Tokens will improve transferability and facilitate the exchange of assets between countries.
The need to reduce carbon emissions in this industry is urgent, as shipping currently accounts for
3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than aviation. The FuelTrust project’s Carbon Baseline solution monitors greenhouse gas emissions in the maritime sector. The project calculates emissions data for each ship and makes it easy for shipping companies to buy or sell carbon credits and receive tax credits. For Carbon Baseline,
FuelTrust developed a cloud-based solution that uses AI Digital Drugstore and blockchain technology. The AI calculates emissions based on fuel consumption, and the blockchain ensures the data is secure and accessible.
By 2024, Europe regulations will require companies to control CO2 emissions at every stage of production, delivery, and use and safely dispose of industrial batteries. The emissions limit will be set from 2027, so market participants will need to develop mechanisms to monitor emissions in advance.
The Mobi initiative, which European authorities have already signed on to, proposes to use distributed ledger technology (blockchain) for this purpose. At each stage of their lifecycle, batteries would be recorded in a global information system using a barcode. It's assumed that such a system will make it almost impossible to falsify information and help avoid scandals like Dieselgate.
Blockchain is also useful for monitoring emissions in other production chains.
The Carbon Tracing Platform project tracks emissions along the entire metal production chain, from raw material extraction to product manufacture, using Internet-of-Things sensors.
One challenge with blockchain is that the data it contains is immutable, so any information added to it must be correct.
The TransparenTerra platform, powered by the FCE blockchain, is planning collaborations with certification companies and sustainability experts to build trust in the collaborative process of reducing carbon footprints.
