CO2 Emissions, Climate Change and Blockchain
Climate change, as a result of scientifically proven progressive global warming caused mainly by the emission of large quantities of greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere, poses new challenges for us. The Carbon Dioxide (CO2) content in the atmosphere is currently around 417 ppm (see Keeling Curve), almost twice as high as before industrialization. Such a high value has not been reached for several million years in earth’s history. Although ecological thinking has already developed more and more since the middle of the last century, the climate emergency is now much more real than ever.
In the fight against climate change, blockchain technology has recently attracted increasing interest due to its decentralized nature. Particular areas of interest here are:
-Emissions trading
-Clean energy trading
-Monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions
-Production chain tracking
-Smart City projects
A very interesting application for blockchain and crypto is the development of peer-to-peer platforms for renewable energy trading. Consumers would be able to buy, sell or trade renewable energy with each other using tokens or tradable digital resources. These tokens could represent a certain amount of energy produced. However, it is only feasible if the transfers of assets from the „real“ world to the „digital“ world can be carried out reliably and equivalently. And it is important that the energy is produced in a climate-neutral way and that the Blockchain technology consumes the energy economically and sparingly.
The possibilities and ideas are certainly there, they just need to be developed.
Link: Scripps Institution of Oceanography UCSanDiego https://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/