Using Blockchain to Achieve the Sustainable development Global Goals(SDGs)

Blockchain is fundamentally a technology of trust, blockchain has trust, openness, and transparency built into its design, its benefits are wide-ranging and impact multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs are a set of 17 global objectives focused on sustainable development issues ranging from poverty, equality, education, climate change, infrastructure, land and water, and production/consumption, with a target date of 2030.

Sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (like ESG reporting) have been an essential topic in the market in recent years.

Blockchain has the potential to impact all 17 SDGs but here I will talk about specific to SDG7: Affordable & clean energy, SDG9 & 12: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation & Responsible production & Consumption(Sustainable supply chains) and SDG13: Climate action where blockchain technology already being used to help achieve these SDGs effectively & efficiently.

SDG 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all and By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. And Renewable energy reduces carbon footprint & emissions which also helps to achieve SDG13. From tracking the source of renewable energy to changing the relationship between how energy is produced and consumed, blockchain has the potential to transform the way companies collaborate and interact to accelerate the development of low-carbon energy.

Use Cases in Energy sectors includes:–

-??????Peer-2-Peer Energy Trading

-??????Renewable energy certificates (REC)

-??????Tokenization of energy

-??????Climate finance – Renewable energy certificate & Carbon credit Market

The main benefits of blockchain in the energy sector are Reduced costs, Environmental sustainability, Increased transparency for stakeholders while not compromising privacy & Decentralization, and programmability.

There are already production deployments of blockchain systems in the energy sector in various use cases.

·??Power Ledger is an Australian company that uses blockchain to facilitate electricity and environmental commodity trading including P2P energy trading. Power Ledger also working with Uttar Pradesh State Government(Indian state).

·?In January 2021 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and the Tokyo Institute of Technology announced their joint development of an original blockchain technology that can optimize P2P energy trading.

·?Estonia’s?100% digital?energy grid made implementing a blockchain platform easy for?WePower.?The startup joined forces with an independent energy provider and gave consumers a chance to buy into their program using their own cryptocurrency.

·??Bitlumens Facilitating the scaling of green technologies to off grid communities… Smart metering, carbon Credit Tokenization(Project Implementation in India).

·??Energy Web foundations use blockchain in REC trading marketplace in Central America. Shell is a founding member of The Energy Web Foundation, which aims to accelerate a low carbon, customer-centric electricity system.

·??Pyse - Invest in?clean?and?green?assets, very unique way of using blockchain in renewable energy. They provide an investment platform based on blockchain to invest in clean & green tech.

·??The BIS Innovation Hub and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) successfully developed two prototype digital platforms?for the green bonds. Over the bond's lifetime, the investor can not only see accrued interest, but also track in real-time how much clean energy is being generated, and the consequent reduction in CO2?emissions linked to the investment. Further, the investor can sell the bonds in a transparent market.

Project Genesis: Prototype digital platforms for green bond tokenization

SDG9 & 12: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation & Responsible production & Consumption(Sustainable supply chains).

Blockchain can ensure good provenance throughout supply chains and has great potential to enable the?Circular Economy. Blockchain could be an SDG game-changer: building resilient and transparent supply chains; creating stronger and more accountable public institutions; spurring responsible sourcing and consumption.

A blockchain supply chain can help participants record price, date, location, quality, certification, and other relevant information to more effectively manage the supply chain. The availability of this information within the blockchain can increase traceability of the material supply chain, lower losses from the counterfeit and gray markets, improve visibility and compliance over outsourced contract manufacturing, and potentially enhance an organization's position as a leader in responsible manufacturing. Brands are increasingly held responsible for their suppliers’ social and environmental actions. Blockchain can create supply chain transparency.

1.???India-based graduate of the UNICEF Innovation Fund, StaTwig, has piloted the use of?blockchain for tracking vaccine delivery?in an eastern state.

2.???Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative?launched last year brought together seven industry heavyweights like De Beers and Eurasian Resources Group to explore the use of blockchain for carbon emissions tracking and supply chain transparency. Around the same time, the?Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network?brought together automotive players including Ford and Volkswagen to pilot the use of blockchain for the ethical sourcing of minerals.

3.?Tentree?is an apparel company that plants 10 trees for every item of clothing sold. Veritree, a ground-based monitoring application that uses blockchain to track data on our tree planting. In the textile industry companies doing ?Fiber /cotton traceability use blockchain for better trust and transparency.

4.??Snapper Future tech is also helping our customers to build sustainable supply chain solutions in the food sector and plastic recycling industry. And Many other Blockchain start-ups like Provenance, circular, everledger, circularise, Infinichains, etc., use blockchain to build sustainable supply chains & circular economy projects.

SDG13: Climate action.

Climate change represents an existential threat to humanity and will require the greatest mobilization of resources and collaboration in human history

A blockchain is a powerful tool that can significantly improve the transparency, accountability, and traceability of greenhouse gas emissions. It helps companies provide more accurate, reliable, standardized, and readily available data on carbon emissions.

In the Cryptocurrency discussion forums, you must have heard of blockchains are using so much energy and emit lots of carbon but that is only related to cryptocurrency mining and public blockchains. There are many use cases of blockchain in climate action and accounting, carbon accounting and reporting and carbon credit tokenization, sustainable supply chains, renewable energy, etc...

Blockchain could contribute to greater stakeholder involvement, transparency, and engagement and help bring?trust and further innovative solutions in the fight against climate change, leading to enhanced climate actions. Blockchain is being used in carbon accounting and carbon credit tokenization for transparent and efficient ESG reporting.

-?The Toucan Bridge connects the voluntary carbon market to Web3. For each credit bridged, one Tokenized CO2 token is deposited. TCO2s are semi-fungible, retain valuable metadata, and can be pooled for max liquidity

-?Open earth foundation actively working on collaborative projects climate actions and accounting.

-?KPMG launches blockchain-based Climate Accounting Infrastructure

-?Sustainability marketplace for carbon credits, SDG Exchange, has announced the global launch of its platform that seeks to enable efficient and transparent global marketplaces for carbon offsets pursuant to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement amid the ongoing?COP26.

-??With global water supplies under severe pressure from climate change and growing worldwide demand, Fujitsu and Botanical Water Technologies (BWT) signed an agreement and initiated the creation of a blockchain-based water trading platform, “Botanical Water Exchange" (BWX)

-?Nori carbon credit marketplace, KlimaDAO, KumaDAO, Climate DAO many such blockchain start-ups working in this space.

-???The European Commission aims to use innovations in blockchain technologies to help fight climate change.

Open-source community initiatives like Hyperledger Climate SIG

Hyperledger foundation has a special interest group “ Climate Action SIG” for The Climate Action & Accounting (CA2) Special Interest Group (SIG) will foster and engage a multi-stakeholder network to exchange ideas, needs, and resources in order to develop and consolidate open-source DLT solutions for a common climate accounting mechanism and frameworks.

Blockchain technology can be the key that underpins the improved governance we need to meet the SDGs by 2030.

Here is an interesting ledger of blockchain projects for SDGs “Blockchain Impact Ledger” list of blockchain projects who help to achieve sustainable development goals.

Refreneces:-

• https://unctad.org/webflyer/harnessing-blockchain-sustainable-development-prospects-and-challenges
• https://unctad.org/news/how-blockchain-can-power-sustainable-development
• https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/blockchain-and-sustainable-growth
• https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/3-ways-blockchain-can-contribute-to-sustainable-development/
• https://www.oecd.org/finance/Blockchain-technologies-as-a-digital-enabler-for-sustainable-infrastructure-key-findings.pdf
• https://www.ey.com/en_dk/assurance/how-blockchain-can-help-achieve-wide-scope-sustainability-target

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