Aravindakshan S.

Our News Pieces (2019)

Our News Pieces

Home page: https://www.ournewspieces.com/index.php

Climate change reversal: Blocking the sun may sound crazy

but what about using “Blockchain”

Sreejith Aravindakshan* a,b

a
Farming System Ecology (FSE), Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands.
b
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
According to the International Energy Agency’s report, global energy demand and the
related carbon emissions surged in 2018, signifying a difficult task ahead of climate change
reversal efforts. Surge in global energy demand is not at all surprising! But the stroppiest
doubt is: “Despite the growth of renewables and the fall in prices of solar panels and wind
mills, why is the global emission going up?” The first answer is ascribed to “the growing
global economy”, which has pushed energy demand up by 2.3% in 2018. During 2000-2018,
while global electricity generation from solar and wind grew by 7% , the nuclear-generated
electricity declined by around 6.9% and coal dipped by only a meager 1% over that time.
Meanwhile natural gas, which emits just more than half as much carbon dioxide, climbed
from 18% to 23%. Secondly, energy efficiency saw only a marginal improvement over this
period making current technologies emission intensive. A third contributing factor was the
extreme weather events triggered by climatic changes. A remarkably sharp increase in
energy consumption was then required for heating and cooling in regions hit by abnormally
severe cold snaps and heat waves.
With electricity demand expected to increase by 62% in 2050, the global energy generating
capacity must triple by 2050. Nearly half of this demand is expected to be met by renewable
energy as costs of wind, solar and battery storage continue to plunge. But what if you end
up stuck in the opposite? For example, dependence on fossil fuels and with lackluster
improvements in energy efficiency, global greenhouse-gas emissions would still be rising
for a number of years to come, causing more extreme-weather events and temperature
shifts. Hotter than normal weather in some places and colder in others would push the use
of more and more heating and air conditioning, which creates added emissions — a vicious
cycle of problems feeding into each other.

*Corresponding author: Sreejith Aravindakshan

E-mail address: sreejiagriman@gmail.com
URL: https://www.ournewspieces.com/details.php?id=64
Published online on 21st June 2019
© Our News Pieces 2019. All rights reserved.

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Aravindakshan S. Our News Pieces (2019)

That being said, a recent use case for blockchain proves that the technology could impact
far more than supply chains, logistics, and finance. It could potentially solve or at least bring
more efficiency, accountability and transparency to climate change reversal efforts.

How can blockchain help in achieving climate change reversal efforts? A Blockchain is a
distributed database that is “non-mutable” incessantly updated and verified by its users.
Each added block of data (“the block”) is “chained” and becomes part of a growing list of
records, under the surveillance of network members. This technology enables the transfer
of assets and the recording of transactions through a secure database. What’s special about
blockchain technology is that through cryptography we can create a ledger of assets and
transactions that cannot be tampered with or “hacked”. That ledger allows for peer-to-peer
transactions of currency, commodities, or really anything else of value (for e.g. carbon
credits) to take place transparently. All of this can happen without the need for an
intermediary like a bank (such as in cryptocurrencies) or a middleman as in some agricultural
value chain examples.

Figure 1. Drought affected land and sun setting in the background

Blockchain technology could be used in the following specific ways for climate action:
1. Bringing more transparency in corporate environmental impact:
According to CBS News an investor group representing nearly $10 trillion in funds have
blamed more than 700 large companies (including Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba and Tesla

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Aravindakshan S. Our News Pieces (2019)

among others) worldwide for failing to disclose their environmental impact. Use of
blockchains in turn in corporate transactions help accounting for their carbon foot print,
while helping the climate change reversal efforts through monitoring corporate behavior.
This transparency of a blockchain stems from the fact that the holdings and transactions of
each public address are open to viewing. Using a web explorer, and equipped with a user’s
public address, it is possible to view their holdings and the transactions that they have
carried out. This level of transparency is not existing in global corporations at the moment,
especially in regards to large businesses, and adds a degree of accountability that has not
existed to date. In the past, large corporations were able to use their customers funds as
they saw fit, without anyone's knowledge, and not always in the most effective or honest
way.
If we take Amazon as example, blocks can store information about the date, time, and
money and carbon environmental impact of any transaction of your most recent purchase
from Amazon. Amazon retail does not work on a blockchain principle though.
2. Improved carbon emission trading:
Blockchain could be used to improve the system of carbon asset transactions. For example,
IBM and Energy Blockchain Lab are currently working together to develop a Blockchain
platform for trading carbon assets.. Recording carbon assets on a public Blockchain would
also guarantee transparency and ensure that transactions are valid and settled
automatically.
3. Facilitated clean energy trading:
The technology could also allow for the development of platforms for peer-to-peer
renewable energy trade. Consumers would be able to buy, sell or exchange renewable
energy with each other, using tokens or tradable digital assets representing a certain
quantity of energy production.
4. Enhanced climate finance flows:
Blockchain technology could help develop crowdfunding and peer-to-peer financial
transactions in support of climate action, while ensuring that financing is allocated to
projects in a transparent way.
5. Better tracking and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and
avoidance of double counting:
The technology could provide more transparency regarding GHG emissions and make it
easier to track and report emission reductions, thereby addressing possible double
counting issues. It could serve as a tool to monitor the progress made in implementing the
Nationally Determined Contributions, or “NDCs” under the Paris Agreement, as well as in
company targets.
Reshaping the blockchain framework for climate change action is an enormous undertaking,
which will not materialize in the absence of a strong global policy and a will and heart for
humanity.

References: With inputs from UNFCCC (https://unfccc.int/news/how-blockchain-technology-

could-boost-climate-action)