65 ways (distributed) to save the planet

" Blockchain is more than a simple tool to enable digital currencies "

Yes loses the opportunity to use distributed ledger technology to address some of the world's biggest environmental challenges, according to a new Blockchain PwC report, released Monday.

Only 3% of technology investment in the second the 2018 quarter was earmarked for environmentally beneficial projects, said the global consulting firm.

PwC has identified 65 cases of emerging and existing uses of technology that could disrupt the way the world manages environmental resources. from the decentralized management of natural resources such as energy and water to the creation of cleaner and more transparent supply chains.

"Blockchain could be in g rarely facilitate the collection, monitoring and management of vast amounts of Earthsystem data in a geospatial digital ledger. The new blockchain-enabled geospatial platforms are in the early stages of exploration and could monitor, manage and enable the market mechanisms that protect global environmental assets, "suggests the report [pdf].

Blockchain PwC report: less of 1% of Blockchain Progetti Tackle Environment

The document notes that 412 blockchain projects worth 2.5 billion pounds ($ 3.3) were invested in the second quarter of this year. of the 412 projects less than 1% were in the utilities and energy sectors, areas where there is considerable room for environmental improvement

Celine Herweijer, a partner of PwC UK, commented: " Blockchain applications to transform finance and commerce have been the business and investor motives to date. But there is an opportunity for new ideas to exploit this nascent technology to help get great benefits for our environment. "

The blockchain is a diary that adds a new block of transactions or information at intervals.Each user has a complete copy of the chain, so the information can be compared and contrasted to make sure the new block information is correct.

A computer is chosen to load the next block by being the first to solve a heavy computational task, such as solving a math equation, this is done by the miners who are often rewarded with a cryptocurrency token for their effort: PwC defines Blockchain technology as "at its most fundamental level … a new decentralized and global computational infrastructure."

Environmental Issues

The report found that many of the relevant use cases for environmental applications they were often grouped around issues such as peer-to-peer trading of permits or resources, new financing models for environmental results and transparency and supply chain management.

The study highlights the London-based start-up Provenance, which in 2016 piloted a public blockchain that monitored tuna fishing in Indonesia for consumption by UK customers.

See also: IBM brings Blockchain to "outdated" insurance compliance processes

Worldwide, the fishing industry is harboring abuses of human rights, unjust labor and illegal practices. In 2014, the Guardian discovered supply chains in UK supermarkets that came from forced labor in Asia.

Provenance designed an application that uses blockchain technology via a simple smartphone to link identity, location of material attributes, audit information and batch ID or specific article certifications.

Provisional countries state that: "Data is stored in an immutable, decentralized and globally controllable format that protects identities by default, allowing for secure data verification."

"The fishermen sent simple SMS messages to record their catch, thus issuing a new resource on the blockchain with each text message," Addition of origin.

Once this origination link is set with real people who grow fish, it is connected in existing supply chain systems. Since the blockchain can not be changed retroactively, there is now a clear line traceable from the line to the farmed fish fork.

However, as the report indicates, this type of project represents only a small number of blockchain projects that are financed.

Dominic Waughray The head of the World Economic Forum for World Economic Forum commented: "If history has taught us anything, it is that these transformational changes will not happen automatically."

will require deliberate collaboration between different stakeholders, from technology industries to environmental policymakers, and will need to be supported by new platforms that can support these stakeholders to advance not only a technological application, but the systems that will allow it to be taken into consideration. "