Blockchain for the Environment: It Is Real and It Is Here

Dozens of industries have parts to play in the struggle against climate change, including blockchain - notorious for running dirty.

For many people outside of the tech industry, blockchain is synonymous with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin chain was the first blockchain designed and deployed, but many new iterations of the technology have appeared in the decade since the first links in the blockchain were assembled.

Post-Satoshi developers have found ways to harness the security, decentralization and safety of blockchain without maiming the environment.

What can the new blockchains do for the environment? As a paper presented to the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, or ECEEE, argued: Blockchain can streamline processes, eliminate wasteful portions of a supply chain, and cut inefficiency-driving middlemen.

Utility companies, to take just one example, could use blockchain to prove to consumers that the energy they use derives from clean and sustainable sources, rather than oil, gas and coal.

In one case, blockchain helps the environment by stopping unsustainable practices.

While the ECEEE paper's lead author, Beatrice Marchi, is affiliated with the University of Brescia, Italy, blockchain for the environment isn't confined to academic theory.

Blockchain is a young technology that offers new solutions to the problem.

David Mansell is the co-founder and director of NEM Ventures, the venture capital and investments arm of the NEM blockchain ecosystem.