Blockchain technology is emerging as an important support pillar in various ecosystems where the transfer, security and transparency of data is essential. Clearly, the financial markets are the most obvious and important of these ecosystems, but they’re not the only ones. Could blockchain play a role in sustainability and environmental protection? Experts in both fields believe so.

And it’s the perfect time to explore these possibilities. Blockchain in Spain is experiencing something of a sweet time, and strategic actions are starting to be adopted aimed at establishing its market. Web3Hub is a good example, the first initiative of its type in the country, focussed on promoting training and recycling around blockchain technology, as well as the creation of companies and projects related to blockchain.

Blockchain as a way for companies to guarantee their environmental commitments

With the serious consequences of global warming all too present – Europe hasn’t felt a heatwave like the current one for 75 years –, the commitment of the corporate world to reducing carbon emissions is paramount, just like the progressive reduction of fossil fuels, among other measures required along the same lines. But how can we be sure organisations are truly committed to the goal of sustainable development? Is the data they publish genuine? Or is it all just a big greenwashing campaign to no real effect?

Blockchain technology prevents information within a distributed network of blocks from being manipulated once it’s part of the chain. As a result, thanks to blockchain, we’ll be able to access accurate information on carbon emissions and the environmental footprint of manufacturing a given product in every step of the process. Ignasi Oliva from the i2CAT Foundation explains that blockchain, being so transparent and accessible, “can give us the assurance that the companies who say they’re committed to the environment and combating the climate crisis really are”.

More efficient waste management thanks to blockchain

On the other hand, blockchain technology can encourage practices seemingly as far removed from the digital world as recycling. There are already a number of startups in Spain using blockchain to streamline how they deal with plastic waste and promote the exchange of secure transactions between waste managers, who can focus their work on recovery and reuse.

Other practices aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change as much as possible are beginning to form around our energy habits and energy dynamics throughout Europe. Selling surplus unused energy that has been produced by green production facilities – such as solar farms, for example – could be one of them. And blockchain could be part of a dedicated energy buying-and-selling network that could help roll out supply models that are a world away from fossil fuels.

Taking apart the criticisms against blockchain

Those most reluctant to see the widespread use of blockchain technology repeatedly raise the argument of its energy consumption. On this point, experts believe rationality will prevail: blockchain, in itself, does not pretend to be a solution to anything, it only complements and reinforces other processes that have been started previously and are already underway. Similarly, as Joan Ramón Barrera from Círculo Tecnológico de Cataluña assures us, “technology is here to stay. We need to analyse which applications it makes most sense to use and how they should be applied”.

Oliva, who we quoted above, has this reassuring message to the gloomsters: “costs aren’t the problem, they’re coming down. The energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with blockchain are infinitely lower than the energy it saves and the emissions it cuts”, she adds.