Photo by Porapak Apichodilok.
Porapak Apichodilok
You’ve just arrived on a private island alongside some of the world’s biggest thinkers and changemakers.
Welcoming you is the enigmatic “Captain Planet” Sir Richard Branson, uniting earth’s planeteers in the fight against climate change.
Scenes from Branson’s Necker Island, which hosts the Blockchain Summit with ACTAI Global, Bitfury and the Global Blockchain Business Council, were not so different from those depicted in the 1990s American animation series Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
Just like Captain Planet’s aim to “take pollution down to zero”, the Summit’s ‘Can’t Wait Climate Crisis’ panel explored some of the latest developments in protecting the world from more environmental damage.
Their secret weapon? Blockchain.
From sustainable fishing and keeping our oceans plastic free, to natural disaster management and renewable energy trading – these are just some of the challenges blockchain technology is currently being used to address.
A hero for earth
Almost 30 percent of the world’s oceans are currently overfished and it’s already having a devastating impact on ocean life – in just 40 years there has been a 39 per cent decrease in the world’s marine species.
Photo by Duangphorn Wiriya
Duangphorn Wiriya
Speaking at the Blockchain Summit earlier this week, Gigi Brisson the CEO and founder of Ocean Elders, an advocacy for ocean preservation, talked about the need for a reputable traceability system to be implemented across fisheries worldwide.
Brisson spoke about the The World Wildlife Fund as one organization using blockchain and QR codes for sustainable fishing, to trace tuna in Fiji.
“The fish comes out of the water and it’s RFID tagged,” Brisson said.
“It gets processed into pieces with a QR code. This not only starts to equalize the imbalance of where the dollars go in that chain – more goes to the fishers and early participants – but it also eliminates illegal fishing, where there’s a lot of slavery.
“It’s active and it’s working.”
Blockchain also has the potential to help clean up our oceans, which are now home to an estimated 5.25 trillion macro and microplastic pieces, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.
Plastic Bank is one company using blockchain to monetize waste to help prevent more plastic from ending up in the ocean.
“They gather the plastic, and they resell it at a little higher price so they make a margin. It’s identified so they know it’s within the system,” Brisson said.
“There are families that are supporting themselves on the collection of plastic. It’s an active and successful application.”
Power to the people
Photo by Andreas Gücklhorn
Andreas Gücklhorn
Blockchain is also being used to help those in the wake of natural disasters.
Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator (CCSA), a group supporting climate action and economic growth initiatives, is currently working with fintech company Bitt to use blockchain to drive the digitization of currency across the Caribbean.
Speaking at the Blockchain Summit this week, CCSA CEO Racquel Moses highlighted the potential of blockchain after a natural disaster hit.
“One of the first things that happens after a disaster is you have no access to resources, you have no access to buy the basic supplies that you need,” Moses said.
“So in working with these governments to get the currency digitized, it creates an opportunity for resilience. That is a potential adaptation project. We’re trying to get some new governments on board.”
Blockchain Summit panellists also discussed how Facebook’s flagship cryptocurrency Libra could be an opportunity for environmentalists.
Libra head of policy and communications and Power Ledger ambassador Dante Disparte said Libra had the ability to create a universally acceptable low-volatility, high-utility currency that could push billions back into the hands of people, particularly in developing countries.
“It could help create real incentives around conservation that can work at scale around the world,” Disparte said.
Watch the Blockchain Summit’s Can’t Wait Climate Crisis panel.
At Power Ledger, we’re using blockchain to progress the adoption of renewable energy worldwide, in particular incentivizing people to trade their excess solar energy.
In Australia and Europe, households are using our blockchain-enabled platform to buy and sell rooftop solar energy.
And in America we’ve started to develop a blockchain-backed technology to create transparency and efficiency in the carbon credit trading market.
However, technology is only as good as its user, and as planeteer Wheeler famously said; “Nothing’s gonna change unless you do”.
“Go, Planet!”
Sure, it will take more than a group of tech entrepreneurs on Necker Island to change the globe, but it’s a good start to realizing Branson’s proposed utopia;
“Can you imagine what a different world we will live in when businesses do what’s right for the communities and the environment in everything they do?”
This year’s Necker Blockchain Summit has showcased that blockchain technology is certainly unlocking new ways to tackle environmental issues.
But we need a collective of everyday superheroes to champion change.
And when it comes to becoming a ‘planeteer’, Captain Planet’s theme song rings true;
“You can be one too, because saving our planet is the thing to do.”
