Page 6 - respond-cop27
P. 6
WHY WE NEED BLOCKCHAIN
TO SAVE THE PLANET
By Luis Felipe Adaime, CEO, MOSS
The current system for the issuance of environmental assets, like carbon credits, is excessively slow and
expensive: blockchain could bring the efficiency we urgently need to save our planet.
In a recent statement, Greenpeace requirements) based on scientific work, and we stop burning our forests, we will cut the
announced that “bitcoin is fuelling the charge a fee per carbon credit generated so world’s emissions by one fifth. If people are
climate crisis†and suggesting that a change as to finance its operations. paid via the sale of carbon credits, they will
in its code would solve the problem. That make money from conservation and will be
might be a bit extreme: Bitcoin mining emits Forest owners or conservation project aligned with saving the worlds forests.
114 million tons per year, or 0.15% of global proponents hire a consulting firm, called
emissions (in comparison with 1.4 billion for a certification company, that will assist in THE WORLD’S LARGEST COTTAGE
our annual use of the Internet). Emissions for the preparation of a document called the INDUSTRY?
Bitcoin mining are arguably minimal on a per “PDD†(project design document). The PDD The challenge is that the bulk of the analysis
asset basis, and offsetting them is a minimal must include several analyses on the area’s is still done by hand on worksheets. The
cost of 0.05% per asset. Furthermore, “Proof characteristics, like biodiversity and water establishment of the baseline, or the
of stake†blockchain systems, like Celo and fall, but most importantly it includes the benchmark for comparison of the forest’s
Polygon, emit 99% less than Ethereum. projections for the avoided emissions that are protection work, is often subjective and
generated from protecting that specific area. varies widely from case to case. In many
So, having established that the emissions cases, forest engineers visit the project many
or environmental impact of blockchain are The concept is based on the fact that times prior to finishing their analysis. They
minimal, let’s discuss why its use is instead half of a tree is made of carbon atoms, often measure tree trunks with metric tape.
key for saving the planet. thus, when one protects a forest, one is
protecting a huge inventory of carbon and Once the PDD is finished, it is audited
THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE avoiding emissions. When one burns a tree, (manually) by a previously authorized
SYSTEM IS STILL ARCHAIC, ANALOGUE, the carbon atoms in that tree’s cellulose auditing company, and then finally, the
MANUAL AND INEFFICIENT molecules are released to the atmosphere document is, once again, submitted for
The environmental services sector is one as CO2, CH4 (methane) and other pollutant (manual) verification by the registry. All this
of the very few that has not yet been gas. This protection work is a relevant manual work leads to a slow process and
disrupted by technology. Let’s look at solution to the world’s Greenhouse gas very high costs: it takes 3 years and more
the issuance and verification of avoided emissions: experts estimate that 20% of than US$ 700 thousand to certify an area,
deforestation carbon credits, for example. the world’s emissions comes from us independently of the area’s size (it costs the
Global registries define a protocol (a list of slashing and burning our forests. So, if same for 1 hectare or for 1 million hectares.)
Now, this process has not changed much
in the past 20 years. And the efficiency
that blockchain brings to this procedure
described above is monumental. For
starters, the global registries have 3
functions: (1) they establish the protocol (2)
they verify the data and certify the carbon
credit process (3) they manage the database
and charge a (hefty) fee for registration of the
transactions.
For starters, the last part is completely
replaceable by blockchain. That is one
of the main reasons for the creation of
blockchain: registering transactions in a
secure, transparent, cheap way. There is
absolutely no reason for established registries
to be wearing that hat of running an off-chain
database. Currently, the system is based on
4
