Can blockchain benefit the environment and all future challenges that the planet confront? Can it take advantage of its resources to promote sustainability and the quality of human life?

It is hard to believe, considering that the blockchain, which is mainly used in the financial sector, is fueled by a large quantity of electrical energy to carry out all operations. But we can say, for the research we have done on the Internet, that there are companies ready to use the blockchain system for sustainable projects.

There are companies that, to reduce electricity costs, offer the option to make direct energy transactions, that is, to exchange electricity among people through the blockchain system. So, “empowers individuals, with an emphasis on homeowners, to freely buy, sell or trade electricity”. This is explained in the SunContract platform, a project that began last year in Slovenia, and in the next months it will also be implemented in Italy. They add that “you can also choose the price at which you purchase or sell your electricity”.

Another similar and well-known example is the American project Exergy. In this digital portal we read how it combine the blockchain system “to develop localized marketplaces for transacting energy across existing grid infrastructure”.

Another known example, in this case on the other side of the ocean, in Bangladesh, is SOLshare, also with the same objectives, “sustainable, affordable energy access” explains this on its website. Even in this sector, a digital coin called SolarCoin was created in 2014 to reward solar producers and thus promote solar electricity.

Blockchain technology is also being used to control carbon dioxide emissions, the main cause of global warming. This is the case of the Chinese application IBM Blockchain, created two years ago with the goal, as explained on the website, to allow “high-emission organizations to monitor their carbon footprints and meet quotas by buying carbon credits from low emitters”.

The blockchain system is also used in other sectors to make a positive impact on the planet. Startup Provenance or companies like Walmart and Unilever use this technology so that consumers, by means of applications, can scan the product and therefore track and access all the information in the supply chain.

It is therefore one way of verifying, for example, the impact or durability of food products or how to check for any problems.This year, large companies such as Bumble Bee Foods and Carrefour or even the National Pork Board of the United States have announced that they will also implement blockchain technology for this use.

These are just some of the applications and companies that use the blockchain system for the efficient use of the planet. The good news is that experts agree that there will be more and more of them, because there is still much to discover and innovate in this area.