7, place de Fontenoy - 75352 Paris 07 SP, France
On 23-24 July 2018 UN Environment and the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) held a dialogue on "Exploring Blockchain Technology and Environmental Sustainability" in Paris, France.
Blockchain and similar open, distributed ledger technologies are increasingly proposed as a tool to help achieve many of the Sustainable Development Goals, including those in the environmental area, and the number of real world applications of blockchains is growing.
This dialogue explored existing and potential applications of blockchain technology to address issues of environmental sustainability. Blockchain and similar open, distributed ledger technologies allow digitized forms of data such as contracts, processes, tasks, and payments to be identified, validated, stored, and shared for free and open interaction, without traditional intermediaries or unauthorized manipulation. Blockchains are increasingly proposed as a tool that can help achieve many of the Sustainable Development Goals, including those in the environmental area, and the number of real world applications of blockchains is growing.
Global experts and representatives from academic and research institutions, private sector companies, financial institutions, government agencies, and intergovernmental organisations discussed the opportunities – and implications – of applying blockchain technology to a variety of environmental issues. Discussion will focus on learning from existing best practices, identifying new opportunities, and flagging possible concerns. The Dialogue aimed to improve collective understanding of blockchains, and how best they can be applied in environmental or sustainability areas such as inclusive finance, smart energy systems, sustainable value chains, and climate change mitigation.