Innovative technologies and solutions are needed to reach the goals set out in the Paris Agreement if we are to reach our goals of a climate resilient world.
Combining UNEP DTU Partnership research in blockchain technology with practical application of the technology resulted in a first place at a blockchain hackathon at the European Blockchain Center.
UNEP DTU Partnership PhD researcher Marco Schletz was part of the team that worked on a use case presented by the EU Commission to develop “real-world fuel and energy consumption monitoring” to accelerate the reduction of CO2 emissions from road vehicles.
The project won first prize by providing a solution to the challenge of designing and developing a pilot system capable of storing information on vehicle consumption and emissions, while also protecting sensitive data.
The winning team consisted of Alvise Baggio, Politecnico di Milano, Anand Bansal, University of Copenhagen, Michele Soavi, Università di Trento, Samuel Korn, Copenhagen Business School and Marco Schletz.
Nine international teams competed in the hackathon with different cases such as sustainable supply chain management, copyrights, sustainable community involvement and vehicle emissions tracking.
Unleashing the potential of blockchain and climate action
New technologies, such as blockchain technology, have the potential to accelerate global action towards the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. This is the premise under which the UNEP DTU Partnership conducts its research on potential applications for blockchain technology, and sets the stage for the partnership’s future involvement in the area.
Although vehicles are already equipped with equipment that aggregates energy consumption and fuel consumption, an EU-wide system for collecting and storing such information is currently missing. The equally shared ownership of data amongst all EU countries removes the existing data siloes and paves the way for greater ambition and accountability.
Marco Schletz’ research shows that this problem is one of many areas within climate action that blockchain technology can help solve and provide continuous monitoring and storing of individual vehicle energy and fuel consumption information across the EU.
The Blockchain Summer School is an initiative by the European Blockchain Center and runs for the fourth year in a row as a collaboration between researchers from the IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School and University of Copenhagen.
Strengthening climate action and developing countries
Key features of blockchain technology, such as an immutable audit trail of transactions, cheap and borderless transfer of values, and automated execution of contracts, can help address challenges to climate action implementation.
More specifically, this technology can act as a transparency mechanism that incentivizes emission reductions in carbon markets, and can provide a decentralized infrastructure enabling new applications in carbon transparency and markets, climate finance, and clean energy generation.
UNEP DTU Partnership work relating to blockchain aims to identify and analyse concrete use cases within the Paris Agreement agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals arena.
As an internationally leading provider of research-based advisory on climate and energy action, UNEP DTU Partnership is uniquely positioned to analyse blockchain use cases that strengthen climate action, particularly in developing countries.
UNEP DTU Partnership has previously published a flyer on the many possible applications of blockchain in climate action, and the potential of its use,
Along with the Blockchain for Climate Foundation, BLOC, The UNFCCC Secretariat and the World Bank Group the partnership has also developed a webinar discussing potential blockchain designs and trade-offs to address carbon market barriers and enhance efficiency and transparency in collaboration with.