These days, a click of a button
can transport a product from here to here.
But what happens in between?
Well, it's hard to say because we just don't see it.
But there is a lot happening
along the way, and much of it doesn't bode well for the climate.
Companies claim they source responsibly, but that's really hard to verify.
Could another kind of chain potentially help us make sure that the things
we buy don't come at a massive cost to the planet?
The blockchain claims it can.
Hundreds of
years ago, supply chains were very simple.
You bought your fish from a local fisherman, your vegetables from the farmer
and your furniture from
yes, you guessed it, the carpenter.
It wasn't hard to figure out where your products came from.
Today, it's a totally different story.
Supply chains are complex, global and usually involve thousands of suppliers.
Take, for example, your phone. This old thing.
There are more than 200 suppliers from all over the world
that are involved in putting this together.
And you probably don't have the first clue
about who those suppliers are or where the materials actually come from.
Companies don't like to talk about this
and they'd prefer that we don't want to hear about it either.
Transparency in supply chains wasn't a thing that we cared about, but now,
especially as we face a global climate crisis, things are starting to change.
People are demanding transparency.
It's hard to know whether the things
we buy were produced in ways that are damaging to the environment.
For example, that eco toothbrush that you love and use every day at home.
How do you know it's really eco?
Well, what if you could take a sneak peek at that sexy corporate paperwork
and get your hands on copies of every transaction ever made?
Tracking every product you ever buy.
Exciting, right?
Well it should be! Because it's one way that you can ensure your stuff
comes exactly from where companies claim it does.
Enter the blockchain.
Now don't panic.
This thing makes my head spin as well, but it's really not as complicated
as you think. We first heard the term blockchain
when crypto mania took over cryptocurrency.
I mean, it's the new wave. It's what everybody's doing.
Etherium is going to $10,000 and Bitcoin is going to $100,000.
I think what's going on, definitely we'll come to a bad ending.
There's a good chance that crypto
is the future currency of Earth.
But while Bitcoin is the energy consuming face of this model,
blockchain is the logic of decentralization at the heart of it.
And it has the potential to be used for so much more.
Because a key part of decentralization is transparency,
something we desperately need as we navigate the climate crisis.
By design, it can be used to track and trace. The idea of creating infinite,
traceable and trackable public digital records of something
to make sure that no one can tamper with it. Information from those records
is stored on blocks which form a chain that everyone can see on the internet.
Hence the name blockchain. Simple, right?
Every part of the product's journey can be captured and added to the chain,
creating a clear, traceable path from its origin to your hands.
Now you might be thinking: aren't supply chains already traceable and trackable?
And what does the blockchain really add here?
Well, the thing is, blockchain was created to allow transactions
between parties who don't know each other and don't trust each other.
Because it's designed to be tamper proof and decentralized,
blockchain fans claim it eliminates the need for trust.
You wouldn't need to trust anyone's claims of sustainability
if you could simply check it for yourself.
And that transparency and accountability is
what could really help us in our fight against climate change.
It's how we can be assured that our climate solutions are actually helping
and not coming at the expense of other environmental costs that are invisible.
to us. Like electric cars, for example. Electric vehicles use lithium
ion batteries, which is a huge leap towards sustainable travel,
and as many of us know, can also be very taxing on the environment.
There are different ways of mining lithium.
One is much more energy intensive and the other.
So how do you know which lithium is used in your electric car?
This is where the blockchain can help. A British startup
tackling transparency in the supply chain is using blockchain -
my God, there are so many chains - to help record every step
that the raw material takes from mining to manufacturing.
That means that you'll be able to see and verify where it was sourced,
and that's not all.
Carbon emissions at each stage of the production
can also be uploaded onto the ledger. As consumers, one way to fight
climate change is by being conscious about what we consume,
but the decisions we make are only as good as the information that we have.
If a company lies about where it to product, there's often
no way for us to know.
Crypto fans claim the blockchain can help change that.
Like many other climate tech solutions out there, it is, of course, early days.
There's been a lot of theorizing, years of pilots and testing
and as of yet, not one golden project to set our compass by.
But it could be a step
towards a more transparent world that holds corporations accountable
because maybe the next time a brand starts to make big climate promises and asks you
to buy green and sustainable products, you will get to say, Well, prove it.