Blockchain in Environmental Sustainability Measures: a Survey

TL;DR

This survey reviews how blockchain technology is applied to environmental sustainability, focusing on monitoring, verification, and enforcement of eco-friendly practices across various environmental concerns.

Contribution

It classifies blockchain applications in environmental sustainability, analyzes different blockchain types and properties, and discusses future research challenges.

Findings

Blockchain applications span multiple environmental concerns.

Different blockchain types are suited for specific sustainability goals.

Challenges include scalability, privacy, and regulatory issues.

Abstract

Real and effective regulation of contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants requires unbiased and truthful monitoring. Blockchain has emerged not only as an approach that provides verifiable economical interactions but also as a mechanism to keep the measurement, monitoring, incentivation of environmental conservationist practices and enforcement of policy. Here, we present a survey of areas in what blockchain has been considered as a response to concerns on keeping an accurate recording of environmental practices to monitor levels of pollution and management of environmental practices. We classify the applications of blockchain into different segments of concerns, such as greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste, water, plastics, food waste, and circular economy, and show the objectives for the addressed concerns. We also classify the different blockchains and the explored and designed properties as identified for the proposed solutions. At the end, we provide a discussion about the niches and challenges that remain for future research.