WEF: Blockchain Can Drive Sustainable Digital Finance for a Low-Carbon Economy

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has highlighted blockchain technology as one of the key emerging technologies that can drive sustainable digital finance and create a low-carbon economy.

Speaking at the WEF's Green Horizon Summit on Nov. 11, UBS Chief Operating Officer, Personal and Corporate Banking, Karin Oertli said that blockchain technology, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile platforms, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are essential to foster digital finance.

Oertli noted that sustainable digital finance can take advantage of these emerging technologies as tools to analyze data, power investment decisions, and grow jobs in sectors supporting a transition to a low-carbon economy. The finance expert believes that through the operation model of blockchain technology in transparently storing transactions in public ledgers, corporations or enterprises adopting the technology can have access to open digital finance data.

According to Oertli, technologies like AI, machine learning, and natural language processing can be used to both generate and evaluate such data as presented by blockchain in a bid to help businesses “increase energy efficiency, reduce overall energy consumption or expand the use of renewable energies."

Blockchain Technology Finding Home in Environmental Sustainability Drive

The application of blockchain technology has consistently been drafted in environmental sustainability drive. As Blockchain.news reported back in September 2019, blockchain technology was unleashed at the United Nations General Assembly on Global Crises.

Per the reports, Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Global Climate activist delivered a compelling speech at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on how businesses and political involvement have stolen her dreams by the lack of response to the crisis. Amongst other things, Thunberg advocated for the development of blockchain to combat climate change challenges.

Enterprises and private businesses have also been nudged to combat climate change through the adoption of tools such as KPMG’s blockchain-based Climate Accounting Infrastructure (CAI)