The Fourth Industrial Revolution is already well in motion, with blockchain technology being a huge force. But where the environment has often been damaged by different industries, this digital revolution – especially through blockchain – could help to build a better planet.

Blockchain1 is a foundational emerging technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, much like the internet was for the previous (or third) industrial revolution. Its defining features are its distributed and immutable ledger and advanced cryptography, which enable the transfer of a range of assets among parties securely and inexpensively without third-party intermediaries. It is also democratised by design – unlike the platform companies of today’s internet – allowing participants in the network to own a piece of the network by hosting a node (a device on the blockchain).

This report focuses on the application of blockchain to address pressing environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and water scarcity. It looks at emerging applications to create a better planet, including those that might be the biggest game changers in managing our global environmental commons, while assessing the potential challenges and developing recommendations to address them. Some of these applications could dramatically improve current systems and approaches, while others could completely transform the way humans interact with – and manage – our environmental stability and natural resources.

Ready to discover how blockchain can help us to create a better planet? Read this research!