At a critical moment when environmental problems are increasingly affecting human survival, the world recognizes that achieving “carbon neutralization” is a necessary stage to slow down global warming. Statistics show that more than 120 countries and two-thirds of the economies have joined the great transformation of “carbon neutrality”.
At present, carbon emission trading is considered as an effective tool to deal with climate change with the market mechanism. Through the carbon dioxide emission quota of the main greenhouse gas, government departments can control the total amount of carbon emission quota, so that the emission control enterprises incorporated into the market are limited by the carbon emission quota, and then through the introduction of the trading mechanism, the optimal allocation of resources can be achieved. Therefore, many countries have initiated the eco chain alliance to focus on the application of blockchain in key application scenarios such as carbon trading ecological network. It can be said that blockchain technology has great application value in helping to achieve the goal of carbon neutralization in the future.
CNT foundation is establishing carbon trading agreement, a public blockchain system focusing on carbon neutrality and carbon emissions trading. CNT Foundation believes that blockchain technology can better solve the basic contradictions in the carbon emission market. Similarly, carbon emission trading and carbon offset can alleviate the negative problems brought to the external environment by the blockchain POW consensus mechanism.
Through blockchain technology, CNT can establish a traceability application covering the whole supply chain and fully evaluate the carbon footprint of suppliers, so as to judge whether it can be incorporated into its own supply chain system. Enterprises in the supply chain can also collect and analyze their carbon emission performance through traceability data to reduce carbon emission, improve energy efficiency and optimize business to achieve carbon neutralization.
The application of blockchain traceability can also improve the transparency of industrial chain and supply chain. With transparent and reliable data, enterprises can make effective carbon disclosure and formulate corresponding carbon compensation schemes, so as to realize the real carbon neutral supply chain and negative carbon supply chain.
Using blockchain and privacy computing technology, information can be verified but invisible. Through the private key signature authorization of the data owner, the data access right can be temporarily opened to specific potential partners, upstream and downstream enterprises and third-party regulators to verify carbon emission related data. All quantifiable carbon emission data can be shared safely in this way.
Once the concerns about enterprise data security are eliminated, carbon emission data can be circulated and shared at the industrial level, and the value of data can be truly unlocked. This will advance the process of achieving the goal of carbon neutrality.
If we want to reduce greenhouse emissions to avoid two degrees of temperature rise and even worse climate change, we need to make fundamental technological innovation. Although emission trading markets are potential solutions, they must be improved in order to achieve a certain degree of meaningful emission reduction in market efficiency and scale. Although blockchain technology can theoretically improve these markets, suitable networks that can promote this market transformation have not been developed. In addition, the blockchain network (the most popular blockchain in the past) does not have a design to reduce the impact on the environment. Therefore, in the spirit of decentralization and sustainability, carbon trading agreement has developed into a blockchain carbon sink trading network with carbon neutralization as the core.
By enabling the carbon trading agreement, the customers on the network will contribute to their carbon neutralization through their transaction fees. The transaction fees are concentrated to purchase real and verifiable carbon sink assets, and then offset the carbon trace of the carbon trading agreement, so as to ensure their de neutralization, carbon trading, carbon neutralization and carbon asset storage. The process is transparent and supervised by various stakeholders in community governance, including CNT holders, verifier nodes and elected committee members, who are encouraged to maintain the security and reliability of the network.
Realizing “carbon neutralization” is one of the major trends in the future. As a new generation of subversive core technology after steam engine, power and Internet, blockchain’s unique personality will play a key role in the carbon trading market. Through the application of blockchain technology, the scale of the global carbon trading market may exceed trillion dollars in the near future. It can be said that there is still a lot of room for development.
Abigail is an English novelist who began her career as an actress. Her second book, Golden Boy, was described as a “dazzling debut” by Oprah’s Book Club.
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