Abstract
This chapter explores the contributions that blockchain may offer to the societal challenges of realising sustainable development and a circular economy. More specifically, we address the question on how blockchain can be used to develop a hybrid, transactional values-system using multiple values (e.g., electricity, mobility, assets, etc.) simultaneously between various actors. We do so by conceptually exploring the concept of circularity and sustainability in addition to typifying the characteristics of blockchain technology. To frame this exploration, we first specify three distinct, yet coherent levels of development: accounting, contractual, and community. Each of these levels will be illustrated by examples. Next, we confront these developmental levels of blockchain with three levels of societal challenges, namely (i) servitisation and dematerialisation, (ii) life-cycle extension, and (iii) recycling, conversion, and substitution. Confronting blockchain levels with the levels of societal challenges leads to a possible conceptualisation of the application of blockchain technology in relationship to the societal challenges. In conclusion, we state that this debate is still in its infancy and that we have only superficially investigated this intriguing issue.
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Notes
- 1.
The technology of blockchain is based on energy and is, by itself, not sustainable from the perspective of eco friendliness, e.g., to perform a transaction on blockchain, the action itself and, consequently, the energy consumed are not necessarily sustainable.
- 2.
The latter might imply principally that one could check the personal accounts of all of the others. This is resolved through encryption.
- 3.
The debate on the SDGs can be brought down to a discussion on sustainability (WCED 1987) that, over time, has fanned out into three separate debates on (1) circularity, (2) inclusivity, and (3) sustainification and the ways they are related to each other. For clarity, it increasingly boils down to a ‘radical’ process of sustainification, which in its turn is explained as the process in which various actors (governments, businesses and citizens) collectively engage in realising far reaching, impactful goals, or moon shots regarding sustainability (Ellen McArthur Foundation 2012; UNEP 2011; European Commission 2018).
- 4.
Such a perspective on materials is connected to the SDGs 7 (affordable and clean energy), 8 (decent work and economic growth), 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), 12 (responsible consumption and production), and 13 (climate action).
- 5.
It is estimated that last year bitcoin used more than 30 TWh of electrical energy. To understand the meaning of these kind of figures, this represents 30,000,000,000 kWH. This amount of energy (gas or other sources not included) is used by roughly 8.5 million households in the Netherlands.
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Faber, N., Jonker, J. (2019). At Your Service: How Can Blockchain Be Used to Address Societal Challenges?. In: Treiblmaier, H., Beck, R. (eds) Business Transformation through Blockchain. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99058-3_8
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