Hurricane Irma turned out to be the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded outside the Gulf of Mexico. Its extreme power caused a colossal devastation in the Caribbean Islands and the Southern US, led to a massive evacuation of Florida, but also pushed again the climate change and global warming topic to the headlines. While I am still very sceptical about human influence as a major cause of the global warming and I believe that there are many other important aspects that are beyond our control to be considered, I am certain that we, as humans, should be united in an effort to keep our planet safe and green for the next generations. CarbonX is another great incentive that can help each of us to work more closely in order to achieve this goal.
The idea behind CarbonX is to engage millions of people by materially rewarding them for a responsible carbon consumption. The company wants to achieve it by investing in carbon reduction projects and transforming the generated offsets into ERC20 tokens, (one of the most popular token standards for Etherum Blockchain) later are allocated through an open-loop rewarding loyalty program. The engaged partners (e.g. big retailers, local governments) will offer CarbonX Tokens to consumers as an incentive for more carbon-wise decisions (e.g. using a public transportation instead of driving a car). These tokens will be tracked via mobile application and will serve as a currency that could be exchanged either for other digital currencies or carbon-friendly rewards. Although CarbonX is currently available in Canada only, it has ambitious plans to expand its operations worldwide in order to achieve substantial network effects and have a real global impact.
What I really love about this idea is the fact that it directly engages individuals to take small actions towards a more sustainable living. How often do you see people behaving irresponsibly just because they think that their impact on the environment is marginal? How often do you actually behave this way? While governments and NGOs can push some incentives on the macro level, we cannot forget that each of us creates this ecosystem as well. These tiny rewards do not only bring its users tangible benefits but more importantly increase awareness of the consequences of their actions. So, tell me now. Would you like to trade some carbon with me?
References:
- https://www.carbonx.ca/#ourmission
- https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/13/could-a-blockchain-based-electricity-network-change-the-energy-market
- https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Myths#Bitcoin_mining_is_a_waste_of_energy_and_harmful_for_ecology
- http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/15/us/climate-change-hurricanes-harvey-and-irma/index.html
