The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched the Crypto Sustainability Coalition, an initiative dedicated to assessing the role of Web3 technologies in the fight against climate change. The organisation, which is composed of 30 companies, educative groups, and other institutions, will research the impact of the energy consumption of these technologies, and how they can be used to aid the current decarbonisation efforts.
WEF to Use Web3 to Fight Climate Change
Web3, a term that groups cryptocurrency and blockchain-based technologies, is currently in the spotlight of energy groups that seek to determine if the use of these technologies is pernicious for the environment. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has decided to take these technologies into account, launching an initiative to investigate if they can be useful to the current fight against climate change.
The initiative, which was announced on September 21, is called the Crypto Sustainability Coalition, and it is composed of 30 different companies, educative organisations, and other institutions interested in this issue. Among these are known cryptocurrency-linked projects, like Solana, Avalanche, Circle, NEAR Foundation, Ripple, and the Stellar Development Foundation, among others.
This coalition, as part of the Crypto Impact and Sustainability Accelerator, another bigger initiative launched this same year, will inquire about the different ways in which these companies can organise to help in this endeavour. Brynly Llyr, Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets of the World Economic Forum stated:
An important and unique aspect of Web3 is that it uses technology to support and reward direct community engagement and action. This means we can coordinate the work of many individuals directly with one another, enabling collective action without centralized control.
– Brynly Llyr, Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets at World Economic Forum
Different Study Areas and Criticism
This new initiative has already created different workgroups to investigate three key subjects related to crypto, blockchain, and their usage. One of these points has to do with the energy usage of these technologies, and how these can impact the climate and nature in the future.
Another of the key points has to do with how these Web3 technologies can change and be leveraged in order to decarbonise current activities. These applications might include mining and other decentralized activities.
The third subject is standardising and putting carbon credits in the blockchain, making the issuance and management of these instruments more transparent and trustable, and opening the doors for more people to participate in these markets.
