The Climate Chain Coalition (CCC), founded in 2017, is an open global initiative promoting multistakeholder collaboration across the climate and digital sectors to help advance emerging digital solutions for a variety of organisations, including small and medium sized businesses, to enhance climate actions. The CCC's 260+ organisational members span over 50 countries and range from climate NGOs to small blockchain startups, all of which are working to improve alignment and accessibility of blockchain digital climate offerings. The CCC believes innovative technologies can significantly help governments, companies and individuals achieve a more sustainable future and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
CCC Founder and Co-Chair Tom Baumann discusses the coalition's mission and latest initiatives:
What is the mission of the Climate Chain Coalition?
One of the CCC's core goals is to bring together the climate and digital sectors’ stakeholders to shape the governance platform and eventually develop supporting Data and Digital Innovation Infrastructures, including standards. In the digital space, whether it's blockchain or Internet of Things (IoT) associations, they're in the process of developing standards, looking at things such as, what is blockchain and how should it work to help climate action? What are its energy performance requirements? We founded the organisation because we realised there wasn't a bridge between the climate community and the digital community. Our mission is to connect and build these stakeholder relationships and identify how we can develop digital solutions to reach climate goals faster. While we are not quite a standards group yet, we are building the network that first establishes a foundation of common interests, leading up to a system to support standards development and standards innovation.
What actions is your coalition taking to build capacity of its members on blockchain's environmental impact and potential benefits?
One of the CCC's key initiatives is the Data and Digital Innovation Infrastructure, a concept that aims to take climate innovations (nature-based solutions, energy efficiency, carbon markets, etc.) and digital innovations (IoT, AI, digital currencies, etc.) and combine and transform them via governance, social, and financial innovations to create climate action empowerment. We authored a chapter in a recent report which breaks down how blockchain technology can be used to advance the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Our chapter highlights several areas where blockchain-based solutions can benefit climate efforts, including supporting the tracking and reporting of carbon emissions, improving the carbon asset transaction system, facilitating trade of renewable energies while enhancing financial flows, and enabling more equitable governance standards for carbon emissions.
What are your organisation's future goals?
In building this network, we really want governments and companies of all sizes to understand and explore what is possible with blockchain and climate. Blockchain has a natural fit with supply chains; because blockchain has an inherent chain of custody from one data package to another, you can ensure a supply chain's sustainability from start to finish. For example, an SME looking to prove its sustainability credentials can use blockchain in combination with digital sensors and IoT that measure energy performance to confirm its sustainable chain of supply. CCC members are also working on some exciting projects using blockchain to enable SMEs to participate in carbon markets. Blockchain is reducing the cost of entering those markets and the transaction costs involved in producing and transacting carbon credits.