Sustainability often rhymes with technology, especially when new technological resources such as blockchain, are made available for the sustainable development of the planet.

However, it is good to start by giving a broader definition of the concept of sustainability , because it is often linked only to aspects related to environmental protection, without assessing the other declinations applied to this term.

Sustainability is all-encompassing about our daily lives, our lifestyles, our choices as consumers, and choices at the level of corporate policy and governance. Sustainability is put into practice today, in the present, to ensure a better future for people and the environment.

Here, then, by referring to that concept of sustainability we go on to better understand why it is so important for the achievement of that goal to also have in support tools and technologies that act in the perspective of global sustainable development.

But what is Blockchain and why is it so important in terms of sustainability?

Included in the broader family of Distributed Ledger, i.e., systems that are based on a distributed ledger that can be read and modified by multiple nodes in a network, blockchain technologies exploit the characteristics of a computer network of nodes and allow a ledger containing data and information (e.g., transactions) to be managed and updated in an open, shared and distributed manner in a unique and secure way. In fact, blockchain is based on a decentralized and shared database where each database consists of a chain of blocks, blockchain in fact, containing all the information related to the transactions made which, through cryptography, are made irreversible and immutable.

Decentralization, transparency, security, immutability and traceability are thus the pillars on which blockchain is based, which precisely by virtue of its special characteristics can bring significant support and contribution to all those projects that aim to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals set forth by the United Nations and the indications contained in both theParis Agreement, and in other normative instruments in which sustainability and solidarity are mentioned.

Indeed, applications of blockchain technology offer many opportunities to help us create a more environmentally and socially sustainable world.

THE OPPORTUNITIES PRESENTED BY BLOCKCHAIN

• Traceability: Lack of transparency along supply chains has always raised concerns and challenges regarding fraud, pollution, human rights violations and other inefficiencies. Blockchain, on the other hand, has the potential to offer an unprecedented level of transparency through the use of a shared, decentralized database in which immutable, encrypted copies of information are stored on every node in the network. This ensures that the parties involved in the various flows have peer-to-peer transactions and an absolute level of traceability and transparency along the supply chain of goods and services and in institutional settings. Traceability even when it comes to donations, as through blockchain technology there is an incontrovertible, real-time record of what happened to the money that was donated to charities, tracking the funds and ensuring that they support the cause of the donation. Virtuous examples of blockchain technology applied to virtuous solidarity projects include SpesaSospesa.org, a project created during the pandemic by COVID-19, which turns surplus food and non-food items into useful resources for those most in need, as well as triggering a major flow of donations. Thanks to innovative blockchain technology – the technological heart of spesasospesa.org – which was developed by REGUSTO, the first portal at the European level of sustainability that first introduced blockchain technology in the fight against waste, this project has won prizes and awards-among them the OTB Only The Brave call for proposals by the Renzo Rosso Foundation, standing out precisely for the virtuous use of technology in the solidarity and sustainable sphere. In fact, REGUSTO was the first to apply blockchain technology to an innovative food sharing for charity model at the European level, connecting businesses and nonprofits to manage surplus product stocks and ensuring digitization and traceability of economic and product flows. REGUSTO, moreover, by returning data on the environmental impact indices generated by these flows, offers companies and stakeholders in the various flows useful information for their social balance sheet with a view to sustainability-oriented governance and brand reputation.

• Environmental impact assessment and global governance tool: this technology is particularly useful for governance because it makes it possible and simplifies the monitoring and enforcement of all sustainability goals. Until recently, monitoring and reducing our impact on the planet has been extremely complicated and difficult, mainly because access to data was limited. The advent of blockchain has certainly marked a turning point in this context, providing more complete information transparency on collective sustainability behaviors, processing faster data and feedback that can lead to the drafting and application of “green” standards globally. Important support in the assessment of environmental impact comes from Regusto, as stated by Marco Raspati CEO of the sustainability portal : “Regusto in fact combines the innovation of its model of food (and non-food) sharing for charity, with the innovation provided by blockchain technology and the algorithms used by our system to calculate sustainability indicators. Through this model, companies, charities, but also municipalities and public administrations involved, can digitize virtuous territorial networks and monitor the environmental and social impacts generated on their territory through certified data processed and released by Regusto.” This makes it possible, for example, to communicate how much_{CO2 has} been saved through the recovery of products destined for waste and to calculate with certainty one’s contribution to environmental sustainability.

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