Blockchain and Carbon Management
摘要
This chapter explores blockchain technology and its role concerning global carbon management efforts. As climate change intensifies and nations commit to ambitious net-zero goals, traditional carbon management systems—often centralized, opaque, and inefficient—struggle to meet the demands of transparency, accuracy, and trust. Blockchain’s core attributes—decentralization, immutability, transparency, and smart contract automation—position it as a solution capable of addressing these systemic deficiencies. Drawing on academic literature and practical case examples, the chapter analyzes blockchain’s role across five key dimensions of carbon management: carbon measurement and disclosure, carbon reduction, carbon neutrality, carbon trading system, and carbon offsetting. It demonstrates how blockchain enhances emissions tracking and verification, enables secure and efficient carbon credit trading, incentivizes low-carbon behavior, and supports the integrity of carbon-neutral claims. The chapter also discusses the integration of blockchain with emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence to create real-time, data-driven carbon management platforms. While blockchain offers substantial opportunities—including operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and access to green finance—it also faces adoption barriers related to technical scalability, regulatory uncertainty, data privacy, and organizational readiness. The chapter concludes by outlining future research directions and policy implications, emphasizing the need for collaborative, cross-sectoral innovation to unlock blockchain’s full potential in enabling a transparent, equitable, and efficient low-carbon economy.