Blockchain applications for climate protection: A global empirical investigation

Our research consolidates the actual environment of blockchain applications that contribute in a certain way to climate protection. In view of the growing interest in climate change and the need to act on a global scale, knowledge about these applications enables investors, politicians, and citizens to drive this development forward through diverse support opportunities. This article provides an extensive overview of existing mitigation and adaptation measures based on blockchain technology. We collect data on 85 such applications and describe the empirical distributions of different attributes of these applications. In a logit regression, we analyze which application-specific and blockchain-specific characteristics determine the success of an application in the sense of an advanced operational status. We find evidence that applications of the type energy tradingexhibit reduced chances of success, while green blockchain-based applications implementing a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism are more likely to become operational. Moreover, pursuing an initial coin offering has no significant effect on the success of an application. Our work provides the basis for a better understanding of the success factors of this new technology.

Automated summary

Our research consolidates the actual environment of blockchain applications contributing to climate protection. The study shows that energy trading applications have reduced chances of success, while green blockchain applications with a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism are more likely to become operational. Furthermore, conducting an initial coin offering does not significantly impact the success of an application.