By Zachary Ochieng
Africa faces a range of climate-related challenges. From drought and desertification across the Sahel leading to migration and proving fertile recruiting grounds for extremist organisations, to the increasing frequency of cyclones in Mozambique and Malawi, which saw more than half a million people displaced, and around 500 killed by flooding and landslides in March 2023. Twenty-one of the 40 World Bank-designated Fragile and Conflict-Affected States are located on the continent. In the Horn of Africa, droughts have accounted for the deaths of 9.5 million livestock across Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. We are seeing the worst food crisis in 40 years on the continent. An estimated 140 million people being plunged into hunger due to climate change.
Unfortunately, efforts to combat these challenges have often been stymied by several factors. For instance lack of transparency in climate projects, limited access to climate finance, poor governance, and inefficient resource management. Traditional systems have proved inadequate to tackle Africa’s growing climate crisis. With less than two months to COP29, attention is turning to how technology can help drive effective climate action.
More than Just Cryptocurrency
One emerging solution with vast potential is blockchain technology. Known primarily for its role in cryptocurrencies, blockchain offers a suite of transformative capabilities, particularly around transparency, traceability, and decentralization. As Africa looks to leapfrog traditional development models. Blockchain may provide the boost it needs to combat climate change efficiently and sustainably.
Blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger that records transactions across multiple computers. This makes it nearly impossible to alter or tamper with, ensuring transparency and accountability. The technology’s core attributes—security, transparency, traceability, and decentralization. Making it highly applicable to a range of sectors, including finance, energy, and climate.
Blockchain’s relevance to climate action is already being explored globally. For instance, it has been used to track carbon credits, facilitate renewable energy trading, and ensure supply chain transparency for sustainable products. In Africa, where governance challenges and financial barriers have hampered climate initiatives, blockchain presents a game-changing opportunity.
Explore How Kenya Leads in Blockchain Adoption and Digital Innovation
One of the most promising applications of blockchain in Africa’s climate fight is in carbon credit tracking and trading. Carbon credits are certificates representing the reduction of one ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Companies can trade these credits to offset their emissions. However, the carbon credit market has been plagued by fraud and a lack of transparency. Blockchain can solve this by providing a tamper-proof, transparent system for tracking carbon credits from creation to sale. African countries with vast forested areas, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, could particularly benefit from blockchain-based carbon credit systems. This ensure that credits are genuine and money reaches local communities engaged in conservation efforts.
Blockchain, A Fair Deal for Coffee Farmers
Another key area where blockchain can make a difference is in supply chain transparency. Many industries in Africa, such as agriculture and mining, are high carbon emitters and contributors to deforestation. Blockchain can track products across the supply chain, ensuring sustainable practices and ethical sourcing. This level of transparency can encourage businesses to adopt greener practices while giving consumers the power to make informed choices. In Kenya and Uganda, for example, blockchain is being used to track coffee from farm to cup, ensuring that production is environmentally sustainable and farmers are fairly compensated.
Blockchain also holds promise for decentralized energy systems. Access to reliable energy is challenging in many parts of Africa, where millions live off-grid. According to the Energy Information Administration [EIA], over 1.3 billion people in Africa are serviced by an installed electricity capacity of about 244 Gigawatts, less than the 248 Gigawatts currently serving Germany’s population of 83 million. Blockchain can enable peer-to-peer energy trading through decentralized microgrids, allowing communities to trade excess solar power. This increases access to renewable energy and empowers communities to take ownership of their energy future. Countries like South Africa and Nigeria, where energy grids are either underdeveloped or unreliable, could see significant gains from blockchain-enabled microgrids that ensure cleaner, more accessible energy.
Improving Climate Finance and Empowering Local Communities
Perhaps the most powerful use of blockchain in Africa’s climate action lies in climate finance. Access to climate finance has long been a stumbling block for African countries, with funds often getting lost in bureaucratic processes or misused. Blockchain can bring transparency to the distribution of climate funds, ensuring that money reaches the projects and communities it’s intended for. Decentralized finance [DeFi], powered by blockchain, can also enable more direct contributions from global donors to African climate projects, cutting out intermediaries and ensuring accountability.
For example, blockchain platforms could allow donors in Europe or North America to directly fund reforestation efforts in Madagascar or renewable energy projects in Ethiopia, with full transparency on how funds are used. This model of direct donor-to-project financing ensures that money is not siphoned off by corrupt intermediaries or misallocated due to poor governance.
While the potential of blockchain for climate action in Africa is vast, it is not without challenges. Scalability remains a key issue, as many regions in Africa still lack the digital infrastructure necessary for widespread blockchain implementation. Governments will need to invest in both physical infrastructure and digital literacy to ensure that blockchain solutions can be effectively deployed.
Policy and regulatory hurdles also need to be addressed. African governments must create blockchain-friendly environments, which include developing clear regulations that foster innovation while protecting against misuse. Finally, capacity building is crucial. African countries must develop the skills and expertise needed to leverage blockchain technology, particularly in rural areas where the impacts of climate change are most felt.
Africa Needs Blockchain Boost at COP29
At COP29, Africa should advocate for increased investment, capacity building, and international partnerships to leverage blockchain technology for climate action. Blockchain offers an opportunity to overcome traditional barriers in climate finance, carbon markets, energy access, and supply chain transparency. By pushing for these key asks, Africa can position itself as a leader in integrating technology with climate action, ensuring more effective, transparent, and scalable solutions for the continent and beyond.
The time for Africa to embrace blockchain is now. Governments, tech innovators, and environmental organizations must come together to harness this technology’s potential and create scalable solutions that empower communities, protect natural resources, and build resilience against climate change. Blockchain offers Africa a way to not only participate in but lead the global movement towards a sustainable, climate-resilient future.
