World Economic Forum Releases Report on Blockchain and Economic Recovery

There have been unprecedented job losses and economic uncertainty following the outbreak of COVID-19. As governments and businesses look to stimulate growth, the Future of Nature and Business report found that ‘nature-positive’ solutions can create 395 million jobs and $10.1 trillion in business opportunity by 2030. Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies like Blockchain will play an important role for over 80% of the business opportunities identified in the report and are thus fundamental to unlocking nearly $8.7 trillion in value.

“As we enter into a historic decade of action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and address climate change, business has a critical role to play in environmental stewardship of our planet,” said Inger Andersen, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme. “They have the technology, innovation and financing to make the shifts we need towards increased investment in nature’s infrastructure and nature-based solutions.”

A few blockchain highlights in this report include:

• Blockchain could contribute to a $365 billion saving by 2030 by reducing food loss and waste in the food supply chain
• Blockchain applications in energy and mining supply chains could generate an opportunity worth $30 billion in 2030
• There is a call in the report to scale blockchain’s potential to help create $3.5 trillion of value in the energy and extractives systems

“We can address the looming bio-diversity crisis and reset the economy in a way that creates and protects millions of jobs,” said Akanksha Khatri, Head of the Nature Action Agenda, World Economic Forum. “Public calls are getting louder for businesses and government to do better. We can protect our food supplies, make better use of our infrastructure and tap into new energy sources by transitioning to nature-positive solutions.”