SUSTAINABILITY has moved beyond simply protecting the environment. Today, it reaches into almost every part of the economy— from how products are made and transported to how energy is used, cities are managed, and businesses account for their environmental impact. But as sustainability claims multiply, so does a fundamental challenge: how do we know they are true? What ties these challenges together is a shared problem: it is hard to verify who did what, and whether claims of " green " or " ethical " practice are true. Blockchain has emerged as one answer.
Once associated mainly with cryptocurrency, blockchain now functions as a digital infrastructure that records, validates, and shares information without relying solely on a central authority. Because no single party controls it, records are hard to fake or quietly change, which is exactly what sustainability claims need.
Blockchain is not a sustainable solution on its own; its value lies in linking people, organisations, and data in systems where accountability and traceability matter, spanning product tracing, ethical sourcing, carbon markets, renewable energy, smart cities, and conservation.
But it also raises a critical question: does blockchain ' s own environmental footprint offset the sustainability gains it enables?
ENERGY AND CONSERVATION
Protecting nature and paying for clean energy are two of sustainability ' s toughest problems, and blockchain is starting to help with both. Blockchain is a shared digital record that many people can see.
Still, no one can secretly change it, so it can tie a real-world environmental action to a record that updates automatically as new data comes in( Mulligan et al., 2024).
On the energy side, a company called Zumo calculates how much electricity cryptocurrency uses and then pays for an equal amount of clean energy to offset it. Its 2022 " Zero Hero " trial offset 850 megawatt-hours of electricity, enough to power hundreds of homes for a year.
Another firm, Positive Energy Ltd, uses blockchain to link clean-energy projects with investors and cut funding times in half. On the nature side, a Swiss non-profit called Gainforest pays people directly to look after forests and other natural areas, using live
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BY KATRUL NADIA BASRI |
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BY NOR ASILA NAZMI
International Institute for Halal Research and Training( INHART)
International Islamic University Malaysia( IIUM)
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data from each site to confirm the work is really being done.
The same idea works for food: apps like AgriLedger let a shopper scan a code on a piece of fruit and trace its whole journey— the tree it grew on, how it was packed and transported, how it was kept cool, and what it cost.
Each use delivers a real environmental gain— clean energy reaches the grid sooner, forests and wildlife are protected, and wasteful supply chains grow cleaner— while turning a " green " claim from a marketing line into something anyone can check.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Governments have long struggled to track progress on the United Nations ' Sustainable Development Goals( SDGs). The data is patchy, updates are slow, and there is little real-time checking.
Blockchain can help by creating a shared, tamper-proof record that different departments can trust and cross-check. Because cooperation often means sharing sensitive information, blockchain networks can be set up so only authorised parties see the details, while the ledger stores just a verification stamp.
Used well, blockchain can support fairer access to money for the poor( SDG 1), safer medical records( SDG 3), cleaner water systems( SDG 6), and direct trading of solar or wind power between neighbours( SDG 7 and SDG 13). It can also help track recycling and cut waste across supply chains( SDG 12, 14, and 15).
There is a catch, though: some blockchain systems use enormous amounts of energy to run, which works against the very climate goals they are meant to support. Smart cities should therefore choose lighter, more efficient blockchain designs, so the technology ' s own energy use does not cancel out the benefits it delivers.
SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS
Few systems carry as heavy an environmental footprint as global supply chains: wasteful, opaque, and hard to hold to account. Blockchain cannot fix every problem, but it gives participants shared access to verified data, making cleaner, greener sourcing far easier to prove.
In agriculture, a blockchain system can log fertiliser and pesticide use against the
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final product, so customers can scan a code to trace their food ' s origin, and fruit traceability platforms are already testing this( Jantapoon, 2026).
Coffee supply chains are testing something similar for certification, with a prototype currently covering the journey from farmer to shipping stage and plans to extend it through processing, retail, and the final cup( Alamsyah et al., 2023).
In electronics, blockchain could track products from raw material extraction through manufacturing and disposal, closing the loop on material flows in a way that cuts landfill waste and unnecessary extraction.
The same approach turns sustainability and safety certification from a one-off paperwork exercise into a continuously verified process. Blockchain will not replace auditors or regulators, but it can take over repetitive checks, freeing their time for the judgement calls that genuinely need a person.
HALAL INDUSTRY
The halal industry offers one clear example of these dynamics at work, where ethical and environmental integrity matter as much as the ledger behind them.
Blockchain creates decentralised and timestamped records that are difficult to tamper with. A consumer could trace a product from raw material through processing, transport, warehousing, and distribution, with all stakeholders sharing one digital record instead of separate databases.
When everyone shares one network, it closes information gaps and gives a clear, end-to-end view: where a product came from, whether sourcing claims are true, and where fraud might be happening.
It also builds trust between suppliers and encourages collaboration instead of guarding their own data. A single record also shows whether certification is updated.
Not every document needs uploading. For example, sensitive files can stay in a secure database while blockchain stores only a timestamp, reference, or cryptographic fingerprint.
TRUST IN PEOPLE
Blockchain is not a truth machine: if it is fed with bad information, it will record a lie as faithfully as the truth. People must therefore still verify what goes in and govern the system honestly.
Certification labels will not disappear,
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