July-August. 2026 | @ green • COLUMN 13
but assurance in future may mean more: a scannable digital journey covering origin, production, transport, and sustainability indicators, giving stakeholders credible evidence without exposing every commercial secret.
" Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due and when you judge between people to judge with justice."( Surah An-Nisa ', 4:58)
That same duty of trust shapes how these tools should be used. Blockchain, artificial intelligence, sensors, smart contracts, and digital platforms together could help build a more transparent and resilient green economy.
But only if organisations redesign inefficient processes and stay anchored to real ethical and environmental values, not just marketing claims. For all its strengths, blockchain can record and verify; it cannot, by itself, supply trust.
Many faith and ethical traditions frame people as stewards entrusted with the earth ' s resources. In Islam, this is the principle of khilafah, humankind as khalifah, or trustee, charged with using and safeguarding creation responsibly rather than exploiting it. Seen this way, a product ' s green credentials are as much a matter of trust as its ingredients.
Technology keeps the record, but people remain responsible for what goes into it: suppliers must give accurate information, manufacturers must stand behind their claims, and auditors must verify honestly.
Blockchain ' s future in any green economy therefore depends on governance first, technology second: who enters data, who checks it, and who is accountable when something goes wrong.
HIDDEN ENVIRONMENTAL COST
Blockchain offers clear advantages for supply chains, but it also carries an environmental cost. The older, more common way of running a blockchain requires huge amounts of computing power, burning through electricity and hardware, an irony for a technology often promoted as a sustainability fix.
Newer, less energy-hungry designs are a much better fit for sustainability-focused projects. Policymakers and companies should assess a system ' s overall footprint: electricity use, emissions, hardware, and e-waste, rather than assuming digital automatically means sustainable.
As carbon markets grow alongside netzero targets, blockchain could make carbon data more traceable and auditable, with smart contracts automating credit transactions and closing information gaps between buyers and sellers.
Only when that footprint is measured and accounted for can blockchain credibly earn its " green " label, rather than simply borrowing one. Blockchain, then, is neither the green saviour it is often sold as, nor a technology to dismiss outright.
Its value lies entirely in how it is governed and used: chosen well, it can verify carbon credits, trace halal and ethical supply chains, and connect renewable energy to the people who need it; chosen poorly, it simply adds another energy-hungry layer to systems already under climate pressure.
For the governments, companies, and industry players now weighing whether to adopt it, the real question is not whether blockchain is green; it is whether they are willing to build and govern it that way. – @ green