Page 72 - U4SSC Blockchain for smart sustainable cities

(1) Economic sustainability
Economic sustainability is measured by the contribution of the initiative to the household income and
expenses, employment and businesses. Sixty-six per cent of the B4C use-cases envision contributing to
economic sustainability, mainly to improve the household income and expenses. Blockchain worldwide
contributes to building a smart economy, smart transportation and mobility.

It also aims to improve effectiveness, and process transformation, as well as improve efficiency. The
concept of economic sustainability is becoming increasingly important and is carrying more weight
at the city level. Smart cities as mentioned previously have a considerable potential to improve
sustainability, but it is currently limited by “market-focused” economic models. The global smart city
revenue is estimated to grow to USD 88.7 billion by 2025. Cities are looking into technologies such
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as blockchain to create efficiencies, improve and create economic development and are exploring
different business models to acquire more autonomy from the central government. According to the
United Nations University/DACA study on sustainable development, there is a clear limitation on how
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much efficiency can be gained by a city as an existing urban system, as well as on the economic value
created, and on the longer-term sustainability obtained by optimizing the system in isolation. The same
study highlights that cities worldwide are becoming passive customers for technology companies, and
this could lead to serious long-term sustainability issues. To prevent these trends and patterns, local
government should play a central role in building ecosystems and creating partnerships to enable ICT
development, regulations, support and implementation, which are critical for long-term sustainability.

(2) Environmental sustainability

There is no supporting evidence of blockchain capabilities to address environmental issues; however,
there are currently more than 65 initiatives that are at an early conceptual or pilot stage. Some of
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the initiatives are in middle-income countries such as Ghana, Brazil or Georgia. Blockchain could be a
promising technology for harnessing the environmental sustainability based on its ability to provide a
transparent and verifiable record of the transactions, and to trace these records. Three uses-cases are
addressing environmental sustainability (Land registry, Energy system and Bling projects). Blockchain
could play a role and have a significant contribution to environmental sustainability with respect to
three main aspects: resource rights, product origins and as an incentive system:

(1) The cases of the land registry in Georgia (private property rights to land) or the energy system in
South Holland (rights to use resources and prevent overuse) are cases related to resources rights. In
both cases, the focus is primarily on the economic aspect rather than the environmental benefits.
These use-cases could provide important benefits to low- or middle-income countries where the
resource rights systems are either absent, informal or show a great deal of corruption.
(2) Blockchain could also constitute a relevant opportunity to encode verifiable information about
product origins. The technology is providing, in this case, relevant information to consumers about
the environmental impact of their purchasing behaviour, which could contribute positively to the
SDG12 “responsible consumption and production”, where the results have not been promising.

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g Smart cities and sustainability, Evidence brief economic and social Research council, April 2018 https:// esrc .ukri .org/ files/ news -events -and
-publications/ evidence -briefings/ smart -cities -and -sustainability/

62 U4SSC: Blockchain for smart sustainable cities