Mastercard plans to aid customers directly neutralize carbon emissions and choose products that are better for the environment with the blockchain-based Provenance Solution.
The system offers people the possibility to pick a more environmentally friendly cup of coffee or a sustainable T-shirt, for example, by allowing them to interact with the carbon credits directly related to the item, as represented by an NFT and unique marker.
Ashok Venkateswaran, Mastercard’s Head of Digital Assets and Blockchain APAC, has recently spoken about how the firm is trying to track the carbon footprint of its partners and integrate the data into its blockchain-based product tracking tech:
“We’re developing partnerships with potential companies which are producing this carbon neutrality, carbon credit so to speak, and as we build up this relationship, we can acquire these carbon credits from these farms, and finally adding that into our provenance solution, we’re able to track it.”
Venkateswaran mentioned that this decision came as a result of the growing number of Australian consumers asking “for a lot more transparency on what they’re putting into their body.”
He continued by claiming that when the company is tracking and storing the carbon footprint on its blockchain, it will be able to break it down into the level of “a coffee cup or even a t-shirt,” and offer evidence to the user that the carbon emissions have been neutralized:
“So every time you purchase a bag of coffee or have a cup of coffee, you’re actually using or putting back into the system the number of credits that are just tagged at a particular cup of coffee or a bag of coffee that you buy.”
Source: Cointelegraph.com