Yale Openlab Receives Funding To Develop Decentralized Carbon Emissions Tracking Tool

By Rishma Banerjee

According to recent reports, Yale Openlab, which is the university’s incubator for disruptive new technology, has just received a $150K grant from Social Alpha Foundation, in order to develop decentralized carbon emissions tracking tool. The university which has recently been focussing on expanding its use of distributed ledger technology will be conducting this project under two of its branches: the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale, and the Yale Center for Business and the Environment.

The university’s experts are of the opinion that the rate and scale at which climate change is taking place, the present models of mitigation will end up proving to be insufficient. It is thus a better idea to use decentralized tech to streamline the process. When asked about this initiative, Dr Martin Wainstein, the founder of the Yale Openlab and Innovator-in-Residence at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale, said:

“At present, if emissions continue to be left unchecked, our limited carbon budget could be consumed in as little as 15 years. This challenge requires people and organisations to collaborate at an unprecedented scale, and reimagine traditional business models and paradigms.”

The grant that they will receive will be utilised in supporting two of Yale Openlab’s main priorities. It will help grow blockchain-based skill development programs for its members, such as ‘blockchain boot camps’ and also help the launch of the project’s primary initiative, the the ‘Open Earth Challenge,’ that focuses on leveraging blockchain technology to build a decentralized consensus on the earth’s carbon budget.

Another obstacle which is preventing a global partnership in order to tackle climate change is the international trust between systems in play. Wainstein continued:

“The Paris climate agreement has set the world on a path to zero emissions by 2050, but we lack the global tools that can help us track our environmental actions in a trustless and competitive world. We believe a constellation of blockchain technology, data oracles, and internet-connected sensors under open source protocols and standards may provide the fabric for globally trusted procedures to emerge.”

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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