The UN Climate Change secretariat has announced a Climate Chain Coalition which will aim to explore and use blockchain technology in support of climate action.

Last month, multi-stakeholder group of 25 organizations working on distributed ledger technology (DLT) agreed to establish the coalition. The global initiative currently counts 32 members and is open to more sign ups.

“The UN Climate Change secretariat recognizes the potential of blockchain technology to contribute to enhanced climate action and sustainability,” said Massamba Thioye, who is leading UN Climate Change’s work exploring DTL and blockchain.

The CCC seeks to advance collaboration among members working on issues of common interest, and to help enhance the environmental integrity and results of DLT applications for climate. The members have agreed on shared principles and values to facilitate and guide activities for capacity building, networking, research, governance, demonstrations, and pilot projects.

Blockchain technology could help strengthen monitoring, reporting and verification of the impacts of climate action; improve transparency, traceability and cost-effectiveness of climate action; build trust among climate actors; make incentive mechanisms for climate action accessible to the poorest; support mobilization of green finance.

“To fully and promptly mobilize this potential, broad collaboration among stakeholders is needed to direct resources to priority areas, avoid duplication of effort, and help avoid the pitfalls of working on a new technology with countless unknowns,” Thioye said.