For blockchain and beyond, education is essential to advancing sustainability
Each year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, draws together world leaders and intellectuals from a range of fields to focus on global concerns. The legacy event has started to include discussions about the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain, which is further advancing into the mainstream.
On January 17, Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr, the editor-in-chief of Cointelegraph, chaired a panel that discussed sustainability initiatives in the blockchain sector.
Although the panelists’ backgrounds varied, they all agreed that education and learning were the most effective means of promoting sustainability in the field of emerging technologies during the discussion on “The Emergence of Breakthrough Technologies.”
The panel’s discussion centered on two perspectives on sustainability in the blockchain sector. One of which is more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient in the “green” sense of the word. The other discusses the long-term effects of efforts and projects in the larger Web3 arena.
The sector does suffer from “greenwashing,” but verification criteria that can be drawn from the blockchain can bring out productivity in sustainable practices in the industry, according to Mark Mueller-Eberstein, CEO of business consultancy Adgetec Corporation.
“Knowing that we can trust the data is extremely important. This is why I think blockchain especially is so important.”
The community’s education, especially for the younger generation, will serve as “the cornerstone for all of us, as societies and individuals,” he stated.
The founder of SPACE for a Better World and president of Purpose Entertainment, Christina Korp, used the example of a U.S. representative who started learning about artificial intelligence when he was over 70 to highlight the importance of education for older generations as well.
“How can all these people make the decisions about what happens with the laws, when they don’t even understand the technology or this new world?”
Betsabe Botaitis, the CFO and treasurer of the Hedera Foundation, spoke briefly about trust as the cornerstone of a more enduring industry, particularly because the blockchain sector occasionally gets a bad rap.
“We need to be careful with that because it is easy to think that a new idea can be immediately funded. And that’s not always the case.”
As an example of a trust-building niche, Botaitis mentioned carbon credit tracking, where blockchain can be used for this transparency and verification.
“It’s such an honor to see how companies are coming together to really build this trust infrastructure, an immutable layer.”
Botaitis went on to argue that having a secure environment for that riches and education, once again, being the key, are equally important in establishing and leaving a sustainable legacy for the future generation.
“Very, very little technology is provided for asset management instruction. The business sector, the regulators, and everyone else involved in this conversation, in my opinion, need to be educated on this.
In the Web3 area, education is still a key touch point, with many brands and projects putting an emphasis on user education alongside technological advancements.
