Abstract The classical pathway of mass production followed a linear model with trashed products and wasted remaining materials at the final stage of their life cycle. Smart approaches of manufacturing and product life cycle management aim for Circular Economy (CE) models to implement sustainable business models to overcome imbalances between resource supply and demand of goods. Non-Fungible Token (NFT) solutions together with smart contracts seem to have the potential to realise such new sustainable business models in the context of CE. The study demonstrates how NFT technology can become an integral part of smart product life cycle management for batteries of e-cars. The research highlights how circular business models can be developed and implemented in the e-car sector around the life cycle management of batteries as well as how NFT technology can contribute to sustainable conceptualisation for battery recycling.
This paper presents a systematic review of the role of blockchain technology in fostering sustainable supply chains, with a particular emphasis on its implementation for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to explore how blockchain can address critical challenges such as transparency, traceability, and accountability, thereby contributing to more sustainable and ethical supply chain practices. Through an extensive literature review, this study examines various blockchain applications and their potential to enhance sustainability by reducing inefficiencies, ensuring compliance with environmental standards, and mitigating risks related to unethical practices. The research methodology involved a comprehensive analysis of peer-reviewed articles, case studies, and industry reports to identify the benefits and barriers of blockchain adoption in supply chains. Key findings suggest that while blockchain can significantly enhance transparency and sustainability, SMEs face unique challenges in terms of technological adoption, cost implications, and scalability. Additionally, the paper proposes a framework tailored to SME needs, outlining practical steps for blockchain implementation, including initial investment strategies, stakeholder collaboration, and integration with existing technologies. The study concludes that blockchain holds great potential for advancing sustainable supply chains, but its adoption by SMEs requires a strategic approach that addresses financial, technical, and operational barriers. This framework provides a roadmap for SMEs aiming to leverage blockchain technology to achieve sustainability goals, thus contributing to long-term business competitiveness and compliance with global sustainability standards.
The environmental impact of Bitcoin mining has raised severe concerns considering the expected growth of 30% by 2030. This study aimed to develop a Life Cycle Assessment model to determine the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions associated with Bitcoin mining, considering material requirements and energy demand. By applying the impact assessment method IPCC 2021 GWP (100 years), the GHG emissions associated with electricity consumption were estimated at 51.7 Mt CO2 eq/year in 2022 and calculated by modelling real national mixes referring to the geographical area where mining takes place, allowing for the determination of the environmental impacts in a site-specific way. The estimated impacts were then adjusted to future energy projections (2030 and 2050), by modelling electricity mixes coherently with the spatial distribution of mining activities, the related national targeted goals, the increasing demand for electricity for hashrate and the capability of the systems to recover the heat generated in the mining phase. Further projections for 2030, based on two extrapolated energy consumption models, were also determined. The outcomes reveal that, in relation to the considered scenarios and their associated assumptions, breakeven points where the increase in energy consumption associated with mining nullifies the increase in the renewable energy share within the energy mix exist. The amount of amine-based sorbents hypothetically needed to capture the total CO2 equivalent emitted directly and indirectly for Bitcoin mining reaches up to almost 12 Bt. Further developments of the present work would rely on more reliable data related to future energy projections and the geographical distribution of miners, as well as an extension of the environmental categories analyzed. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology represents a valid tool to support policies and decision makers.
This review examines how blockchain technology can be leveraged to enhance data privacy and security in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). As global supply chains become increasingly complex and the demand for sustainability grows, ensuring data privacy and security has become a critical concern. Traditional supply chain systems often face challenges such as data breaches, lack of transparency, and difficulty in tracing products and materials. Blockchain technology, with its decentralized, immutable, and transparent architecture, offers a promising solution to these challenges. Blockchain can enhance data security by ensuring that data is tamper-proof, traceable, and encrypted, thus protecting sensitive information across the supply chain. It provides transparency while allowing permissioned access, ensuring that stakeholders can verify data without exposing confidential information. Furthermore, privacy-preserving technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs and homomorphic encryption allow verification of data without compromising its security. Smart contracts enable automated compliance with regulatory frameworks like GDPR, reducing the risk of human error and improving operational efficiency. The integration of blockchain in SSCM can improve traceability, transparency, and accountability, thereby promoting environmental and social sustainability. By tracking the origin and journey of goods, blockchain helps verify ethical sourcing practices and reduce carbon footprints. However, the technology also presents challenges, including scalability, integration with legacy systems, and cost considerations. Through case studies in industries such as food, textiles, and renewable energy, this review highlights the practical applications and benefits of blockchain for SSCM. It concludes that blockchain has the potential to revolutionize supply chain operations, but careful consideration must be given to overcoming its technical and financial barriers to widespread adoption.
Despite numerous use cases, enterprise-wide implementations of blockchains have seen limited success. This raises the question of when do firms adopt blockchains and do blockchains benefit supply chains. To answer this, we examine a dyadic supply chain consisting of a buyer and a supplier and analyze their traceability effort and pricing decisions. Our results show that the demand-side, supply-side and reputational factors influencing blockchain adoption are primarily complementary and in the absence of one of them, firms can still adopt blockchain. Furthermore, even in the absence of individual benefits for a supply chain partner, there exist conditions under which blockchain adoption benefits the supply chain that can incentivize players to join blockchain. Overall, we contribute by offering a framework that supply chain players can use to assess the likelihood of blockchain implementation success or failure and address the challenges pertaining to incentives and cost imbalances in blockchain implementation.
The widespread adoption of electronic devices in modern society has resulted in electronic waste, or "e-waste," emerging as a major environmental concern. In response to the emergence of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market devoted exclusively to the electronics sector, this study presents a novel solution. The marketplace uses the special features of NFTs and blockchain technology to streamline the exchange and reuse of electronic devices in an effort to reduce the amount of e-waste produced. This study explores the global e-waste crisis, current trends in NFT technology, and the circular economy to highlight the potential of NFT marketplaces as a sustainable solution for managing electronic waste.
Electric vehicles (EVs) bring convenience to public transport while having the potential to increase energy efficiency. With the rapid growth of the number of EVs, cross-domain charging will become a strong demand. Despite massive research on EV charging, existing schemes can hardly meet the security requirements of privacy protection and access control for cross-domain scenarios. Meanwhile, centralized methods bring the single point of failure and data modification. The problem of designing a secure cross-domain EV charging scheme to simultaneously ensure decentralization, privacy and access control has not been studied and remains open. Therefore, in this paper, we design BlockPPA, the first blockchain-assisted privacy-preserving authentication scheme for cross-domain EV charging in order to achieve this purpose. Our scheme makes each EV obtain an attribute-based secret key, which is used to authenticate itself and also anonymously illustrate that it really satisfies a designated access policy when cross-domain authentication happens. Only authorized EVs satisfying the policy do they have the ability to charge. We design three smart contracts and exploit Fabric blockchain to record the domain's detailed information and the authentication record of each cross-domain access from an EV, while achieving the decentralized verification of an authentication request. The results of security and performance analysis show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed cross-domain authentication mechanism.
Abstract Purpose Blockchain has the potential to bring numerous benefits to life cycle assessment (LCA), such as traceability, transparency, and accurate inventory data and assessment results. Consequently, there has been a gradual emergence of research focusing on the integration of blockchain and LCA in recent years. The aim of this study is to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive state of research on blockchain-LCA integration. Methods This study undertook a systematic review of published articles on blockchain-LCA integration, analyzing the papers indexed so far in the Web of Science and SCOPUS. Thirty-one articles were identified, on which a bibliometric analysis was carried out. Furthermore, this study extracted and synthesized the data for the themes of benefits, barriers, frameworks and models, and case studies, and conducted detailed analysis for each theme. Results and discussion The results indicated that the current state of research in this field is still in its early stages. Most articles proposed various potential benefits across different stages of the integration. However, the integration faced various technical, organizational, and system-related barriers. Only a limited number of articles presented frameworks, models, and case studies. Currently, there is a significant lack of case studies rooted in real-world data. Based on the results of the review, this study offered relevant suggestions for future development of the blockchain-LCA integration. Additionally, this study proposed a novel and practical generic framework to provide guidance for the continued advancement in this field. Conclusion This work reveals that the number of studies of blockchain-LCA integration is increasing, but this field is still in the early stages. Many potential benefits and barriers to the integration were proposed, but most of them lack validation within the existing research. In particular, there is a great need for real-world case studies.
Abstract: In the closed-loop supply chain management of power batteries for new energy vehicles, there are problems such as insufficient data transparency and traceability, inconsistent data, data tampering or leakage, difficulty in recycling and reusing power batteries, and low efficiency in supply chain management. The purpose of this article is to study how to optimize the management of the closed-loop supply chain of new energy vehicle power batteries based on blockchain technology. The specific goals include improving data transparency and traceability, solving the problem of information silos, enhancing data security, optimizing recycling and reuse mechanisms, and improving management efficiency. It proposed a solution based on blockchain technology, which improved the deficiencies in existing supply chain management through distributed ledgers and smart contracts. After the experiment, it was found that the blockchain-based solution achieved a data consistency of up to 98%, while the processing time also decreased. The research results indicate that blockchain-based supply chain management solutions significantly improve management efficiency and data security, promoting the efficient, secure, and sustainable development of the supply chain.
Introduction; Bridging the digital divide requires the provision of affordable, fair and quality ICT. With nearly two-thirds of the world’s population still offline, there is a need to provide affordable web access for everyone. For developing countries, increasing the popularity of information and communication technology has become the most important factor in reducing poverty. The danger of electrical and electronic waste disposal contains hazardous substances, but most of the electrical and electronic equipment is still disposed of in an unhealthy environment in the field development area, affecting the level of contamination in Water, Air and Soil ultimately affecting people’s health. Eliminating E-waste responsibility and protecting the environment is a challenge for countries. Smart cities can solve environmental problems through proper waste management for improving human health, protecting water resources, and reducing pollution. Objective; In this paper, we explore how blockchain technology can help smart cities to manage E-waste by providing consistency, immutability, transparency, and accountability control in a distributed, reliable, and secure manner. We discussed the advantages of blockchain technology in various aspects of E-waste management, such as instant tracking and monitoring, E-waste disposal and E-waste management regulation compliance, proper disposal management, E-waste management, and material handling, etc. All examples of disposal services, but in our study we have found that there is no fool proof system to check the disposal of E-waste whether it has been disposed off Fully or Partially. We mainly focused on the tracking of E-waste management system for 100% safe and eco-friendly disposal from the originating point of E-waste to end disposal point of total disposal. Methods; For this, we have used machine-learning model to find the existing percentage of disposal of E-waste at the end-point which reveals that it is never 100%. And partial disposal of E-waste means we have still partial E-waste around us in different forms, which will be a threat for the society to be indulged in hazardous after effects of randomly dumping E-waste.Results; After this we have modelled a Disposal Tracking System(DTS) using blockchain technology to create an E-waste data storage as Decentralized Shareable Ledger (DSL) which records the quantity and state of E-waste data from its originating point to a different level of disposal unit and finally reflect the balance of E-waste data as NIL at the end of last disposal point.Conclusion; This system will helpful for safe and ecofriendly E-waste management and it provides complete transparency and traceability of E-waste during the life cycle of complete disposal. After implementation of this system any district or Block or Village authority can ensure to its citizens for E-waste hazards free environment and safety of natural resources
The difficulty of regulating carbon trading due to information asymmetry and low consumer trust in low-carbon products are key factors hindering companies from reducing emissions. This paper examines a manufacturer-led secondary low-carbon supply chain consisting of a single supplier and a retailer, focusing on the impact of blockchain technology on carbon transaction costs and consumers’ low-carbon preferences. Utilizing Stackelberg game theory, the paper constructs a supply chain decision model for emission reduction, determining the payment matrix and analyzing the stable strategy for blockchain adoption through evolutionary game theory. The findings indicate that retailers’ adoption of blockchain technology significantly promotes emission reduction within the supply chain, whereas manufacturers’ adoption has minimal impact. Additionally, the study reveals that variations in blockchain adoption costs and carbon quotas result in multiple evolutionary stable strategies. Specifically, when blockchain adoption costs and carbon quotas are below certain thresholds, the system reaches a unique equilibrium where both parties adopt blockchain technology.
Lithium-ion battery (LIB) circular supply chains (CSCs) present unique safety challenges among operation processes. Blockchain technology can be a promising solution for addressing these challenges, by enabling effective tracking and verification of safety-related information throughout the supply chain. However, how blockchain can mitigate safety issues from a supply chain perspective is poorly understood. This study proposes a theory-supported framework through intervention-based research (IBR) to provide guidance for LIB CSC safety management. The conceptual framework and theoretical propositions set the foundation for research on a comprehensive blockchain ecosystem specifically designed for CSC safety management. The framework includes the design of a blockchain architecture with capabilities tailored to address safety concerns, the involvement of multiple stakeholders, and the development of a safety measurement matrix. This study suggests research and practical directions which lay the groundwork for leveraging blockchain technology to improve safety management in LIB CSC. This research contributes to sustainable supply chains by proposing a conceptual framework for mitigating safety concerns in LIB CSC, paving the way for effective blockchain implementation. In addition, this study contributes to advancing the theoretical design understanding and application of blockchain technology in CSC safety management.
Gang Ping, Sherry X Wang, F. Zhao, Zeyu Wang · 5 authors
This study explores the application of blockchain technology in e-waste recycling, focusing on enhancing reverse logistics data tracking. A blockchain-based system integrating IoT sensors, smart contracts, and a token-based incentive mechanism was designed and implemented. The case study in Metropolis demonstrated significant improvements in e-waste management efficiency. Recycling rates increased by 27%, material recovery efficiency improved by 18%, and stakeholder participation doubled. The system processed an average of 50,000 transactions daily, proving its scalability. The blockchain implementation addressed key challenges in e-waste management, including lack of transparency and inefficient processes. The immutable audit trail enhanced traceability, fostering trust among participants. The token-based incentive system drove behavioral changes, increasing consumer participation by 119%. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of blockchain applications in environmental management and extends literature on reverse logistics. Practical implications include a blueprint for implementing blockchain-based e-waste management systems, insights for policymakers, and opportunities for technology developers. The research demonstrates blockchain's potential to address environmental challenges, offering a promising path towards sustainable resource management practices. Future research directions include exploring cross-border e-waste management and integrating artificial intelligence for predictive analytics.
Inês A. Ferreira, Guido Palazzo, António Pinto, Pedro Pinto · 7 authors
Abstract Adopting innovative technologies such as blockchain and additive manufacturing can help organisations promote the development of additive symbiotic networks, thus pursuing higher sustainable goals and implementing circular economy strategies. These symbiotic networks correspond to industrial symbiosis networks in which wastes and by-products from other industries are incorporated into additive manufacturing processes. The adoption of blockchain technology in such a context is still in a nascent stage. Using the case study method, this research demonstrates the adoption of blockchain technology in an additive symbiotic network of a real-life context. The requirements to use a blockchain network are identified, and an architecture based on smart contracts is proposed as an enabler of the additive symbiotic network under study. The proposed solution uses the Hyperledger Fabric Attribute-Based Access Control as the distributed ledger technology. Even though this solution is still in the proof-of-concep t stage, the results show that adopting it would allow the elimination of intermediary entities, keep available tracking records of the resources exchanged, and improve trust among the symbiotic stakeholders (that do not have any trust or cooperation mechanisms established before the symbiotic relationship). This study highlights that the complexity associated with introducing a novel technology and the technology’s immaturity compared to other data storage technologies are some of the main challenges related to using blockchain technology in additive symbiotic networks.
Kaustabh Barman, Patrick Herbke, L Janssen, Elias Safo
In the dynamic realm of supply chain management, establishing trust and ensuring transparency are pivotal challenges, particularly in sectors like electric vehicle battery production. This paper introduces a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-based framework utilizing chained Verifiable Credentials (VCs) to enhance traceability and reliability across the supply chain. By integrating smart contracts, our approach automates compliance and operational processes, facilitating real-time verification and fostering stakeholder trust. We present a scalable framework that answers three research questions about honest and accurate data entry by stakeholders, non-repudiation of asset data, and transactional event association with digital documents.
This study explores the implementation of a decen-tralized marketplace using blockchain technology for e-waste management. Through stakeholder-driven validation using the proof of stake and on-chain attestation, the platform ensures transparency and accountability in the e-waste supply chain. Integrating the Meta Mask wallet facilitates secure transactions, enhancing user experience and adoption. Results demonstrate a 95% reduction in transaction confirmation time and a 25% cost reduction in Ethereum transactions compared to SWIFT transfers, enhancing economic viability and user engagement. Leveraging blockchain for e-waste management presents a promising avenue for addressing complex supply chain challenges and advancing toward a more sustainable future.
This paper examines the use of blockchain technology in power battery echelon recycling. The technology helps to improve battery capacity identification and market transaction trust. The study focuses on power battery manufacturers and recycling participants. Two recycling modes are constructed using the Stackelberg game method, and the optimal decision-making of the participating subjects in the two modes of power battery echelon recycling under the embedding of blockchain technology is compared. The influence of each parameter on the optimal decision-making is analyzed. The research findings indicate that the degree of blockchain technology integration rises as the preference coefficient for traceability information increases. When recycling competition is intense and the sensitivity of recycling prices is low, the optimal recycling model for the number of spent power batteries (SPBs) to be recycled is the model in which echelon utilizers do not participate in recycling if the level of cost optimization coefficient embedded in blockchain technology is high, otherwise, it is the model in which echelon utilizers participate in recycling. The profit of power battery manufacturers and echelon utilizers decreases with the increase of the intensity of power battery recycling competition, the cost optimization coefficient of echelon utilizers and the cost optimization coefficient of manufacturers.
Abstract Purpose Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) allows for quantifying the social aspects related to the life cycle of a product and/or organization through an integrated and holistic approach. While there have been methodological and implementation advancements over the last years, there are still several critical issues, such as concern about the quality and availability of the data used in the assessment process. Therefore, this study aims to discuss the main peculiarities of Blockchain Technology and how it could be useful for S-LCA applications. Method The characteristics of Blockchain Technology were investigated in order to understand how and whether can be a synergistic support in the implementation of S-LCA. In order to do this, the main challenges and gaps of S-LCA methodology are identified. Therefore, a literature analysis was performed to identify the characteristics of Blockchain Technology within the context of SCM, how these peculiarities already support the life cycle thinking (LCT) tools, and whether these synergies can support also S-LCA studies. Results and discussion Blockchain is considered a revolutionary tool for supporting supply chain management due to its distributed data recording and assets tracking platform, which enhances transparency and provides real-time information. The traceability offered by Blockchain can be a valuable resource for conducting LCT studies, enabling improved data differentiation and origin identification as well as the identification of technology and inputs involved in analyzed product systems. Additionally, modeling a Blockchain to incorporate social data can aid in identifying locations, and the correlated social issues, where potential social risks occur by monitoring them over time. Consequently, a set of social indicators directly linked to social data should be defined for each supply chain evaluated. Conclusions The use of Blockchain Technology within S-LCA methodology approach will help organizations toward stronger supply chain management practices by tracing sustainable information related to products. Consequently, it can provide more transparent, reliable, and verifiable information to consumers on the product’s life cycle. From a methodological perspective, Blockchain Technology can serve to collect social data along the supply chain, thereby contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the life cycle of the product. By doing so, it is possible to identify social and socio-economic risks throughout the supply chain and monitor them over time in order to be used as potential internal benchmarks. Further developments will be needed to define the integration of Blockchain Technology within the framework of S-LCA and more broadly in social organizational LCA.