Using blockchain and other technologies to work towards sustainable goals requires companies to break the current way of thinking in business, according to Anthony Day, blockchain partner at IBM.
Giving the keynote speech on the second day of the 2020 Blockchain Week summit in London, Day called on business giants who have "spent decades hating each other" to form "global startups" with business models built around the triple bottom-line of people, planet and profit.
Tackling the world's problems requires competitors in the financial, technological and business world to recognise the common goals they share and form instantly-scaled conglomerates that can harness technology like blockchain for sustainable good.
A self-confessed "sterotypical climate warrior", Day spoke of the need for "exponential capabilities to drive exponential change to tackle exponential threats".
Blockchain, he believes, is one of the technologies that can help bring companies together, thanks to the transparency and trust that it can nurture.
Changing the current way of doing business would require legal and regulatory change to the likes of anti-competitive behaviour, intellectual property, funding and investment.
"Blockchain needs lawyers," Day summed up. "This is about breaking the current way of thinking, which will mean addressing a lot of pain points in law and regulation, so you need to lawyer up!"
Among the world's technology giants, IBM has been particuarly active in the blockchain space in recent years, providing the infrastructure and the scalability to drive innovation in this area for businesses of all stripes.
One such initiative, highlighted by Day in his keynote, is the IBM Food Trust, which tracks the status of food produced, bringing together farmers, distributors, suppliers and retailers, to reduce waste and optimise distribution and logistics.
Finextra Research will be focusing on sustainable finance in investment and asset management at the second SustainableFinance.Live Co-Creation Workshop in March 2020.
Register your interest for the event, where you will be able to discuss the demand for sustainability, the challenges that lie ahead for sustainable investment and how firms across financial services and technology can achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.