Blockchain Technology in Achieving SDGs Through Renewable Energy: Case Studies

There is emerging evidence that energy efficiency and increased usage of renewables help to mitigate climate change and disaster risk. Policymaking in Muslim countries seeks to achieve targets related to the sustainable development goals (SDG7: ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all) and is also concerned with achieving the Maqasid Al-Shariah (the goals of Islamic law, referred as MaS). The concerns about the welfare of the people and the planet, as captured in the SDGs, are aligned with protecting and nurturing the posterity (Nafs), one of the MaS. Given the confluence of the policy objectives, this paper seeks to build a case for applying blockchain technology in the renewables sector. It argues that blockchain technology has many advantages in the form of decentralised data collection, storage and use, immutability and transparency of transactions that have led to market innovations in the form of smart solutions to the multifarious challenges facing the renewables sector. The paper examines several cases of using blockchain technology in the renewable energy sector to highlight its enormous potential. In addition, we conduct interviews with Global Peace Mission (GPM), a Muslim NGO that proposes a pilot test in delivering aid through blockchain to illustrate the experience, which can also be replicated by other Muslim NGOs striving to achieve both SDGs and the MaS.