How can web3 help solve real-world problems and drive public good?

In the previous post, I announced that I will look into each of the five of Sitra's megatrends of 2023, and explore how web3 might help solve some of the issues our society is facing.

Here we go, the first out of five.

💧 The erosion of nature's carrying capacity 💧

What does it mean, exactly?

We know that the climate is heating up, biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate, natural resources are being overused and waste is increasing.

If we want to improve the situation, we need a radical change in human activity.

At the heart of the change is the understanding and acceptance that we are completely dependent on nature and its services.

Without diverse nature, there is also no well-being or economic growth, which depend on it. Food production, clean water, breathable air, raw materials ... all depend on a good nature’s health.

What can we do?

Good news… We don't have to drive down the cliff, we can just change direction.

Responding to sustainability crisis requires changes in culture and practices. And one way to achieve that is mainstreaming the circular economy.

How might we do that?

From what we’ve discussed in previous posts, mainstream adoption comes from:

• ease of implementation & use (UX)

• aligned incentives for all actors (Interoperability & Composability)

How can Web3 help?

Let’s quickly review our example use case from previous posts (for more, please read these: F2O, Interoperability & Composability Pt1, Interoperability & Composability Pt2):

Ok, Imagine a system where:

• Governments issue NFTs to sustainable companies.

• Companies use these NFTs to issue credits to customers.

• Customers can trade and combine credits in many unique ways.

The ability of different digital assets (in our case credits) to interact is Interoperability: Different credits (such as carbon offset credits, ethical consumerism credits, etc.) could be made interoperable with each other, allowing citizens to trade them in the marketplaces, to sell them for other credits, on different platforms, or even exchange them for traditional currency.

The ability of different digital assets to be combined with each other is Composability: By combining different credits, citizens could unlock new, more valuable ones: a citizen might earn a credit for using public transport, and another one for installing solar panels. These two could be combined to form a benefit like lowering government tax, or getting better interest rates for loans.

Interoperability & Composability will be the key to changing habits and changing directions - it’s all about incentives and motivations, right? 💥

Beyond that, they can help the system to scale and be maintained. When new components are introduced to the ecosystem, or existing ones are modified, they will continue to work together. This ensures stability, reliability, and promotes innovation and growth, and in our case, effectively improving the public good outcomes.

That’s it for today. There are many many more sub-trends Sitra identified related to this, and I will address them in the future (The diversity of nature is declining, The availability of resources is becoming increasingly uncertain, The soil is getting poorer, The amount of waste is increasing, The condition of the seas is deteriorating … ).

However, in the next post, we’re tackling the second megatrend of 2023:

Challenges to well-being are increasing. How might Web3 help? Well, I have some ideas. 😎

Until next time! Let’s go do some good!

(Image: Created with DALL·E. Prompt: "megatrend: nature - the erosion of nature’s carrying capacity")

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I’m Maša Černovšek, and I write about web3, UX and solving real-world problems. *Connect with me on LinkedIn! *