LONDON, Feb 7, 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Blockchain supporters are talking about “trust” and emissions data these days, steering away from crypto trading in their latest industry remarks.
- Supply-chain “Scope 3” emissions draw special scrutiny these days—they’re notoriously tricky to track, and companies often argue over the figures.
- Earlier moves into supply-chain blockchain have highlighted the adoption risk—partners just might not come aboard.
Once more, blockchain is on the table as a business solution. This week’s chatter highlights areas like supply-chain tracking, digital identity, and automated verification—fresh use cases stepping beyond the bounds of cryptocurrencies. (Source: 1 )
This isn’t happening by chance. Companies now face mounting demands to chart out their “Scope 3” emissions — those indirect greenhouse gases linked to everything from the supply chain to product use and transport. These emissions often dwarf a company’s own direct output, yet fall beyond their immediate reach. (Source: 2 )
According to the World Economic Forum, just eight supply chains are responsible for over half of global emissions—an uncomfortable statistic for sprawling procurement networks and anyone tracking their data footprints. (Source: 3 )
Deloitte points to blockchain as a possible way to boost transparency and traceability in sprawling supply chains, especially for ESG reporting linked to Scope 3 emissions. Think of blockchain as a shared ledger—a kind of database where different parties can add and review entries, with built-in resistance to tampering after the fact. (Source: 4 )
Retailers have leaned on that message in food safety efforts. According to a Hyperledger Fabric system involved in Walmart’s pilots, tracing U.S. mangoes used to take days—now it’s down to seconds. Frank Yiannas, the company’s former food safety chief, offered this: the “food supply chain” isn’t really a chain, but rather “a complex network.” (Source: 5 )
Shipping companies took a similar tack. Back in 2019, Maersk’s Lars Kastrup described TradeLens as a bid for “an unprecedented level of transparency,” saying the idea was to let supply chain operators react more quickly when surprises hit. (Source: 6 )
Adoption hasn’t been smooth. Maersk and IBM eventually pulled the plug on TradeLens, saying it didn’t draw enough industry partners to make the platform commercially viable. (Source: 7 )
In a Feb. 5 piece, writers floated the idea that blockchain might let companies capture emissions data almost instantly by linking up sensors and tracking gear with tamper-resistant records. Carbon-credit markets also landed on their radar as possible candidates for new verification tech. (Source: 8 )
Carbon markets remain fraught. The Australia Institute’s research has surfaced integrity questions tied to offsets, underscoring that moving trades online does little to resolve doubts over whether a credit signals genuine emissions reduction. (Source: 9 )
Developers are pitching blockchain as more than just tech infrastructure—it’s a potential revenue stream. The PixelPlex Team, writing for Morocco World News, suggested companies could “productize” their own verification and reconciliation processes, charging for what used to be internal checks. They also touted “tokenization,” a model where digital tokens stand in for fractional stakes in physical assets. (Source: 10 )
The risk case hasn’t disappeared. Wharton’s Kevin Werbach has called blockchain “a new structure of trust,” though he stressed that real trust needs more—governance, dispute resolution, and faith in the full system, not just the code. A shared ledger, after all, is only as good as the data and rules it’s built on. (Source: 11 )
At this stage, the pitch has shifted to something more grounded: permissioned blockchains with access limited to vetted users, targeting specific issues like traceability, audit trails, and document verification. The question is whether these efforts evolve into core infrastructure or fade as another round of pilots. That comes down to which backers commit and who’s footing the bill.
