Corporate responsibility and environmental impact - how distributed ledger technology can hold businesses to account
Bitcoin and Blockchain are undoubtedly the most familiar names that spring to mind when distributed ledger technology is mentioned, however it's not just the banking sector that is making use of the technology to process and authenticate data. The decentralised [or distributed] architecture boasting no single point of failure when it comes to the validity or authenticity of the data has clear benefits in banking, with highly sensitive transactional data secured and trusted end-to-end, but the same model is also being applied elsewhere.
Another prominent sector embracing distributed ledger solutions in a big way is supply chain management. With the complexity and precision involved in moving products from manufacturing plants to warehouses through to customers and even dealing with customer returns means there are many points where inaccurate or unreliable data can have an impact that causes huge issues down the line. We need only look back just over 2 years ago to illustrate this when the popular fried chicken restaurant KFC had to close many of its stores due to a "chicken shortage". The great reaction by their PR team may have saved some face with their "FCK, We're Sorry" ads but when the company ended up ditching their new distribution provider [the cause of the issue] the real impact of supply chain glitches is clear to see.
In order to prevent issues such as these, blue chip companies like IBM have been getting involved to build solutions that can ensure accuracy throughout the supply chain, including teaming up with Walmart in the development of Food Trust - a way of not just tracing food products from the supermarket shelves back to the farm they were picked from, but to also provide insights into how the food was grown, transported and interacted with during the journey.
It is this deeper relationship between provider and store that really underlines the huge impact distributed ledger technology can have on the world. Sure, securing banking transactions is critical in the battle against fraud and cyber crime, but the biggest issues that the technology can potentially address - on a truly global scale - are those of employer accountability, especially relating to employee inequality and organisation’s environmental impact.
Recent times have seen such global issues raised to the public discourse in ways that haven't been possible in the past, largely thanks to the technology that has allowed like minded individuals the world over to communicate and raise awareness of issues in an organised way. So how can this new technology help combat these problems and hold businesses [any entire countries] to account?
When dealing with workers rights, often the loudest voices deriding company policies, worker conditions and renumeration come from within societies and countries that are amongst the most affluent and well treated in the world. While there is always room for improvement, these voices tend to ignore the greater injustices in regions a little further afield. This is what DLT has the capability of shining a light on more brightly and bringing the responsibility back to individuals, businesses and countries alike.
There are countless incidents of unscrupulous administrations turning a blind eye to - or worse, actively participating in - the use of slave labour, often in order to complete huge construction jobs for stadia and national infrastructure, without a thought to health and safety, let alone appropriate training, insurance, salaries or union representation.
Then there are the terrible instances of offices experiencing such high worker-suicide attempts from their rooftops that they have had to install netting to prevent their staff from taking this option, not addressing the emotional wellbeing or trying to understand how the business can change in order to fight the cause.
The problem is that once the output of these businesses and nations hits the local economy they are so far removed from the source as to not even register.
Similarly, issues of environmental impact are becoming more mainstream and again appearing in marches and petitions in countries already signed up and delivering on reduction of emissions. Missing the biggest culprits in far off lands isn't helping solve the issue at hand. Factories spewing out toxic smogs that cover entire cities is a current reality in some areas but without those in charge being held to account little is likely to change.
Enter the blockchain. Imagine a world where a company buying a building had access to the full backstory of the construction, down to the grade of cement used for the foundations and the plants that this cement was created in. if this kind of data was instantly to hand perhaps corporations would begin avoiding taking ownership of morally corrupt premises, no matter how "shiny" they look.
Or perhaps the refusal from tech giants to include in their devices components that were created in factories with sub-standard working environments, or that utilise materials that are being mined in a way that is contributing to global warming.
This could extend also to due diligence for business acquisitions, where simply "having the money" isn't good enough and the prospective owners of, for example football clubs, are put to a blockchain "fit and proper" test that cannot be swayed or corrupted by millions in donations to sympathetic parties.
This technology has such wide ranging applications and potential that could be set to change the way all businesses operate and impact everyone. So, instead of signing the next online petition, perhaps we should be raising awareness, promoting ideas and solutions that distributed ledger technology can bring. The emotional response seems to have had small impact that may well burn out when something more interesting comes along. Perhaps the technological response will have a bigger, longer lasting one.
