COMMENTARY by Jonathan Newell, Editor


Testing& Test Houses


TELLTALE APP SPOTS ‘GREENWASHING’


is being tracked. It was needed for cryptocurrencies to prevent money being manufactured at will and it is now finding a home in other industries to prove elements within the supply chain, including environmental impact and workforce sustainability. Based on a study this year by the Edelman Trust, fewer people than ever


W


before have trust in the household brands they’re buying. Whereas in the past, conformance to standards was used to elevate that trust, now it is recognised that the standards are too narrow in their scope and so conformance doesn’t necessarily equate to morality or sustainability. Holding up accreditation certificates as a means of hiding other ills in the company is referred to as “greenwashing”. To give consumers more of an insight into the provenance of the goods


they buy, two companies are using Blockchain technology to gauge trustworthiness, measure performance against criteria that buyers are interested in and reduce incidences of greenwashing. DMT in Germany has launched CERA, a global certification scheme to


guarantee standards of environmental, social and economic impact. CERA uses Blockchain technology to trace raw materials along the entire value chain to ensure high accuracy and security of information. Swedish company PaperTale has gone a step further and produced a


smartphone app allowing consumers to verify the claims made by companies. PaperTale enables traceability throughout the production process and has a built-in “environmental calculator”, which shows the product’s environmental impact based on production methods and materials being used. The platform shows basic information about the employees behind the


‘


too narrow and so conformance doesn’t equate to morality or sustainability


’


products and confirms whether the workers received law abiding salaries and if they have written employment contracts. With PaperTale’s platform, every step in the production chain is verified through the Blockchain. With public scrutiny of supply chain operations being higher than it’s ever been, these companies are using an opportunity created by Blockchain technology to provide information that people are interested in and prevent consumers from having to buy blind or believe the greenwashing.


Standards are


hatever your thoughts are about BitCoins and other crypto-currencies, one of the positive spin-offs has been the development of Blockchain technology, an encrypted chain of records that defines the provenance of whatever


EDITORIAL


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December 2019 /// Testing & Test Houses /// 3


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