Overcoming ‘Jevons’ Paradox’ in the Circular Economy: Is Blockchain a Threat or Solution to Climate Change?

Since the advent of the industrial revolution, innovation, and the efficiencies it provides, drives economic growth. From Industry 1.0-4.0, new technology deprecates the previous industry paradigm resulting in increases in production capacity; however, the economic correlate of efficiency to production capacity has driven economic performance at the expense of the environment. From the internal combustion engine to light bulbs to desktop PCs to the Internet, technological innovation consumes more energy as gains in efficiency are spent on increases in energy demands to higher demand. This ‘Jevons paradox’ characterises capitalism and the free market throughout the modern industrial age; there are few, if any, popular technologies, which, through their widespread adoption, result in synergistic and sustainable economic and environmental performance. Even so-called ‘sustainable’ technology, e.g., EVs, calculate the contribution to CE based on an economic / environmental ‘balance’. To tip this balance in favour of the environment is the key to closing the CE loop; blockchain represents a feasible solution, but only if it is implemented broadly and deeply across the global SC in production and end of life extension. This paper conducts a thought experiment of BC implementation utilising information cascade as an accelerant to global BC adoption toward CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]