“Saving the world” is such an oft-used platitude as to become meaningless, especially by star-struck startups with grandiose visions for the future. That being said, is it possible that blockchain can be used for good, and indeed help save the planet? Tokenization has the potential to do so, albeit indirectly. Here’s how.

Financing Impactful Projects

Tokenization simply means creating a token representing some underlying asset. The implications of this are powerful because tokens are blockchain-based constructs, which can be universally sent and received without intermediaries, enabling efficient, instant, fee-less transactions.

These implications bleed into investments as well. Traditionally, many investment opportunities have suffered from high investment minimums and low liquidity. However, as almost anyone, anywhere can invest in a token, tokenization can enable democratized investments.

Moving beyond conjecture, we can actually see this in practice with the Emerging Markets Solar (EMS) fund, which allows you to invest in a portfolio of solar energy infrastructure assets in emerging markets. Through the EMS token, the fund offers long-term returns, while contributing to global clean energy production through financing solar energy infrastructure projects.

The Implications Of (Tokenized) Impact Investing

Climate change is widely considered to be the world’s biggest threat, so investing in solutions, like solar energy, that attempt to combat climate change can have dramatically positive effects.

Impact investing discusses investments that intend to generate positive, measurable impact, alongside returns. Traditional investments focused purely on financial gain, while impact investing primarily seeks financial gain, with the secondary goal of impact.

Tokenized impact investing makes this method more accessible to everyday investors, thereby magnifying its scope. Ultimately, tokenization is more than a gimmick — it’s a way to solve real-world challenges. While much of the blockchain industry is looking at tokenizing things like diamonds or sports cars, tokenizing assets with impact could shed a more positive light on the industry.