Topic 6: Digitalisation for Sustainability

Question 1

What is digital twin technology? (Environment Monitoring)

Answer 1

Companies first use sensors to collect information on rainfall and soil compositions, then they model and simulate them in the digital world, which is called a digital twin.

Digital twins are simulation tools that help businesses predict and prevent issues like plant rot and optimize irrigation systems, aiding in water conservation and regulatory compliance.
Digital technology plays a crucial role in sustainability by enabling the prediction and monitoring of environmental metrics, such as carbon emissions and resource consumption. This allows companies to adapt and reduce their environmental impact.

Question 2

What is the Supply Chain? And why is it important to optimise it?

Answer 2

The supply chain is responsible for most of a company’s environmental impact, so it is important to optimise the supply chain to reduce waste, energy consumption, and carbon footprint.

Question 3

What does Supply Chain Traceability involve?

Answer 3

Supply chain traceability involves tracking and verifying the movement of goods and services from production to consumption. It ensures the identification of products’ origin, quality, and safety standards and exposes potential risks such as environmental degradation and labor exploitation.

Question 4

Give one traceability example of supply chain of sustainable seafood.

Answer 4

Anova Sustainable seafood in Indonesia. Anova hires Indonesian fishermans to catch Yellow tail fishes. Once the fishes are caught they are brought to a processing plant, where information about how & where the fish is caught is digitally recorded on TraceTales. The information is then uploaded into the cloud & stored into SAP’s blockchain where it is secure & tamper proof

Question 5

What is permissionless blockchain?

Answer 5

Permissionless blockchains, such as Bitcoin’s blockchain, are open to anyone who wants to participate in writing new transactions to the chain. They do not require permission, as anyone can create a wallet and transact on the network. Transactions in permissionless blockchains are recorded as anonymous and tamper-proof.

Question 6

What is permissioned blockchain?

Answer 6

Permissioned blockchains are private networks where the participants are known and have obtained the required permission to join. Each participant in the network is verified and authorised to participate in recording new transactions to the ledger

Question 7

What are the features of Permissionless Blockchain?

Answer 7

• Anyone can participate. Public ledger.
• Transactions are anonymous
• Decentralised, no central authority
• No proof of work required
• E.g. Bitcoin (all transactions happen through wallets, and no one knows who owns the wallet)

Question 8

What are the features of Permissioned Blockchain?

Answer 8

• Participants are known and have permission to join/corporate parties need to agree to join the network. Private ledger
• Transactions are non-anonymous
• Decentralised, but some central entity or authority may manage or authenticate participants.
• It may require proof of work or other verification methods.
• E.g. Enterprise blockchains for tracking supply chains or tracking identity