Press Release: Luxembourg Blockchain Week 2022- The Luxembourg Blockchain Lab and the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative announce joint Call for Projects

Luxembourg Blockchain Week 2022- The Luxembourg Blockchain Lab and the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative announce joint Call for Projects

Luxembourg, October 5, 2022

At the occasion of the Luxembourg Blockchain Week 2022 and following the success of its first edition of the call for projects, the Luxembourg Blockchain Lab (the LBL) together with the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative (the LSFI) are delighted to announce a joint call for projects which will be launched on the 12th of October 2022, in Luxembourg.

This edition of the call for projects will target specific sustainable development goals with the aim of achieving viable solutions that can be deployed on a large scale as part of our national effort in sustainable finance.

Sustainable finance generally refers to the process of taking due account of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria when making investment decisions. It is a transversal topic that involves professionals from different fields and sectors, such as financial experts, researchers or scientists; and where every actor has a role to play, not only policymakers but also the private sectors, including institutional investors and civil society. Over the last years, sustainable finance has undergone rapid development following the regulatory agenda and increased demand and awareness.  However, in this journey, the financial sector faces several challenges which need to be addressed to further transition towards sustainability. One of these challenges is linked to data availability, reporting and standardization. Further comparable and reliable data is needed on environmental, social and governance aspects.

As a result, both entities have teamed up to look for sustainable blockchain technology that could help face some of the above-mentioned challenges in order to advance sustainable finance. In particular, the call for projects aims to find solutions that support the following topics and SDG goals which have been deemed of particular interest for Luxembourg:

• Measuring scope 3 emissions – SDG 13, Climate Action

The solution should offer a way to measure, track and trace the value chain emission (also called indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or Scope 3) in order to trace in an easier and more transparent way these emissions. Scope 3 emissions are the result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organization, but that the organization indirectly impacts in its value chain.

• Pricing biodiversity – SDG 14 & SDG15, Life below water and life on land

The solution should help measure or price how much we lose or gain when affecting or improving biodiversity and nature conservation. For example, by proposing a methodology and an automated pricing of how much we are losing if we destroy forests and the gain when planting new trees for example, taking into account all associated factors.

• How to assess data on the social dimensions – SDG 3, 4, 5 &10, Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality & Reduced Inequalities

We live in a data driven economy. We are looking for solutions using scientific and reliable granular data on social dimensions. This would then be used to assess how an investment is embedding the social dimension such as gender, education, health and well-being or inequalities.

The selected projects will benefit from a one-week program designed by the LBL and LSFI, in order to provide all necessary information with regards to sustainability and SDGs.

The call for projects runs from the 12th of October 2022 until the 15th of December 2022. While it is open to international applications, there must be a strong willingness to come to Luxembourg. In addition, the applicants should have already a viable product. The selection phase will start beginning of Q1 2023 with the selected companies being announced at the end of March and the coaching starting in May 2023. All the requirements will be found on the application page which will be activated within the Blockchain Lab website (https://blockchainlab.lu) on the section dedicated to call for projects.

Emilie Allaert, Head of the Luxembourg Blockchain Lab “SDGs are more than just climate action. In this call, we will be able to go further and potentially discover a solution that could answer on of these issues identified as key for the industries. The Luxembourg Blockchain Lab will fulfill its mission to help navigate the ecosystem while looking for solutions using the blockchain technology. We are glad to work in collaboration with the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative and to benefit from their knowledge in terms of sustainability and what are the needs of Luxembourg.”

Nicoletta Centofanti, LSFI Interim General Manager “Sustainable finance affects and involves us all. To further advance this topic, all the actors need to work in synergies and find shared solutions. Over the last years, one of the challenges the financial sectors faces is associated to data granularity, quality and standardization. The industry needs meaningful harmonised data and technology will be crucial to help the sector gather and access this data.  In this regard, we are delighted to launch this Call for Projects in collaboration with the Blockchain Lab as we aim to be able to find practical solutions to crucial sustainable finance aspects such as indirect CO2 emissions measurement, social dimensions data or biodiversity pricing.”

About the Luxembourg Blockchain Lab 

The Luxembourg Blockchain Lab is the Luxembourg innovation cluster dedicated to everything related DLT. It aims at disseminating information about the technology to the wider group, in an agnostic way. One of its kind, the Lab has a focus on SDGs convinced that DLT technology can be used to do goods and promotes this approach. More than words, we need actions and solutions.

About the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative

The Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative (LSFI) is a not-for-profit association that designs and implements the Sustainable Finance Strategy for the Luxembourg financial centre. Our objective is to raise awareness, promote and help develop sustainable finance initiatives in Luxembourg.
The LSFI was founded in January 2020 by the Luxembourg Government, Luxembourg for Finance (the agency for the development of the financial centre) and the High Council for Sustainable Development (Conseil Supérieur du Développement Durable), an independent advisory body to the Luxembourg Government about sustainable development matters that represents the civil society.