Enjin has reportedly joined the United Nations Global Compact in order to promote sustainability and equality.
Enjin says that it is committed to the UN Global Compact corporate responsibility initiative and its principles “in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption.”
Enjin, the blockchain platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), reveals in a release shared with CI that it has become the very first NFT firm that has been accepted into the UN Global Compact. The company joins the Global Compact as “a Participant, the highest membership rank.”
Membership in the UN Global Compact requires “a rigorous commitment to sustainability and equality according to the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, which offer guidance in the areas of human rights, environment, and labor,” the announcement noted. It also mentioned that more broadly, the Global Compact aims “to support businesses in working toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
Irakli Beridze, Head, Centre for AI and Robotics, UNICRI, United Nations, stated:
“We are excited to work with Enjin to explore how blockchain and NFTs can contribute to the fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. While we are struggling to recover from the global pandemic and its impacts, we are experiencing exponential growth of technologies like AI and blockchain. More than ever, we need to take advantage and harness the potential of these new technologies to ensure that we are better equipped and more united in the future, in order to make our planet a more livable, equitable place for all.”
By introducing the eco-friendly JumpNet blockchain and joining the Crypto Climate Accord, Enjin has made strides in “decarbonizing” NFTs on Ethereum.
These efforts are intended to support Principle 9 of the Global Compact, which focuses on “the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.”
JumpNet currently consumes 99.99% “less energy than Ethereum, the most commonly used network for NFTs,” the release noted.
As stated in the announcement:
“Furthering its commitment to sustainable NFTs, Enjin recently took JumpNet carbon-negative and is building Efinity, a sharded Proof of Stake parachain on Polkadot.”
Enjin will be exploring different ways of utilizing NFTs to carry out the United Nation’s goal of sustainability and equality. For instance, the tech might become the financial and monetization “backbone” of carbon capture firms, assisting with addressing climate change issues.
Permissionless access to NFT markets may also assist with eliminating the “inequality of opportunity” between different countries, “empowering worldwide creators and NFT users to compete on equal footing and reduce the global wealth gap.”
Esther Chang, Executive Director of Global Compact Network Singapore, stated:
“With less than ten years left to meet the UN’s 2030 Agenda on sustainable development, technology plays an important role that can help us reach the SDGs faster and contribute to a more prosperous and sustainable world. We warmly welcome Enjin to the United Nations Global Compact and look forward to working alongside them to take decisive action for the SDGs.”
Enjin’s membership in the Global Compact comes “amid a growing realization that sustainability, both social and environmental, are the key to unlocking trillions of dollars in value in the next decade,” the announcement revealed.
Many prominent figures have “levied criticism against NFTs due to their perceived carbon footprint, which Enjin has directly addressed through the release of JumpNet alongside a 5-step plan to enable carbon-neutral NFTs,” the update confirmed.
Maxim Blagov, CEO of Enjin, remarked:
“At Enjin, we’re developing a sustainable ecosystem to create a better future using NFTs. Joining the UN Global Compact reaffirms our commitment to improving people’s lives through blockchain technology, and will ensure these efforts are sustainable, focused, and optimized while holding us accountable to the public along the way.”