Abstract
Save the green and live in the green should be the mottos of the modern high-tech world. Industry 4.0 introduces the most advanced automated technologies, but many of them cause high CO2 emissions around the globe that need strong compelling force because any catastrophic changes in the climate causes dreadful vandalization in the economy and society. This chapter discusses the climate-friendly economic and low-emission technological developments in the 4IR and 5IR by using the practical-sense mechanism. Reading this chapter will therefore increase the knowledge of blockchain technology (BT), artificial intelligence (AI), and climate finance in the low carbon economic sustainability. Furthermore, the proposed green development themes (i.e., hybrid green city and industrial layout, hybrid low emission agriculture farm) affirms the sustainable low carbon economic developments in the forthcoming Industry 5.0. Finally, the strategic recommendations will assist in developing the low carbon economy with the perfection of BT, AI, and global climate finance in the world.
TopIntroduction
The eco-epoch of the Anthropocene has begun with the industrial revolution. Consequently, a different level of eco-crisis has sparked nowadays and been gradually accelerating day by day. Surge in CO2 and other greenhouse-emission significantly structured ecological imbalance that causes developing threats in the human welfare, animal-welfare etc. Manufacturing factories i.e., oil filters for cars, plastic materials, color dying units are largely producing harmful gas emissions. In a result, the highly matured economy becomes a high-carbon economy with future uncertainties because all countries and businesses are implicitly or explicitly dependent on the environment. Investing in these sectors may excel the eco-crisis. Thus, any concern in the business activities would relate to environmental issues or crises. As few processes are natural that we couldn’t stop or fully protect from the eco-crisis, but they might be reduced through increasing green investments. To reduce the high-CO2 risk, the Paris agreement has formed the formal legislation of the climate finance (CF) policy (Giglio et al., 2021; Geddes et al., 2020). The concessional funds of the CF policy have accumulated to support the low-carbon industrial developments and green business practices in industry 4.0 and industry 5.0 around the world.
In the low carbon industrial improvements, developing and poorest regions need billions of green financing dollars. Developments and executions of green technologies i. e., BT or AI based low emission industrial devices or tools require a bulk amount of fixed costs. Even if the implementation of those climate friendly industrial technologies has done prominently then it may significantly expand the economic burden that many countries or firms don’t afford (i. e., countries lacking green funds may be unsuccessful in climate friendly industrial developments without sufficient liquidity support from global climate finance). Admittedly, in many industrial sectors, changing existing technologies and infrastructure will dramatically increase the disposal costs and green technological costs. Global climate finance therefore becomes the major source of green financing to build the low carbon industrial developments in the 5IR.
Recent studies disclose that using global climate finance in developing and establishing blockchain and artificial intelligence based industrial technologies in the poorest regions would assist to achieve the zero global emission targets by 2050 (Qerimi & Sergi, 2022; see also Schulz & Feist, 2021). By green technological approaches, different research finds a promising impact of AI technologies on green business practices and emission free climate (Qerimi & Sergi, 2022). Another study explores that blockchain technology has positive association with climate friendly technological developments (Schulz & Feist, 2021). These statements affirm that BT and AI based technologies are eco-friendly. Both technologies will be promising to decrease high emission industrial burden in the 5IR.
To eradicate the environmental burden, machine readable (MR) technologies have impressively modified business practices in the fourth-grade industrial revolution (4IR). Encrypted-digital developments e. g. blockchain technology (BT), artificial intelligence (AI) architectures are rapidly growing with trust to serve the digital business globe in a better way (French et al., 2021). Tangible documentation process and real time access become digital encrypted form by those MR technologies, which cuts off more than 25% of CO2 emissions around the earth (Kouwenberg & Zheng, 2023). The eco-economic concern then provides another advantage to the globe by introducing low emission business practices with climate finance that interlinked with green environmental issues. Nowadays, many enterprises are literally accepting or changing their existing investment plans to make eco-friendly business practices or green business-solutions that impact lower emissions in the world. Such climate friendly investment concerns indicate that the acceptance of climate finance policy will be growing in industry 5.0. Basically, the concept of climate finance (CF) has developed to protect the green environment (Buchner et al., 2019). This CF concern increases green financing consciousness among investors. As a result, the growing awareness of green financing impacts on the investor’s consideration and now they have been gradually adopting the green environmental consideration when investing for a business concern.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Global Climate Finance: After the Paris climate agreement, the government level parties of developed countries formally formed new concessional funding sources for financing climate friendly improvements around the world. This formation of climate finance is defined as the global climate finance in this chapter. In other words, when two or more countries jointly form a source of fund only for climate friendly investments is also called the global climate finance (GCF). For example, the U.S., Paris, Japan, Canada, and Australia are unitedly forming a global climate finance to support low carbon economies in the world.
Variable Cost: The accounting term variable cost is used to explain the schedule expenses of the project in the chapter. This cost changes regularly or less than a year (i.e., energy expenses because this cost will increase or decrease depending on the energy used).
IoTA: The internet of things application (IoTA) is a completely automated sensor-based networking system that enables real time data communication using the blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies. In this chapter, IoTA application is used to develop BT and AI based hybrid technologies in different sectors, for example the energy distribution system, hybrid agriculture system.
Low Carbon Economy: The economic development causes zero or low greenhouse gas emission around the world affirms the low carbon economy. Any eco-friendly investment is part of a low carbon economy. At present the large number of high-tech industrial technologies emit high carbon in the air that causes global warming. Therefore, the present financial market is a high-carbon economy. The high-risk CO2 emission has been gradually destroying the climate harmony that needs to be reduced as soon as possible through taking effective measures. In this mechanism, the new industrial or business developments must follow eco-friendly measures. So, the forthcoming economic development will reduce the CO2 emission at zero or low level that is called the low-carbon economy.
Daylight Working Organization: This term describes how the firm or organization operates its business operations (e. g., office activity hours,) during the ‘ daylight period or sunlight hours’ for example the office working schedule of ABC company is from morning 8:00 AM to evening 5:00 PM. Another example, the working hour of a training center is from morning to noon.
Fixed Cost: In this chapter, the fixed cost term is used to define the different long term assets costs of the climate friendly project or new developments. Fixed cost refers to the expenses on any long-term assets purchase or developments (e. g., land purchases, green technology purchase). This cost will never change within a year or more than a year for example, land or office rent.
Domestic Climate Finance (DCF): The fund of climate friendly developments accumulated by the public and private sources of the country is defined as the domestic climate finance in this chapter. Domestic climate finance (DCF) mostly supports the low-CO2 emission projects within the country only.
Concessional Liquidity: Concessional liquidity means the accumulated funds that are used to support the climate friendly economic developments around the world.
M2M Transaction: The term M2M is basically the transaction between machines or system devices. The information of e-transaction can be done easily by using the M2M (machine to machine) autonomous system. This technology reduces the transaction costs by eliminating intermediaries and time.
Existing Market Rate of Interest: The existing market rate of interest indicates the present interest rate on loan amount in the financial market (e.g., interest rate on bank loan).