Dr. Maher Abdelsamie's Presidential Agenda: A Vision for Egypt's Sustainable Future

 Introduction:     

Egypt is at a crossroads in its history, with numerous challenges threatening its economic growth, social well-being, and environmental sustainability. Dr. Maher Abdelsamie, the inventor of the ECSS, has announced his intention to run for president of Egypt in 2024, if the Egyptian government allows him to participate. If the Egyptian government does not allow him to participate, he will support another candidate who shares his vision for a more sustainable and equitable Egypt, and who is committed to implementing the ECSS.

Dr. Abdelsamie presents his presidential agenda, which envisions a more equitable and sustainable future for Egypt. Dr. Abdelsamie outlines his policy priorities and the transformative changes he intends to bring to the country if elected as president. This forward-thinking agenda focuses on addressing the Egyptian population's critical concerns and leveraging the ECSS's innovative potential to help address these challenges. Dr. Abdelsamie hopes to build a thriving, resilient, and inclusive Egypt for future generations by leveraging the power of science, technology, and collaborative governance.

Patents:

The ECSS is based on Dr. Abdelsamie's granted US patent that was filed in 2017. It’s also based on his recently filed patent applications related to blockchain-backed systems and methods.

1. US Patent No. 10,325,270 (Granted) 

2. IL Patent No. 272113 (Granted)

3. Singapore Patent No. 11202000495Y (Granted)

4. International Application No.PCT/US2021/018136 (Filed)

The ECSS

How can the ECSS reduce its own environmental impact?

1. Data collection and monitoring: The ECSS collects life cycle inventory data associated with the products and services offered by the participating partners, which includes onsite energy consumption data for computing devices associated with the partners. This data allows the ECSS to monitor the energy consumption of the participating computing devices.

2. EPD verification and environmental impact assessment: The collected data is used to verify the Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) associated with the products and services offered by the participating partners. The verifiers assess the environmental impact of these products and services, including their energy consumption, based on the data collected.

3. Selection of environmentally friendly computing devices: The ECSS can use the information obtained from the EPD verification and environmental impact assessment to identify products and services that have the lowest environmental impact. The ECSS can then prioritize sharing the distributed ledger among these computing devices associated with these products and services.

4. Reduced energy consumption: By sharing the distributed ledger among the set of environmentally friendly computing devices, the ECSS can help reduce the overall energy consumption associated with maintaining the distributed ledger. This is because the participating computing devices have a low environmental impact.

5. Incentivizing sustainable practices: The ECSS is designed encourage participating partners to adopt sustainable energy practices by driving global demand for verified environmentally friendly products and services that are associated with EPD's with lower environmental impact. This can create a positive feedback loop, where more partners strive to minimize their energy consumption and environmental impact, leading to an overall more efficient and energy-saving system.

6. Leveraging Alarm Levels to Promote Energy Conservation and Efficiency: Here's an explanation of how making environmental activities (products and services) unavailable to be carried out by users when an alarm level is reached can lead to a more energy-saving and efficient system:

• Alarm level detection: The ECSS continuously monitors the environmental impact of products and services associated with participating partners based on the collected life cycle inventory data. When an alarm level is reached, it indicates that the environmental impact of a specific product or service has exceeded a predetermined threshold.

• Disabling environmental activities: When an alarm level is met, the ECSS makes the related products and services unavailable for users to carry out. This means users cannot purchase, use, or complete these products and services until their environmental impact is reduced.

• Incentive for improvement: Making these high-impact environmental activities (products and services) unavailable to users creates a strong incentive for the product and service providers to improve their practices, reduce their environmental impact, and comply with the ECSS's requirements. Product and service providers will be motivated to optimize their operations to reduce the environmental impact of their products and services.

• Redirecting user behavior: By making high-impact products and services unavailable, the ECSS guides users toward more environmentally friendly alternatives. This redirection of user behavior promotes the consumption of products and services with a lower environmental impact, ultimately leading to a more energy-saving and efficient system.

• Continuous monitoring and assessment: The ECSS continues to monitor the environmental impact of products and services, adjusting the availability of products and services based on real-time data. This ongoing monitoring ensures that providers maintain their commitment to reducing their environmental impact and that users continue to engage with environmentally friendly activities.

By making environmentally impactful products and services unavailable when an alarm level is reached, the ECSS platform can lead to a more energy-saving and efficient system. This approach incentivizes providers to reduce the environmental impact of their products and services (including but not limited to digital services, multifunctional devices and cloud computing), directs users toward more sustainable choices, and maintains a continuous monitoring and assessment process to ensure long-term improvements in energy efficiency and environmental performance.

How Does Consensus in ECSS Foster Trust, Decentralization, and Scalability for Global Environmental Impact Reduction?

The ECSS uses consensus in the EPD verification process. The advantages and roles that consensus plays in the success and adoption of the ECSS worldwide are as follows:

• Trust and reliability: Consensus ensures that multiple verifiers evaluate and agree upon the accuracy and validity of the EPDs associated with products and services. This process increases trust in the system, as it prevents any single verifier from manipulating the results or making incorrect assessments.

• Decentralization: Consensus contributes to the decentralized nature of the ECSS, as multiple verifiers participate in the decision-making process. This decentralization prevents any central authority from controlling the verification process, leading to increased transparency and impartiality.

• Enhanced security: The consensus mechanism makes it more difficult for malicious actors to compromise the EPD verification process, as they would need to gain control over a majority of the verifiers to manipulate the results. This feature adds an extra layer of security to the ECSS.

• Scalability and global adoption: The consensus mechanism allows the ECSS to scale and adapt to the growing number of participants and verifiers worldwide. As more organizations and countries implement the ECSS, the consensus-based approach ensures that the system remains robust, secure, and reliable, even with a larger number of participants.

Policy Priorities and Solutions:

1. Water Scarcity:

Egypt is experiencing severe water scarcity, with the Nile River, the country's primary water source, struggling to meet the demands of its rapidly growing population. Agriculture, public health, and overall economic growth are all threatened by this scarcity. The situation is exacerbated further by the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) upstream on the Blue Nile, which has the potential to significantly impact water flow to Egypt. The dam's impact on water availability, combined with increased water consumption, climate change, and ineffective water management practices, has raised concerns about Egypt's water security and ability to meet its population's needs in the coming years.

Solution: The ECSS can address water efficiency in a similar way as it does with energy management and agricultural productivity.

Here's how it works:

• Data collection: The ECSS receives data from point of service systems and site computing devices associated with partners (product and service providers), which includes information about environmental activities, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and life cycle inventory data, including water consumption data for different products and services.

• Verification: The ECSS assigns verifiers to verify the environmental product declarations using the life cycle inventory data. This consensus-based verification process helps ensure that the data related to the water consumption and environmental impact of products and services is accurate.

• Comparison: The ECSS compares the verified environmental product declarations to determine which ones have the lowest environmental impact, including water consumption.

• Recommendations and incentives: The ECSS can recommend to users the environmental activities (e.g., products, services) with the lowest water consumption and environmental impact. By rewarding individuals who carry out these activities with higher environmental credit scores and cryptocurrency, the ECSS creates a demand for water-efficient products and services. As a result, water consumption can be reduced, helping to alleviate water scarcity in Egypt.

• Market response: As demand for water-efficient products and services grows, companies (product and service providers) are incentivized to invest in water-saving technologies and adopt water-efficient practices. This drives innovation in the water management sector and contributes to more effective water efficiency in Egypt.

How can the ECSS evaluate water-efficient practices?

As explained, the ECSS can help in identifying water-efficient products and services by collecting life cycle assessment data and enabling EPD comparability. This can encourage both producers and consumers to adopt water-saving technologies and practices, resulting in a decrease in overall water demand. While the ECSS does not directly evaluate practices, it can still provide valuable insights into water efficiency by analyzing data from EPDs, which include information about the practices used during the production or provision of a product or service.

The ECSS collects life cycle assessment data from partners (product and service providers) related to the Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) of the products and services they provide to individuals. However, the data collected for the EPDs inherently includes information about the practices used during the production or provision of a product or service. For example, by examining and analyzing the life cycle assessment data and EPDs associated with various products and services, the ECSS can indirectly assess the water efficiency of practices. EPD data reflects the environmental impacts of practices employed during the production or provision of a product or service, including water usage.

The ECSS can draw conclusions about the relative water efficiency of the practices used by comparing the life cycle assessment data and EPDs of different products and services. For example, if two products have similar functionality but one has a significantly lower water footprint, the ECSS can conclude that the production practices of the more water-efficient product are better in terms of water usage. This information can then be used to encourage the adoption of more water-efficient practices.

2. Agricultural Productivity:

Agriculture is important to Egypt's economy because it employs a large portion of the population and contributes to food security. Climate change, water scarcity, outdated farming practices, and loss of arable land due to urbanization all pose threats to agricultural productivity. These challenges result in low crop yields, lower farmer incomes, and increased reliance on food imports, all of which have a negative impact on Egypt's overall economic growth, rural development, and food security.

Solution: The ECSS can address agricultural productivity by collecting and analyzing life cycle assessment data, verifying and comparing EPDs, and increasing the adoption of environmentally friendly and productive agricultural practices, products, and services through recommendations and incentives.

Here's how it works:

• Data collection: The ECSS receives data from point of service systems and site computing devices associated with partners (product and service providers), which includes information about environmental activities, environmental product declarations (EPDs), and life cycle inventory data related to agricultural products, and services. By analyzing life cycle assessment data and EPDs associated with various agricultural products and services, the ECSS can help identify products and services that follow more environmentally friendly practices. These practices can include efficient water use, soil health management, reduced pesticide usage, and practices that lead to increased crop yields.

• Verification: The ECSS assigns verifiers to verify the environmental product declarations using the collected life cycle inventory data. This consensus-based verification process helps ensure that the data related to the environmental impact and resource efficiency of agricultural practices, products, and services is accurate.

• Comparison: The ECSS compares the verified environmental product declarations to determine which ones have the lowest environmental impact, including factors that contribute to agricultural productivity, such as water use efficiency, soil health, and crop yield.

• Recommendations and incentives: The ECSS can recommend to users the environmental activities (e.g., products, services) related to agriculture with the lowest environmental impact and highest agricultural productivity. By rewarding individuals who carry out these activities with higher environmental credit scores and cryptocurrency, the ECSS creates a demand for environmentally friendly and productive agricultural practices, products, and services.

• Market response: As demand for environmentally friendly and productive agricultural practices, products, and services grows, farmers and agribusinesses are incentivized to adopt these practices, invest in sustainable technologies, and develop innovative solutions to enhance agricultural productivity. This drives innovation in the agricultural sector and contributes to improved agricultural productivity in Egypt.

3. Energy management:

Egypt's growing energy demands put pressure on its natural resources and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Transitioning to renewable energy sources and promoting energy efficiency are vital for sustainable development.

Solution: The ECSS can address energy management by collecting and analyzing life cycle assessment data, verifying and comparing environmental product declarations (EPDs), and increasing the adoption of energy-efficient products and services through recommendations and incentives.

Here's how it works:

• Data collection: The ECSS receives data from point of service systems and site computing devices associated with partners (product and service providers), which includes information about environmental activities, environmental product declarations, and life cycle inventory data, including energy consumption data for different products and services.

• Verification: The ECSS assigns verifiers to verify the environmental product declarations using the life cycle inventory data. This consensus-based verification process helps ensure that the data related to the energy consumption and environmental impact of products and services is accurate.

•  Comparison: The ECSS compares the verified environmental product declarations to determine which ones have the lowest environmental impact, including energy consumption.

• Recommendations and incentives: The ECSS can recommend to users the environmental activities (e.g., products, services) with the lowest energy consumption and environmental impact. By rewarding individuals who carry out these activities with higher environmental credit scores and cryptocurrency, the ECSS creates a demand for energy-efficient products and services.

• Market response: As demand for energy-efficient products and services grows, companies are incentivized to invest in energy-saving technologies and adopt energy-efficient practices. This drives innovation in the energy sector and contributes to more effective energy management in Egypt.

4. Climate Change:

Egypt facing major challenges as a result of climate change, which has a wide-ranging influence on agriculture, water resources, and coastal areas. Increasing temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events affect agricultural productivity, exacerbate water scarcity, and raise the risk of flooding in low-lying places. These effects not only endanger the livelihoods of millions of Egyptians, particularly those in rural areas, but also place further strain on the country's infrastructure, public health, and economy.

Solution: The Environmental Credit Scoring System (ECSS) can contribute to addressing climate change in Egypt through various mechanisms, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting sustainable practices, and fostering behavioral changes.

Here is how the ECSS can help address climate change in Egypt:

• Data collection: The ECSS collects life cycle assessment data, environmental product declarations (EPDs), and information about environmental law violations from governmental agencies and site computing devices associated with partners (product and service providers). This comprehensive data collection allows the ECSS to identify products, services, and practices with lower greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.

• Verification: The ECSS assigns verifiers to verify the EPDs and ensure that the data is reliable and accurate. By verifying the EPDs, the system can provide credible information about the environmental performance of different products, services, and practices, which is essential for promoting low-emission alternatives.

• Comparison: The ECSS compares the verified EPDs to determine which products, services, and practices have the lowest environmental impact. This comparison enables consumers, businesses, and policymakers to make more informed decisions about which options are most sustainable and climate-friendly.

• Recommendations and incentives: The ECSS recommends environmentally friendly activities (products and services) to users and calculates their environmental credit scores based on their responses. Users with higher environmental credit scores may receive rewards, such as cryptocurrency, which can encourage them to adopt more climate-friendly behaviors. By providing incentives and guidance, the ECSS can promote the adoption of low-emission products, services, and practices, ultimately helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Egypt.

• Market response: As demand for more sustainable products and services grows, this can drive innovation and investment in low-emission technologies and practices, leading to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a more climate-resilient economy.

The ECSS indirectly contributes to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in Egypt by addressing water scarcity, agricultural productivity, and energy management. Efficient water management, sustainable agriculture, and reduced energy usage can all help Egypt become more resilient to the effects of climate change while also lowering its overall greenhouse gas emissions.

5. Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction

Egypt faces major issues related to poverty and social exclusion, which disproportionately affect marginalized populations such as women, rural communities, and people with disabilities. These people frequently lack basic services such as education, healthcare, clean water, and sanitation, as well as opportunities for economic growth and social mobility. This inequality not only perpetuates poverty cycles, but it also hinders Egypt's overall development and long-term sustainability.

Solution: The Environmental Credit Scoring System (ECSS) has the potential to contribute to social inclusion and poverty reduction in Egypt through several mechanisms.

Here's how the ECSS can play a role in addressing these challenges:

• Incentivizing environmentally sustainable practices: The ECSS rewards individuals and businesses for adopting environmentally sustainable practices, products, and services. By promoting these practices, the ECSS can create new economic opportunities and job markets in the green economy, helping to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion.

• Encouraging financial inclusion: As the ECSS provides a platform for assigning environmental credit scores and offering rewards in the form of cryptocurrencies, it can help foster financial inclusion for those who lack access to traditional banking services. This includes people without smartphones, proof of identity, or bank accounts. By enabling these individuals to participate in financial transactions through the ECSS, they can access financial services and resources that can help improve their economic well-being, thus promoting social inclusion and poverty reduction.

• Access to environmentally sustainable products and services: By making information about environmentally sustainable products, services, and practices more accessible and transparent, the ECSS can help people make better-informed decisions about resource use and consumption. These decisions can lead to cost savings and improved resource efficiency, which can ultimately contribute to poverty reduction.

• Promoting local sustainable businesses: The ECSS can help identify and promote local businesses that offer environmentally sustainable products and services. By supporting these businesses, the system can contribute to the development of local economies, job creation, and poverty reduction.

• Raising awareness and fostering behavioral change: The ECSS can contribute to social inclusion and poverty reduction by raising awareness about the importance of sustainable living and encouraging behavioral change among individuals and businesses. By engaging people in environmental activities and rewarding them for their participation, the system can foster a sense of community and promote the adoption of sustainable practices that can contribute to poverty reduction in the long run.

• Enhancing transparency and accountability: The use of a distributed ledger and the consensus-based verification process involved in the ECSS ensures that transaction records and environmental product declarations are secure, transparent, and tamper-resistant. This increased trust and security can encourage more people to participate in the system and foster an environment of transparency and accountability that can contribute to social inclusion and poverty reduction.

6. Climate and Resource Depletion Driven Violence:

This graph shows that if everyone on Earth lived like Americans, we would require the resources of five planets to sustain us. Qatar and Luxembourg are the biggest contributors to resource depletion, with lifestyles that consume the equivalent of 8.2 to 9 planets, but their impact on global resources is comparatively smaller due to their small populations.

According to a separate article, if the economy and population continue to grow at their current rates, natural resources will be depleted by 2040. This would make raising the living standards of poor countries to the same level as wealthy nations impossible, as we would need the resources of multiple planets to achieve this.

The Ecological Footprint quantifies our impact on the Earth's ecosystems. It considers factors such as food, goods, and service consumption, land use, and carbon emissions. When our ecological footprint exceeds the Earth's biocapacity, we are depleting resources faster than they can regenerate, contributing to climate change.

Climate change, according to Noah Gordon's article published on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace website, can create opportunities for violent nonstate actors, such as terrorists, to exert power. Food, water, and energy crises, inhospitable areas, resource constraints, and climate-exacerbated disasters can all lead to poor governance, increased resource competition, and harmful policies.

In such cases, nonstate actors may resort to violence in order to influence state behavior or to replace the state's role in certain areas.  Climate change and resource scarcity can exacerbate social tensions, leading to conflict and violence over access to limited resources such as water and arable land. This can further destabilize Egypt's social and political landscape, making it even more challenging to address other pressing issues. 

Solution: The ECSS can help address the problems of sustainable consumption and production, improve the transparency and comparability of environmental impact data, increase accountability, encourage international cooperation, reduce the environmental impact of computation and data storage, and provide a secure global identity for those without smartphones, proof of identity, or bank accounts.

The ECSS can contribute to reducing the likelihood of climate and resource scarcity driven violence by promoting sustainable practices that optimize resource usage and reduce the negative impacts of climate change. By encouraging water-efficient practices, sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy solutions, the ECSS can help mitigate competition for scarce resources and foster a more resilient and peaceful society.

7. Population Growth:

Rapid population growth puts pressure on Egypt's resources, infrastructure, and public services, making it challenging to provide adequate housing, education, healthcare, and employment opportunities.

Solution: By promoting sustainable products, services, and practices that use resources efficiently, the ECSS can help mitigate the impact of population growth on resource availability. The system can also contribute to creating green job opportunities in the renewable energy, agriculture, and environmental sectors, addressing unemployment challenges.

8. Environmental Degradation:

Pollution, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and other forms of environmental degradation pose threats to Egypt's natural resources, public health, and long-term sustainability.

Solution: By promoting environmentally friendly products, services, and practices through the ECSS, Egypt can reduce its environmental footprint and address various forms of environmental degradation. Encouraging sustainable land use, waste management, and pollution control practices will help protect Egypt's natural resources and ensure a healthier environment for its citizens.

9. Enhancing Social Equity:

The ECSS rewards individuals based on their environmental activities, which can indeed increase the average daily income for people in developing and least developed countries. By adopting the ECSS, Egypt can promote social equity through the following:

• Financial incentives and opportunities: Providing financial incentives and opportunities for low-income populations encourages them to engage in environmentally friendly activities. This can help bridge the income gap and contribute to a more equitable society.

• Empowering marginalized communities: By offering rewards and promoting environmentally sustainable practices, the ECSS empowers marginalized communities to take part in the country's sustainable development efforts, giving them a sense of ownership and responsibility.

• Education and awareness: The ECSS can raise awareness about the importance of sustainable living, fostering a sense of community and promoting the adoption of sustainable practices. This can help create an environment where all citizens have equal access to information and opportunities for growth.

10. Fostering International Cooperation:

Implementing the ECSS can indeed enhance Egypt's international reputation as a leader in environmental sustainability and climate action. By being one of the first countries to adopt the ECSS, Egypt can foster international cooperation and collaboration in addressing environmental challenges through the following:

• Demonstrating commitment: Adopting the ECSS shows Egypt's commitment to addressing environmental challenges, inspiring other nations to adopt the ECSS and collaborate on global sustainability efforts.

• Sharing knowledge and best practices: As an early adopter of the ECSS, Egypt can share its experiences, knowledge, and best practices with other countries interested in implementing the ECSS. This exchange of information can help countries learn from one another and develop more effective strategies for promoting environmental sustainability.

• Establishing partnerships: Adopting the ECSS can lead to new partnerships with international organizations, governments, and private entities focused on environmental sustainability.

• Setting an example: As a leader in environmental sustainability, Egypt can set an example for other countries to follow, demonstrating the feasibility and benefits of implementing the ECSS. This can inspire other nations to adopt the ECSS and work together to create a more sustainable global community.

11. Healthcare

Egypt's healthcare system faces a number of issues, including limited access to healthcare services, insufficient funding, a shortage of qualified healthcare professionals, and disparities in healthcare quality between urban and rural areas, and the growing prevalence of non-communicable and communicable diseases. These problems strain the healthcare system and pose significant challenges to the well-being of Egypt's population.

Solution: While the Environmental Credit Scoring System (ECSS) primarily focuses on environmental sustainability, it can indirectly contribute to addressing healthcare challenges in Egypt through the following mechanisms:

• Promoting healthier environments: The ECSS encourages environmentally friendly practices that can lead to cleaner air, water, and soil. By reducing pollution and promoting sustainable waste management, the system can help create healthier environments for the Egyptian population, reducing the prevalence of diseases associated with pollution and poor environmental conditions.

• Encouraging active and sustainable lifestyles: By promoting sustainable and environmentally friendly practices, the ECSS can indirectly encourage individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles.

• Addressing the social determinants of health: The ECSS contributes to social inclusion and poverty reduction by promoting financial inclusion, supporting local sustainable businesses, and fostering behavioral change. By addressing these social determinants of health, the system can indirectly improve overall health outcomes for marginalized populations, ensuring more equitable access to healthcare services.

• Supporting a green economy: The ECSS can create new economic opportunities and job markets in the green economy, leading to improved living standards and access to essential services, including healthcare. By encouraging investment in environmentally sustainable industries, the ECSS can contribute to the overall development of the Egyptian economy, which can, in turn, support improvements in the healthcare system.

12. Economic Growth and Diversification:

The ECSS is designed to increase global demand for environmentally friendly products and services, and Egypt can benefit from this by implementing it to boost its own sustainable products and services. This, in turn, can help to strengthen the economy. The ECSS's anti-banning capabilities could also lead to the reversal of cryptocurrency restrictions in other countries, which can further promote the expansion of Egypt's digital economy and improve its competitiveness on a global level. By implementing the ECSS, Egypt can position itself as a leader in sustainable products and services, attract investment, and support growth in green sectors, ultimately diversifying the economy and ensuring long-term stability.

Introducing the ECSS

The ECSS is an eco-friendly system backed by blockchain technology. Its aim is to connect various entities, including online and offline product and service providers, individuals, LCA experts, EPD program operators, non-profits, governmental bodies, and advertisers. The system uses blockchain to record all transactions on a massively scalable distributed ledger

Current Problems Addressed by the ECSS

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed three types of environmental product claims: type I environmental labels based on ISO 14024, type II self-declared environmental claims based on ISO 14021, and Type III environmental product declarations based on ISO 14025.

1. The comparability problem of environmental labels (type I): Current green certifications or labels disclose that the products or services fulfill specific environmental criteria. However, they do not disclose the products' life cycle environmental impact from raw material extraction through production, shipping, consumption, and disposal. Although there are currently hundreds of international green product certifications, including about 100 certifications in the United States, they have failed to get individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations, and governmental entities to work together to combat current environmental issues. Additionally, their effectiveness in generating a significant increase in individual participation in environmental activities is limited. The certifications and labels of products and services cannot be compared. Thus, individuals cannot differentiate between the products and services in terms of what product or service has the lowest environmental impact. This creates consumer confusion.

2. The Comparability Problem of the EPDs (Type III EPDs): Type III environmental product declaration is a standardized (ISO 14025) and life cycle assessment-based tool and an internationally accepted, independently verified, registered, and published document. Any organization can become a program operator, making it hard for individuals to compare the EPDs of thousands of products and services to determine which one has the lowest environmental impact. The requirements for comparability of the EPDs are set out in the ISO 14025, Section 6.7.2. However, EPDs from different EPD program operators using different Life Cycle Assessment methods and product category rules cannot satisfy the requirements for comparability.

3. The independence problem of verifiers: Type III EPD is a report that focuses on how a product or service affects the environment throughout its life cycle. To be published, type III environmental declarations require an independent agency, called a program operator, to supervise the EPD's entire development process. The EPD verification is the most crucial step in determining an LCA study's credibility. Approving the EPDs of products and services based on misleading LCA results could increase the demand for the products and services, leading to harming the environment. Currently, product and service providers can create EPDs for their products and services and perform the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) by themselves. They may also seek assistance from an external LCA expert if they do not have in-house LCA experts. An independent verifier must independently verify the EPD.

Program operators have their own rules regarding approving a verifier. Some program operators require verifiers to have specific competencies, knowledge, qualifications, or experience related to EPD verification to be approved verifiers. The verifiers seek out assignments and arrange contracts with product and service providers without the program operator's involvement, making it hard to guarantee and ensure the independence of the verifier. Some program operators rely only on the contract terms between the verifier and the product and service provider.

For example, some program operators require writing the agreement between the verifier and the product and service provider in such a way that there is no economic pressure on the verifier from the product or service provider to approve the EPD and allow the verifier to report any perceived pressure caused by the product or service provider. This can ensure a more transparent approval process. However, ensuring the independence of third-party verifiers can be very hard. Further, the verifier activities are not monitored, making it hard to ensure that the verifier or the verification firm's employee maintains independence.

4. The accuracy and reliability of the data used to conduct the LCA

The accuracy and reliability of the results of an LCA of a product or a service are determined based on the accuracy and reliability of the data used to conduct the LCA. Thus, on-site primary data collection that may comprise collecting on-site operations data, on-site material consumption data, on-site emissions data, on-site energy consumption data, or on-site waste data is preferable and recommended compared to using secondary or generic data (e.g., third-party database providers or LCA databases, previous studies, publications).

5. Problems related to Ecological Score labels

The Life-Cycle Assessment method is important, but there is a correlative higher risk to mislead the consumer. For example, as organizations can create eco-score labels based on their own Life Cycle Assessment methods, they can create independent Eco score labels for their products or offer "Eco scoring" as a service to score other companies products and services and issue Eco score labels. This will significantly increase the number of labels worldwide. This in turn will significantly increase consumer confusion and may encourage businesses who harm the environment to get a “green cover” for their products by creating their own Eco score labels or adopting the easiest Eco score label they can achieve. This worsens the current problems of environmental labels and makes it hard to hold businesses accountable for their environmental impact.

The public interest of saving our planet from the current environmental crises must triumph over the special interests of organizations promoting their own ineffectual environmental solutions, otherwise, we will all suffer.

6. Problems related to individuals

In addition to the aforementioned problems, there are more than 4 billion people worldwide without smartphones, a billion people without proof of identity, and roughly 1.7 billion adults without a bank account. This makes it hard to hold these people accountable for their environmental impact.

This has created a great need for an international tool that can unite the world's efforts for the public interest to tackle the environmental crisis while simultaneously addressing the aforementioned problems.

What is Yomna?

Yomna is my daughter's name. It's also the proposed name of the cryptocurrency of the ECSS. As program operators and LCA experts can earn Yomna and as individuals will be rewarded with Yomna based on their environmental activities, Yomna will represent the value of the new green economy as it represents the efforts of participants towards tackling current environmental crisis including climate change.

The ECSS is based on my granted US patent that was filed in 2017. It’s also based on my recently filed patent applications related to blockchain-backed systems and methods.

What does "Environmental Credit Scoring Service stewarded by Nonprofits" mean?

As the implementation of the ECSS may increase the global demand for environmentally friendly products and services, which in turn could cause significant economic effects, it's important to provide a justified environmental credit scoring service and prevent a single organization from setting or deciding the rules and methodologies that govern the environmental credit scoring service. A US non-profit or a group of nonprofits in the US, and the same in every country, may be allowed to help establish the Environmental Credit Scoring Service of the ECSS.

The responsibilities of these nonprofits may include ensuring that the ability to set or decide the rules and methodologies governing the environmental credit scoring service cannot be taken over by a single organization. This prevents any organization from arbitrarily changing the rules and methodologies governing the service. The worldwide governance of these nonprofits aims to safeguard the independence and transparency of the environmental credit scoring service, so that it exists to achieve sustainable development and protect the future of humanity forever.

Who can set the rules and methodologies that govern the environmental credit scoring service?

A nonprofit or a group of nonprofit organizations in every country may be enabled by the ECSS to collaboratively propose rules and methodologies, create anonymous polls, and oversee a voting process where the verifiers (LCA experts) registered with the ECSS may be allowed to vote on whether to consider one or more rules or methodologies.

The rules and methodologies may include, but are not limited to, those that govern:

• The verification of the environmental activities of both individuals and product and service providers,

• The calculation of the environmental credit scores of both individuals and product and service providers, and

• The comparability between products and services, and scoring the products and services based on their life-cycle environmental impact.

Green Innovation and Transformation: The ECSS as a Catalyst for Change

• President Joe Biden said, "We have to rapidly accelerate our commitments to aggressively curb our emissions and to hold one another accountable for meeting our goals and increasing our ambitions."

• Solution: The ECSS verifies environmental activities to prevent spreading inaccurate or misleading claims about the environmental impact of these activities, which can help individuals and product and service providers accelerate their commitments to curb emissions and hold them accountable, leading to great strides in tackling climate change.

• The Special Presidential Envoy for Climate has stated that the climate crisis demands "all hands on deck," and that the biggest challenge is getting government systems and the private sector to move fast enough.

• Solution: The ECSS is a powerful uniting tool that connects various entities using blockchain, including online and offline products and service providers, individuals, LCA experts, EPD program operators, non-profits, governmental bodies, and advertisers, making it easier to bring everyone together to tackle the climate crisis.

• Bill Gates has discussed the concept of "Green Premiums," which refer to the difference in cost between producing something with greenhouse gas emissions versus without them. He believes that increased demand for environmentally friendly products and services will draw in more innovators and help close the cost gap between fossil fuels and clean alternatives.

• Solution: The ECSS can help create competition among individuals and product and service providers, boosting global demand for environmentally friendly products and services, which can in turn inspire and promote eco-technical innovation and green transformation, and help close the cost gap between fossil fuels and clean alternatives.

Banning Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Scores

It is possible that the current fight against ESG is an indirect fight against the ECSS, with the goal of preventing or even prohibiting its implementation in the future. However, it is critical to recognize the ECSS's broader benefits. Since the ECSS's services include an environmental credit scoring service, it could face similar criticism if implemented in a way that raises concerns.

True Meaning of Freedom

It would be misleading to consider as a threat to our freedom a system that monitors and verifies the environmental activities of individuals and businesses with a high level of credibility, and assigns them scores based on their efforts to prevent damage to others and the planet. Indeed, the ECSS is intended to enable individuals and organizations to make more informed decisions, resulting in a more sustainable and equitable world. Transparency and accountability are fundamental principles of any democratic society, and the ECSS promotes them.

The notion that combating climate change threatens freedom is based on a limited understanding of what freedom truly entails. Freedom should not be confused with the ability to engage in activities that harm people and the environment. True freedom involves the ability to live and make decisions in a way that respects the rights and well-being of others as well as the natural environment.

In reality, unregulated and unsustainable practices frequently have significant social and environmental consequences, ultimately limiting future generations' freedom. The ECSS supports the long-term preservation of the liberties we cherish while protecting the planet and its resources for future generations by enabling responsible decision-making and encouraging sustainable development.

Anti-Banning Capabilities of the ECSS

With its anti-banning capabilities, the ECSS is designed to thrive and adapt in the face of regulatory challenges. Furthermore, the system not only has these capabilities, but it also has the potential to lead countries to reverse crypto bans.

The ECSS is uniquely positioned to drive global demand for verified environmentally friendly products and services, particularly in countries where the system is implemented. This can have a significant economic impact on those countries, incentivizing them to reconsider their stance on crypto bans. Countries that refuse to implement the ECSS, on the other hand, may see a drop in global demand for their goods and services as environmentally conscious consumers seek out alternatives provided by ECSS-compliant nations.

One of the potential consequences for countries that refuse to implement the ECSS is a worldwide boycott of their products and services. Boycotting is a powerful and an effective tool for putting pressure on businesses and governments to change their practices. As consumers prioritize sustainability and environmental responsibility, a boycott could have significant economic ramifications for countries that do not implement the ECSS and fail to meet the demands of environmentally conscious consumers.

Launching the ECSS in a supportive country would provide better opportunities for that country while also demonstrating the system's benefits. This may persuade other countries to reconsider their stance on cryptocurrencies, potentially leading to the reversal of cryptocurrency bans. Countries that oppose the implementation of the ECSS, on the other hand, may face potential consequences, such as boycotts, that can negatively impact their economies and global reputation.

The ECSS's anti-banning capabilities, as well as its ability to lead countries to reverse crypto bans, have the potential to create long-term, positive change in the world. Implementing the system in supportive countries can pave the way for widespread adoption, environmental progress, and economic benefits, whereas countries that oppose its implementation may face potential consequences, such as the powerful impact of boycotts.

Urgent Action is Needed

The most important first step is to launch the system from at least one country that guarantees the system will not be banned. Then, based on the anti-banning capabilities of the system, it will be adopted by other countries, including developed ones that may want to ban the system to avoid facing potential consequences, such as the drop in global demand for their goods and services for countries that do not implement, as a result of the powerful impact of boycotts.

That's why I'm planning to run as a candidate in the 2024 Egyptian presidential election if the Egyptian government allows me to participate.