Google to offer environmental education through Non-Fungible Planet project

Google has filed a trademark application dubbed “Non-fungible Planet”. Despite the name of this application, the details show that the company is not interested in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or blockchain.

Google files a Non-fungible Planet application

Despite the application appearing like Google is looking towards the buzzing NFT sector, the company is not focusing on these digital assets. Rather, the project wants to offer education related to climate change.

According to the filing, the objective of Non-Fungible Planet will be “providing information in the areas of environmental protection, conservation, energy efficiency, climate change, reducing carbon footprints, environmental issues, and sustainability efforts.”

The educative services will be offered in a manner that seeks to entertain. Some of the services to be offered include offering “non-downloaded playback of curated video playlists.” These educative videos will be available on the internet and other communication channels.

Non-fungible items are unique in that they cannot be replaced. Fungible tokens such as Bitcoin can be replaced with another Bitcoin. However, there can only be one form of non-fungible assets. Non-fungible tokens are digital assets that represent a piece of art or collectable.

Tech giants moving towards NFTs

Over the past year, there has been a notable increase in tech giants looking towards NFT integration. Twitter has been leading in this area, having launched an NFT feature. Twitter users can have verified Ethereum NFTs as their profile pictures.

Meta, formerly Facebook, is also looking towards adopting NFTs on its platform in the near term. However, Google does not seem to be taking the same route as Twitter and Meta. Instead, the company is copying the concept by saying that there is only one planet earth that should be taken care of.

There is a very slim chance that Google will adopt NFTs for this project. Such a move could cause controversy, given that the NFT sector has been associated with damaging the environment through the proof-of-work consensus.

Most NFTs are mined on Ethereum, which currently uses a PoW consensus. However, it is expected to transition to a proof-of-stake consensus later this year, which is more energy-efficient.