Smart Government For Green Financing: A Distributed Ledger Technology Architecture to Prevent Greenwashing in Government Green Securities

Abstract

Public funds are raised in the name of the environment, yet their green claims are verified only afterwards and rest on the issuer's own reporting. This paradox is inherent in government green securities, the instrument created to close the financing gap for sustainable public services after the Paris Agreement, and it opens room for greenwashing. In government green securities, ex-post verification of use of proceeds leaves an integrity gap that opens room for greenwashing of public funds. This study examines the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to close that gap through a qualitative comparative literature study with purposive sampling under theoretical and technical criteria. The findings show that DLT provides five supporting facilities: atomic settlement, cost efficiency through disintermediation, transparency and immutability as an anti-greenwashing mechanism, smart contract-based automated coupon payment, and auditability by design. Implementation requires regulatory readiness, market infrastructure interoperability, oracle data governance, and reconfiguration of actor roles.

Keywords: digital governance, distributed ledger technology, government green securities, greenwashing, public financings