Blockchain for Consumer Trust and Engagement in Sustainable Forestry

This review synthesizes research on how blockchain enhances transparency and trust in ESG audits for forestry, enables traceability to foster consumer engagement and loyalty with sustainable products, and identifies digital tools linking ESG audit data to end users. It evaluates blockchain's impact on ESG transparency, benchmarks traceability solutions, and explores pathways for responsible consumption and sustainable brand ecosystems. A systematic analysis of interdisciplinary studies using empirical, case-based, and prototype approaches reveals blockchain significantly improves ESG audit trust via immutable, verifiable data, mitigating fraud and greenwashing in forestry supply chains. Blockchain-enabled traceability, smart contracts, and loyalty programs promote consumer trust and sustainable behaviors, though scalability remains a challenge. Findings show blockchain fosters transparency and multi-stakeholder trust, advancing responsible consumption and sustainable branding while highlighting the need for standardized frameworks and longitudinal studies.