Have you ever thought about how we determine the real-world environmental impact of cryptocurrencies? Where we get our information? How we interpret it? And what we can do to move forwards on an increasingly pivotal issue?

If you’ve ever seen an Elon tweet, you know that the carbon footprint of crypto – and Bitcoin in particular – is a big deal.

In fact, we think it’s a very big deal – one that deserves our urgent, collective attention. We need to demystify this commonly misunderstood topic, and we need to work now to take action together.

So, here to help you get to the facts of the discussion, we’ve prepared an in-depth report – one of the first to comprehensively deconstruct the methodologies and assumptions quantifying the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies – helped by leading researchers in the field.

Based on round-table discussion held by Zumo with input from leading sustainability researchers and cryptocurrency experts including The Crypto Climate Accord, Cambridge University Centre for Alternative Finance, The Green Bitcoin Project, The Digiconomist and TAAL Distributed Information Technologies, our new state of play report summarises and analyses where we are today, and where we go next.

If you’ve ever wondered what Bitcoin is actually doing to the planet, and what we can do about it, this one’s for you!

Download our full ‘Decarbonising crypto’ report by clicking the button below.

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Key takeaways

• Clarification and contextualisation is urgently needed to inform the cryptocurrency energy consumption debate. This report is one of the first to comprehensively deconstruct the methodologies and assumptions quantifying the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies, offering a ‘state of play’ insight based on expert contributions from solution providers, industry participants and independent environmental research.
• In tackling decarbonisation, cryptocurrency has key advantages of transparency of data and defined inputs – but must focus on making itself relatable to the public and demonstrating its utility.
• Awareness and collaboration are rapidly growing on the need for decarbonisation in the crypto sector. Cross-sector initiatives will be pivotal and must encompass all ecosystem participants – miners, platforms and crypto holders / investors.
• Greening of cryptocurrencies aligns naturally with market incentive and the advancement of the space. Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) will feature prominently in the next stage of crypto’s evolution.
• The pace of technological change in the cryptocurrency ecosystem is constantly changing the complexion of the energy debate. New and planned blockchain technology will transform the way we view cryptocurrencies and their energy consumption as the space develops in application and infrastructure.
• By collaborating and acting on the decarbonisation of the sector, crypto has a meaningful opportunity to convert energy requirement into renewable energy demand, driving the growth of the global renewables market.

We hope that this report acts as a springboard for considered debate and informed collective action. Of course, it’s just the beginning – watch this space for further announcements soon on the work we and our partners are doing in this crucial area.