Cryptocurrencies are increasingly taxing the planet as more and more fossil fuels are being diverted to produce electricity for Bitcoin mining. The mining activities are mostly concentrate concentrated in China and Kazakhstan but in almost all countries, some sort of Bitcoin operation is run. With more and more people wanting to start mining coins, the environmental cost will keep rising and rising. So, how can we make cryptocurrency and NFT production environmentally sustainable?
Carbon footprint
More than 60% of all Bitcoin mining activity depends on fossil fuels because a great amount of electricity is required to fuel the mining process. Unfortunately, renewable energy sources are still not utilized enough, even though this would be the ideal solution. The annual carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining is more than 36 million tonnes of CO₂, which roughylroughly translates to putting 2.5 million extra diesel cars on the roads every year. As it is evident, the need for sustainable Bitcoin has never been greater.
CO₂ directly contributes to global warming and the thinning of the ozone layer. Since Bitcoin mining uses a lot of electricity which mostly comes from burning coal, gas, and other fossil fuels, more and more CO₂ finds its way into the atmosphere. We already have enough emissions from power plants and vehicles with internal combustion engines, so if sustainable Bitcoin would be possible, it would help our environment a great deal. We are in luck because emitted CO₂ diffuses in the atmosphere in a few months, so if we offset the emission in one place, the positive change can be felt all over the world.
Offsetting the carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining has been a popular topic next to NFT carbon offset. There are many ways of offsetting. One popular way is to fuel your mining operation partly with renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and aquatic power. Another is to plant trees, help the atmosphere become clearer, and use less electricity by coming up with more efficient methods to mine. The same thing is true for NFTs which can be a great way to draw attention to the problem of increased power consumption. One such movement has already appeared with a Russian artist.
NFT carbon offset
On June 11, 2024, during a live event in Geneva, aza NFT drop was made by the Russian artist Polarrana. It was a historic event because the NFT was fully compliant under the newly adopted Distributed Ledger Technology Law in Switzerland and the whole action was supposed „carbon negative” This was achieved by purchasing offset projects to reduce the environmental costs created by making the music itself. The Russian artist released the song as an NFT and also learned how much energy the creation of her song used, so she decided to offset this cost, making the whole song projects carbon negative.
NFT carbon footprint is a very promising initiative that more artists should consider in to achieve a sustainable crypto industry. It is not just about a sustainable Bitcoin anymore, but finding a way to make all crypto activity at least carbon neutral. If artists take the time to understand and measure how much energy their projects cost, then decide to offset at least part of it, the world will already be a better place. The same thing can be said about crypto miners. If at least half of all miners switched exclusively to renewable energy sources to create electricity, the strain on the planet would be considerably lower.
In the 21st century, we have entered a world where energy has never been more important. Fossil fuels are finite and with increased crypto mining, they will run out even faster. It is beneficial for all of humanity to transition crypto mining into a carbon-neutral state or even carbon negative with renewable energy sources. This is a typical situation where a global effort has must be made to achieve sustainable Bitcoin, and also NFT creators should be made more aware of how to implement an NFT carbon offset. Of course, the crypto industry is here to stay, but it is up to us to shape its future.
How stable are crypto and NFT?
Since people are mining a lot of cryptos and utilizing the power of NFTs, surely they should be valuable, right? Well, here comes the catch. As is the same with all digital currencies, cryptos are based purely on speculation and the advantages of the decentralized blockchain system. Bitcoin and other cryptos are only worth as much as people are willing to pay for them. The case is similar to the dark ages where people simply traded stuff and money, currency wasn’t an established concept.
If we take a look at the world’s established currencies such as the dollar, euro, and the ruble, a centralized entity, the government strictly regulates how these currencies need to be handled. The value of these currencies is relatively stable, and there is not one person who can easily influence it in a very short amount of time. This is not true with cryptocurrencies. Very influential people can share their approval or disapproval of crypto and the value of that crypto can plummet in minutes. Such is the case with Elon Musk and Dogecoin, Bitcoin, etc. A simple tweet can change the entire market and a lot of people can lose a lot of money.
With this concept comes the problem of manipulating the market and decreasing the value of cryptos to increase their mining, then increase their value to gain profit. With more and more mining comes more and more environmental stress and pollution. When the numbers add up, we realize that an influential person’s tweet can result in an increased carbon footprint. It is quite frightening, isn’t it? That is why offsetting is going to play a huge role in the upcoming years and decades. For every Bitcoin mined, there is a carbon footprint. We need to start thinking about how to compensate.
NFT carbon offset
On June 11, 2024, during a live event in Geneva, az NFT drop was made by the Russian artist Polarrana. It was a historic event because the NFT was fully compliant under the newly adopted Distributed Ledger Technology Law in Switzerland and the whole action was supposed „carbon negative” This was achieved by purchasing offset projects to reduce the environmental costs created by making the music itself. The Russian artist released the song as an NFT and also learned how much energy the creation of her song used, so she decided to offset this cost, making the whole song projects carbon negative.
NFT carbon footprint is a very promising initiative that more artists should consider to achieve a sustainable crypto industry. It is not just about a sustainable Bitcoin anymore, but finding a way to make all crypto activity at least carbon neutral.
If artists take the time to understand and measure how much energy their projects cost, then decide to offset at least part of it, the world will already be a better place. The same thing can be said about crypto miners. If at least half of all miners switched exclusively to renewable energy sources to create electricity, the strain on the planet would be considerably lower.
In the 21st century, we have entered a world where energy has never been more important. Fossil fuels are finite and with increased crypto mining, they will run out even faster. It is beneficial for all of humanity to transition crypto mining into a carbon-neutral state or even carbon negative with renewable energy sources. This is a typical situation where a global effort has to be made to achieve sustainable Bitcoin, and also NFT creators should be made more aware of how to implement an NFT carbon offset. Of course, the crypto industry is here to stay, but it is up to us to shape its future.
Source: Impactscope.com
