Bitcoin Mining CO2 Footprint Is Below 0.08% Of Global Total - CoinShares
The Bitcoin (BTC) mining network contributed less than 0.08% to the world’s total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to digital asset investing firm CoinShares. Data obtained by the company suggests that BTC mining is responsible for a marginal share of the global CO2 emissions, in particular when compared with the variety of services that are facilitated by the use of the cryptocurrency.
The Bitcoin mining network produced some 36m tons of CO2 in 2020 and 41m tons last year. The study claims that, owing to flare mitigation, an estimated 2.1m tons of CO2 equivalents could be removed from the market, bringing BTC mining’s total net emissions to the level of some 39m tons per year.
However, even at this point, the BTC mining network generates an insignificant share of total emissions, which amounts to less than 0.08% of the total, according to CoinShares.
“As a frame of reference, countries with large industrial bases such as the United States and China emitted 5,830 Mt and 11,580 Mt CO2e in 2016, respectively,” the report said.
Moreover, the carbon footprint of BTC mining can hardly match that of a number of traditional industries which are responsible for significantly higher CO2 emissions, as demonstrated by CoinShares' figures.
“Estimates of the emissions caused by minting and printing fiat currencies come in around 8 Mt per year and the gold industry is estimated to generate between 100 and 145 Mt of CO2 emissions annually,” according to the study.
At an annual energy consumption of 89 TWh, BTC mining uses about 0.05% of the total energy consumed across the world, CoinShares said.
At the time of writing the report, they said, the network’s electricity generation mix was more balanced than ever in the time "since
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