Cryptomining can hinder the fight against climate change: The White House
A number of bitcoin mining units inside a container at a Cleanspark facility in College Park, Georgia, US, Friday 22 April 2022.
Elijah Novel | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy warned Thursday that cryptocurrency mining could hinder the country’s ability to mitigate climate change. It also said federal agencies should review information from crypto miners and local utilities “in a privacy-preserving manner” to help understand and mitigate the problem.
Crypto operations in the United States now use as much energy as all home computers or all residential lighting, the White House said in a report. The findings come amid growing criticism over the amount of electricity crypto mining produces.
The process of mining cryptocurrency involves running banks of computers to solve complicated mathematical equations to create new coins and validate transactions. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, is tied to this “proof of work” system, although the next most popular currency, ether, is moving to a different method that may not require as much energy.
US crypto production represents between 0.2% and 0.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions and between 0.4% and 0.8% of domestic emissions, although the estimates are uncertain, the report said. Mining of crypto produces global warming emissions primarily by burning coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels to generate electricity.
This year, crypto mining produced between 110 and 170 million tons of carbon pollution worldwide and about 25 to 50 million tons in the United States alone, the report said. The process produces electricity by purchasing it from the power grid or by producing and disposing of computers and mining infrastructure.
“Electricity use from digital assets contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, additional pollution, noise and other local impacts, depending on markets, policies and local power sources,” the White House said in the report.
“Depending on the energy intensity of the technology used, cryptoassets may impede broader efforts to achieve net-zero carbon pollution consistent with US climate commitments and goals,” it added.
The report is a result of President Joe Biden’s executive order in March that asked the government to investigate the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies. The president has promised to reduce US emissions from 2005 levels by at least half by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The report said that global emissions from crypto mining are greater than the emissions from many individual countries and equal to the global emissions from all barges, tankers and other ships on inland waterways. In addition, Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital currency by market capitalization, generates approximately two-thirds of global crypto greenhouse gas emissions.
