Over the entire existence of the bitcoin network and until September 21, 2022, miners produced 199.65 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Such data published by analysts at the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF).
The average for the year is 48.35 million tons of CO₂, which is 0.1% of global emissions. Similar volume of gas produce Nepal – 48.37 million tons and CAR – 46.58 million tons. For comparison, the gold mining industry produces 100.4 million tons of greenhouse gases per year.
The data was obtained during the analysis of information on the geographical distribution of bitcoin mining in January 2022. CCAF combined the latest data with publicly available information on electricity generation in different regions.
At the same time, the data does not cover emission reduction data, including the use of flare gas, autonomous bitcoin mining, waste heat recovery, and other factors.
“We don’t have enough data to fix this,” said Alexander Neumuller, author of the report.
In addition, analysts reported that the percentage of green energy sources in bitcoin mining is 37.6%. This estimate is inconsistent with the Bitcoin Mining Council data for the second quarter of 2022, estimating this indicator at 59.5%.
Recall that in early September the White House released reportin which he called on regulators to discuss imposing tough measures on bitcoin mining due to its large carbon footprint.
