Key Takeaways:
- Greenpeace hounds BlackRock and JPMorgan for their Bitcoin promotion.
- How does Ripple feature in it, and what’s the “Change the Code, not the Climate” campaign?
- The carbon footprint from Bitcoin mining is not trivial to calculate. Experts claim it is not as bad as Greenpeace suggests.
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – Greenpeace has a bone to pick with Bitcoin and let the New York City public know about it in a flashy ad campaign against the flagship crypto and its power usage via mining.
Greenpeace USA’s groundbreaking report exposes BlackRock, Fidelity, Vanguard, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express for ignoring the climate catastrophe caused by their Bitcoin investments and products.
read the summary of the organization’s report
Greenpeace is not happy with Bitcoin
Greenpeace USA took the aforementioned financial giants to task for endorsing the “energy-hungry technology.” The organization also evoked the “Change the Code, Not the Climate” campaign to switch the flagship crypto to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism that does not require mining and is more environmentally friendly.
Ripple Lab’s former CEO, Chris Larsen, also took part in the campaign in 2022 and sponsored Greenpeace with $5 million to promote it. While Larsen commented that he wants Bitcoin to “succeed,” the motives behind the “green” campaign are not transparent.
“If I was concerned about Bitcoin as a competitor, probably the best thing I could do is let it continue on this path,” Larsen said. “This is just an unsustainable path,” added the executive in his defense.
The report also claimed that 62% of the electricity used for Bitcoin mining globally in 2022 came from fossil fuels. According to Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, Bitcoin mining drains over 139 terawatts-hours yearly. However, the number is highly debated and quite difficult to check.
Bitcoin mining is not worse than fiat, experts say
Daniel Batten, a Bitcoin expert, and environmental activist, debunked several Greenpeace USA claims against Bitcoin. He explained that Bitcoin’s emissions are lower than those of tech giants like Apple or Microsoft.
Batten also proposed a mechanism of using flared methane gas to fuel mining. “If the use of vented gas to power Bitcoin mining grows at just 6.9 MW/month – the Bitcoin network will become Carbon Negative in Dec ’24,” he concluded.
Moreover, in a report titled “ESG Aspects of Crypto Assets,” André Dragosch, the Head of Research at
Deutsche Digital Assets claims that Bitcoin mining is less detrimental to the environment than BlackRock, the largest investment company globally with over $9 trillion under management.
The variability in electricity demand from Bitcoin mining can stabilize the electric grid and encourage the growth of renewable energy sources […]. Moreover, repurposing wasted heat and utilizing flared and vented gas in Bitcoin mining contribute significantly to a net reduction in carbon emissions.
read the report.
BlackRock has the cake and eats it too
Meanwhile, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink poses the company as “environmentally friendly.” In the latest annual letter to investors, Fink asserted that climate risk is an investment risk. His letter detailed, at length, the very real impact that climate change already has on markets.
Anyone can see the impact of climate change in the natural disasters in California or Florida, in Pakistan, across Europe and Australia, and in many other places around the world. […] Finance is not immune to these changes. We’re already seeing rising insurance costs in response to shifting weather patterns.
he said.
However, this year, the letter contained a small loophole for Bitcoin support. Fink noted that asset managers must NOT be the “environmental police” and instead called for “governments to make policy and enact legislation, not companies.”
Making the issue the government’s problem, rather than his own, is seen as a bit of a step back from Fink’s 2020 position in which he said that BlackRock’s active portfolios would limit exposure to fossil fuels (specifically coal), amongst other commitments.
