- Greenpeace released a report urging major Wall Street companies supporting Bitcoin to take responsibility for environmental pollution.
- The organization accused some financial players of hypocrisy and false “green” initiatives.
- Environmentalists compared the mining industry to the tobacco and fuel industries.
Wall Street giants like BlackRock and Vanguard contribute to the environmental damage caused by the mining of the first cryptocurrency, according to the American branch of Greenpeace.
The report, “Bankrolling Bitcoin Pollution: How Big Business is Financing a New Climate Threat,” states that companies must take responsibility for supporting an industry with high carbon emissions.
According to the report’s authors, major players advocate for Bitcoin mining by creating economic incentives, thereby perpetuating the environmental threat.
Among the most significant “pollution sponsors,” Greenpeace named Trinity Capital, Stone Ridge Holdings, BlackRock, Vanguard, and MassMutual. According to the report, in 2022, they accounted for over 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), equivalent to the emissions of 335,000 American households.
The organization believes that mining has become a serious commercial sector, requiring significant capital access for building facilities and purchasing equipment. Therefore, cryptocurrency mining firms rely on support from banks and asset managers, and Wall Street “heeds these calls.”
“Banks and asset managers must disclose risks to shareholders and clients, who currently lack important information about the climate threat associated with Bitcoin,” noted the environmental activists.
Double Standards
The absence of environmental standards “allows mining companies to evade responsibility and conceal the scale of the climate problem,” Greenpeace claims.
The organization called it “hypocrisy” that banks prioritize environmental agendas but also invest in or finance the Bitcoin industry.
Greenpeace emphasized that BlackRock is a participant in the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, which includes a commitment to support net-zero emissions by 2050 in line with efforts to combat global warming.
Environmentalists also accused Wall Street companies of financing a “new gold rush,” leading to the construction of numerous Bitcoin mining facilities.
The report mentions a Riot Platforms facility in Texas. According to Greenpeace estimates, the enterprise produces the highest carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for about 526,000 tons of CO2.
Worse Than Cigarettes and Oil
The organization accused direct participants in the Bitcoin industry of false “green” claims regarding mining’s environmental impact. Greenpeace believes companies promote renewable energy sources but rarely use them in practice.
The report’s authors compared the mining sector to “a combination of the tobacco and fuel industries.” They claim leading players in the segment publish “misleading studies in predatory scientific journals in an attempt to paint a green image.”
Many articles claim that energy-intensive mining benefits the environment by stimulating the purchase of outdated renewable energy and providing grid stability. However, Greenpeace considers these ideas “speculative, contentious, or false.”
Some miners artificially reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing renewable energy credits (REC). Thus, they report broader use of renewable energy sources and demonstrate low carbon dioxide emissions in documents.
Environmental activists stated that REC tools are “notoriously unregulated” and often useless in the context of environmental protection.
Greenpeace is convinced that regulation and taxation are necessary to “curb the enormous energy appetites” of Bitcoin miners. Therefore, the US needs policies that “make companies pay for the environmental, social, and economic costs of their activities,” the report says.
The organization approved attempts by President Joe Biden’s administration to introduce a 30% tax on digital asset mining. Its representatives believe that the levies could “encourage miners to clean up their operations.”
In March 2022, environmentalists initiated the “Change the Code, Not the Climate” campaign in collaboration with other groups and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen. Their main goal is to transition digital gold from the Proof-of-Work algorithm to Proof-of-Stake.
In the spring of 2023, Greenpeace introduced a mascot symbolizing the “dangerous levels of pollution” caused by the mining of the first cryptocurrency.
Later, the creator of the image, artist Benjamin Von Wong, stated that his work “was never intended to fight Bitcoin.”
Back in January 2024, Greenpeace criticized the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision regarding spot Bitcoin ETFs.