Scientists could warn that efforts to fight climate change could be jeopardized by Bitcoin mining

NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Demand for bitcoins alone could defeat efforts to limit global warming, as digital currency, which is becoming increasingly popular, requires huge amounts of money. 39 energy to produce, announced Monday scientists.

Producing bitcoin at a rate of increasing demand could, by 2033, defeat the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, according to a US study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

In 2015, nearly 200 nations agreed in Paris to keep warming at "well below" an increase of 2 ° C compared to the pre-industrial era.

But the mining work, which consists in producing bitcoins by solving mathematical equations, uses very powerful computers and a lot of electricity, said the researchers.

"Currently, emissions from transportation, housing and food are considered to be the major contributors to ongoing climate change," said Katie Taladay, co-author of the study, in a statement. "This research shows that bitcoin should be added to this list."

Mining is a lucrative business, with a bitcoin currently selling for around $ 6,300 ($ 8,270 Canadian).

Earlier on HuffPost Canada:

In 2017, the production and use of bitcoin emitted about 69 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the researchers.

That year, bitcoins were involved in less than half of the 1% of cashless transactions worldwide, they said.

As the currency becomes more common, researchers said it could use enough electricity to emit about 230 gigatonnes of carbon in a decade and a half. One gigatonne equals one billion tonnes of carbon.

Move to cleaner energy

"It does not matter how you cut it, it consumes a lot of electricity, which means bad business for the environment," another co-author told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Camilo Mora.

The exploitation of bitcoins, however, is becoming more energy efficient, said Katrina Kelly-Pitou, badociate researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.

She added that bitcoin miners are shifting from sites like coal-fired China to more environmentally friendly utilities in Iceland and the United States.