UN Research Unveils Bitcoin's Environmental Toll Beyond Carbon Emissions

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The global embrace of digital currencies, driven significantly by Bitcoin, has come under scrutiny following a new United Nationsstudy spotlighting the environmental detriments tied to cryptocurrency mining, extending beyond the often-cited carbon emissions to encompass water and land impacts. This study, conducted by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), delves into the activities of 76 nations involved in Bitcoin mining over the span of 2020 to 2021, painting a concerning picture of environmental degradation.

Environmental Underpinnings of Bitcoin Mining

The research delineates a substantial carbon footprint as a result of global Bitcoin mining ventures, with a power consumption tally reaching 173.42 Terawatt hours during the aforementioned period. Analogously, if Bitcoin were a sovereign entity, its energy usage would surpass that of Pakistan—a nation hosting over 230 million inhabitants. The carbon emissions resultant from this energy expenditure are likened to the burning of 84 billion pounds of coal or the operational emissions from 190 natural gas-fired power plants. A reforestation effort involving the plantation of 3.9 billion trees, encapsulating an area akin to the Netherlands, Switzerland, or Denmark, would be necessitated to counterbalance this carbon footprint.

Bitcoin mining's environmental exigencies extend to water resources, with the volume of water implicated in these operations enough to fill over 660,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. This quantum of water could alternatively meet the domestic water requisites of over 300 million individuals residing in rural sub-Saharan Africa. The land area occupied by Bitcoin mining activities globally during