Environmental Impact of Blockchain
The following resources focus on the environmental impact of blockchains including background to this criticism and examples of approaches to making a greener blockchain space.
| Resource | Summary | Link | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
Episode V. Toward a New Ecology of Crypto Art: A Hybrid Manifesto by Memo Akten, Alice Bucknell, Geert Lovink, Primavera De Filippi, Jason Bailey, Chloe Diamond, Casey Reas, Fanny Lakoubay, Beth Jochim & Alex Estorick | A response to the environmental cost of crypto art by artists, activists and theorists | February 26, 2021 | |
The Problem of (Ethereum) Crypto Art by Joanie Lemercier (February 2021) | Covers the impact of energy consumption for an artist drop on Niftygateway | January 19, 2022 | |
Examines the impact of crypto art on the environment from ‘one perspective’ | January 19, 2022 | ||
CleanNFTs is a phrase that a community of over 2000 artists from around the world use to describe NFTs from platforms offering Proof of Stake cryptocurrencies | January 19, 2022 | ||
Paper investigating the impact of blockchain on carbon emissions, offers interesting correlation between gas usage and deaths | January 19, 2022 | ||
Proof of Work vs. Proof of Stake: The Ecological Footprint by Tezos, Medium (March 2021) | An short blog comparing Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tezos in terms of energy consumption | January 19, 2022 | |
Tezos Life Cycle Assessment Report | PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory SAS analyses the actual carbon footprint of nodes on the Tezos network | January 19, 2022 | |
NFTs, Cryptocurrency, and Museum Practice, Elizabeth Merritt, AAM (March 2022) | Reflections on NFTs, where crypto democratises art and wealth, and considers the environmental impact of blockchain | March 30, 2022 | |
A Bitcoin Mining Operation in the Finger Lakes Runs Up Against New York’s Climate Law, by Rosemay Misdary, Gohamist (February 2022) | Article on the Finger Lake’s bitcoin mining operation which faces challenges to New York’s climate leadership and community protection act. | April 6, 2022 | |
Impact Tokens: A blockchain-based solution for impact investing report by David Uzsoki and Patrick Guerdat, International Institute for Sustainable Development (April 2019) | This paper looks at some of the key characteristics of impact tokens; how they can be applied
in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, education or energy; how they can provide verified proof
of impact for investors; and ultimately how they can address each of the five barriers to upscaling impact investing. | April 6, 2022 | |
The British Museum’s NFT Project has Sent its Carbon Footprint Soaring, by Bendor Grosvenor, The Arts Newspaper (April 2022) | Discusses the impact of the BM’s NFT project in relation to its sustainability policy. | April 6, 2022 | |
The Carbon Footprint of Creating and Selling an NFT Artwork, by Erin Davis, Quartz (March 2021) | Details on the carbon emissions of NFTs compared to a print | April 6, 2022 | |
How Museums Should Think About The Energy Usage Of NFTs - WAC Weekly (April 2022) | Discussion on how the arts and culture sector reacts to environmental concerns around NFTs. | April 10, 2022 | |
The Unique Potential of Activist Art In Web3 - WAC Weekly (January 2023) | Environmental activism, and how new funding models can create a more equitable ecosystem. Also a discussion about women in the NFT art space. | January 17, 2023 | |
terra0 is an evolving prototype built on the Ethereum network that aims to provide automated ecosystem resilience frameworks |