Washington, DC (June 13, 2024) — Greenpeace USA’s new report, Bankrolling Bitcoin Pollution: How Big Finance Supports a New Climate Threat, released today, provides some of the first independent estimates of carbon emissions from the biggest Bitcoin mining companies, and reveals the financial companies supporting this polluting industry. The top 5 financiers of carbon pollution from Bitcoin mining companies were Trinity Capital, Stone Ridge Holdings, BlackRock, Vanguard, and MassMutual, accounting for over 1.7 million metric tons CO2 in 2022—equal to the emissions from over 335,000 American homes using electricity for a year.
The report also identifies the Bitcoin mining companies with the most carbon emissions in 2022. The top 5 are Marathon Digital, Hut 8, Bitfarms, Riot Platforms, and Core Scientific, whose combined emissions were 4.3 million metric tons CO2, as much carbon emissions as the electricity used by 1.5 million U.S. homes in a year, more than all the houses in Chicago, Illinois. All 20 of the large publicly-traded Bitcoin mining companies in the study generated as much carbon emissions as two coal power plants in a year, over 7.8 million metric tons CO2.
As Bitcoin mining has grown into a large commercial industry, mining companies need capital to build facilities and purchase computing equipment–which means they rely on support from banks and asset managers. Yet, there’s been little scrutiny of how investments from traditional finance companies enable Bitcoin mining companies’ carbon-intensive operations.
Johanna Fornberg, Senior Research Specialist at Greenpeace USA, said: “The climate impact of Bitcoin mining has exploded as the industry has matured, and mainstream financial institutions have played a major role in funding the industry’s energy-intensive operations. Our report highlights that top financiers like BlackRock, Vanguard, and MassMutual are enabling this carbon nightmare and avoiding disclosure or accountability of how this fits into their climate goals. Bitcoin mining operations continue to create massive carbon emissions relative to their market value and have relied on secrecy and greenwashing to avoid responsibility. We are calling on financial companies to acknowledge their role in this growing environmental crisis and take immediate steps to address their impact.”
In partnership with financial and energy experts at nonprofit organizations Profundo and WattTime, Greenpeace USA developed an innovative approach for estimating the electricity consumption and carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining companies, and used industry-standard methods for identifying lending, shareholding, bondholding, and underwriting for companies and then calculating the associated financed and facilitated carbon emissions.
Wall Street’s Role in Bitcoin Pollution
The analysis reveals that some big Wall Street companies, despite the guise of Bitcoin being outside of the traditional finance system, are investing in Bitcoin mining and enabling the industry’s pollution. The top 20 companies for financed and facilitated emissions included some household names like: BlackRock, Vanguard, MassMutual, State Street, Morgan Stanley, and Invesco.
Collectively, these companies financed over 1 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2022, about 22% of all the financed and facilitated emissions identified. BlackRock had the third most financed emissions, with Vanguard very close behind, and combined were responsible for as much carbon emissions as from the electricity used by over 165,000 American homes in a year.
Recommendations to Clean-up Bitcoin
Cleaning-up Bitcoin is possible, but requires major stakeholders, like financial services companies, to be more transparent about how their financing supports Bitcoin emissions.
Fornberg added: “Financial institutions must take responsibility for their investments in this polluting and risky industry by reporting financed and facilitated emissions from their support of Bitcoin mining. Ultimately, the Bitcoin network needs to change its underlying system to eliminate the need for energy-intensive digital mining, and we hope financiers will add to growing pressure on this industry for legitimate solutions aligned with climate goals.”
To learn more about the role of financial companies in funding Bitcoin’s climate impacts, read Greenpeace USA’s Report here.
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Contact: Dan Klotz, 347-307-2866 / [email protected]
Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org
