In the latest Cointelegraph Crypto Duel, founder of Digiconomist Alex de Vries and CEO and founder of Blockchain for Climate Joseph Pallant debated the intensity of Bitcoin’s footprint and possible paths forward to reduce it. As pointed out by de Vries, Bitcoin’s energy consumption has been increasing together with its network. The analyst predicts its carbon footprint could increase tremendously as Bitcoin gets closer to mass adoption. “I fear that this will quickly get completely out of control if adoption increases a lot more”, he said. According to de Vries, as long as Bitcoin functions with a proof-of-work system, bringing …

The virtual 7th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum was jointly hosted by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network with the theme “Enabling Resilience for All: The Critical Decade to Scale-up Action.” The forum took place in March and was held to formulate national adaptation planning for science and technology, and energy and fiscal policies that consider the interlinkages between climate change, health and biodiversity. These nature- and ecosystem-based policies will serve as the basis for the Asia-Pacific region’s contributions to the Leaders Summit on Climate in the United States; the United Nations Biodiversity …

The price of XRP saw a 55% breakout over the past two days as the sixth-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization has renewed its focus on the creation of a cross-border payment network that is inclusive and sustainable. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that XRP dropped to a low of $0.566 in the early hours on April 4 before a wave of trading volume helped lift its price to a high of $0.877 within the last few hours. The uptick in trading volume was sparked after Ripple posted a blog titled “Creating a More Financially Inclusive and Sustainable Future” …

The nonfungible token, or NFT, rush has seen everyone and their Doge flock to the nonfungible market to cash in on the recent craze for tokenized collectibles. Even the celebrities whom one would presume to have little engagement with crypto assets have been rushing to cash in, with the likes of John Cleese, Tony Hawk, Lindsay Lohan and Ja Rule cobbling together NFTs of varying artistic merit over recent months. However, surging NFT adoption has led to public backlash over the perceived carbon footprint associated with crypto asset technologies. Nifty Gateway pledges to go carbon-negative NFT platform Nifty Gateway announced …

The seventh session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development convened earlier this month with the theme “Building forward better: Towards a resilient and green Africa to achieve the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063” and to promote the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, pointed out that developing a just, fair economic model that embraces green and renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, and digitalization — while protecting natural resources by broadening partnerships for science, technology and innovation — could unleash the region’s green potential and fuel economic transformation. UNECA’s digital …

Sustainable crypto mining firm MintGreen has completed its seed investment round, with top digital asset manager CoinShares leading the round. A portion of the funds will likely be used to support two pilot projects intended to showcase how MintGreen’s proprietary technology can improve the energy efficiency of Bitcoin mining. MintGreen has two pilot projects slated to commence next quarter. The first involves selling heat waste generated from Bitcoin mining to the Vancouver Island Sea Salt facility, where the heat being used to boil water and distil salt flakes. Heat waste will also be repurposed by Canadian whiskey company, Shelter Point …

It is no longer news that the United States has restated its commitment toward lowering carbon emissions and taking an active part in the quest to normalize environmentally friendly measures on the global scene. This drastic shift in policymaking will spur the introduction and establishment of more stringent approaches to climate change. Undoubtedly, the reentering of the United States in the climate change conversation is indicative of the seriousness of this crisis and the drastic decisions countries would likely make to meet the environmental goals set in Paris, known as the Paris Agreement. At the heart of this political and …

The United Arab Emirates is the world’s sixth-largest oil producer and one of the richest countries in the world, with a gross domestic product per capita of above $43,000 as of 2019, according to the World Bank. As per its “Vision 2021,” Iis petroleum- and natural-gas-reliant economy is committed to sustainable development in order to emerge as the Gulf Cooperation Council’s, or GCC’s, most diversified economy. This includes the digitization of the economy, which has become a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. Related: Not like before: Digital currencies debut amid COVID-19 A green economy for sustainable digitization The first virtual …

Tata Power DDL, a leading electricity distribution company that serves over seven million residents in North Delhi, is piloting a solar energy trading project together with Australian blockchain firm PowerLedger and the India Smart Grid Forum, or ISGF. The pilot, which runs until June, aims to enable the development of distributed energy infrastructure and electronic trading resources that will encourage consumers to become prosumers — consumers who also produce — by selling their excess rooftop solar power in a peer-to-peer marketplace. Using PowerLedger's blockchain technology to provide transparent settlement of energy trades, the pilot will test out various trading algorithms, …

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres estimates trillions of U.S. dollars per annum is needed to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The question is: “Where would it come from?” Official development aid, philanthropy and public finances cannot suffice, which means the needle is moving toward private capital to fund sustainable development projects. Related: The UN’s ‘decade of delivery’ needs blockchain to succeed But the gap between financing and the environmental impact does not exude the confidence of private investors to fund development projects. India, a center of sustainability risks and innovative interventions, offers an example of this gap. Between 2014–2015 …

"Mining" may be most frequently used in the crypto industry to refer to the process by which digital currencies are collectively generated — but there are contexts in which firms are adopting blockchain infrastructure to manage the most physical of mining supply chains. The Russian company Norilsk Nickel — the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel and a large producer of platinum and copper — has joined an initiative called the Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network, according to an announcement published on Jan. 14. The Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network, or RSBN, is the outcome of an initiative by the …

The coronavirus pandemic created exceedingly challenging trading conditions for businesses in 2020 — putting global trade under immeasurable strain. But one company says blockchain technology has helped alleviate the challenges of COVID-19 by allowing enterprises to modernize and digitize their supply chains. Sustainability has become one of the most important buzzwords of the decade. Now more than ever, customers are looking for brands to prove they are environmentally friendly — and want greater levels of information about the products they buy. Over the past year, GoChain entered into a series of high-profile partnerships that enabled manufacturers to put traceability at …