Greenpeace has called for Wall Street accountability in a new report, highlighting the excessive energy use in Bitcoin mining. The report, filed in 2024, reveals that Bitcoin mining consumed around 121 TWh of electricity in 2023, akin to the entire gold mining industry or a country like Poland.
Bitcoin mining is now dominated by traditional financial companies, relying heavily on capital from banks, asset managers, and insurers. Top financiers like Trinity Capital and BlackRock contributed to over 1.7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2022, equivalent to the electricity use of 335,000 American homes.
The report emphasizes Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism as a major energy drain, stressing the need for miners to disclose energy data. Greenpeace argues that financial institutions should be transparent about environmental incentives to mitigate Bitcoin’s environmental impact.
Long-term, this transparency is crucial for addressing Bitcoin’s significant environmental footprint and aligning with global climate targets.
