Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Bitcoin Mining Might Prevent China From Reaching Environmental Goals

Bitcoin Mining Might Prevent China From Reaching Environmental Goals

Bitcoin has been recently criticised for its carbon footprint due to the cryptocurrency’s high energy consumption, with even Bill Gates weighing in on the matter, calling it “not like a great climate thing."

If China’s Bitcoin industry continues to operate in the face of minimal policy intervention, it's expected to generate over 130 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2024, which would threaten China’s greenhouse emission reduction target, an analysis by a team led by Guan Dabo at Beijing's Tsinghua University suggests. The researchers say that the estimated emission output would put Bitcoin in the top 10 C02 polluters among 182 Chinese prefecture-level cities and 42 major industrial sectors.

Launched in early 2009, Bitcoin is the biggest cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalisation and the amount of data stored on its blockchain.

With the price of one Bitcoin now floating just below $60,000, mining the cryptocurrency is a profitable activity. The process relies on computers racing to solve a mathematical problem for each transaction – whichever solves it first and verifies the transaction creates a new coin. The supply of coins for mining is limited to 21 million – 18 million bitcoins had been mined as of February 2021.

Solving these equations is becoming more competitive and difficult as a growing number of people and computers laden with rapidly advancing tech try to crack them around the world.

The majority of mining is done in China, according to the study – miners in the country account for more than 75 percent of the Bitcoin network’s computational power as of April 2020 due to the proximity to manufacturers of specialised hardware and access to cheap electricity.

Due to the evolution of mining hardware and mining "farms," more and more electricity is being used by Bitcoin.

Previous studies suggested that the Bitcoin blockchain could consume as much energy per year as a small or even medium-sized country such as Denmark, Ireland, or Bangladesh.

The analysis, which was published in Nature, shows that if the annual energy consumption of the Bitcoin industry in China continues on its current trajectory under minimal policy intervention, it will peak in 2024 at 296.59 terawatt-hours of energy, which would exceed 2016's energy consumption levels of nations such as Italy or Saudi Arabia.

The analysis also includes several other projections, such as a scenario when the carbon tax is doubled, which decreases the amount of energy consumed by Bitcoin to 217.37 terawatt-hours.

There is also a market access scenario where profitable miners with low efficiency are banned from entering the Chinese market, plus a site regulation scenario, where miners in areas where electricity is coal-based are persuaded to relocate to areas with hydro-based energy.

Both of those scenarios indicate that the total energy consumption of the Bitcoin industry will reach 350.11 terawatt-hours and 319.80 terawatt-hours, respectively, in 2024 and 2025.

Emissions would grow correspondingly, according to the analysis, with the carbon footprint of the Bitcoin industry reaching 130.50 million metric tonnes per year in 2024 as per the “benchmark“ scenario.

The study suggests that without any policy interventions, Bitcoin carbon emissions would become a “non-negligible” barrier against China’s sustainability efforts, with the peak annual energy consumption and carbon emission of the Bitcoin operation in the country exceeding those of nations including Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, or the Czech Republic.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has set an environmental goal for the country’s economy, announcing that China wILL become carbon-neutral by 2060. China has been reducing its carbon footprint for years now, with policies that support hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. China is also the biggest electric vehicle market in the world.

However, last month, a study by the British research group Ember found that China accounted for 53 percent of coal-powered electricity worldwide, which made it the only G20 member to record a substantial increase in coal generation last year.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×