Twitter-adjacent payments company will fund cleaner Bitcoin mining methods.
Key Takeaways
- Square says that it will rely on clean energy rather than fossil fuels to reduce Bitcoin-related carbon emissions.
- Under the Bitcoin Clean Energy Investment Initiative, the company is allocating $10 million to support clean-energy Bitcoin mining.
- Bitcoin mining is famously energy-intensive.
Square, a payments company led by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, intends to become carbon neutral according to a new press release.
Carbon Neutral by 2030
According to cryptobriefing.com, Square announced on Dec. 8 that it intends to achieve net zero carbon for its operations by 2030. The company aims to rely on clean energy rather than fossil fuels for its operations.
To achieve its goal, the company has also launched the Bitcoin Clean Energy Investment Initiative, which will support companies working on green energy technologies throughout the Bitcoin supply chain.
Bitcoin’s mining process notoriously consumes large amounts of energy. The cryptocurrency’s annual energy consumption currently stands at 77 TWh, according to Digiconomist—an amount greater than some countries. Furthermore, a significant amount of energy used in Bitcoin mining is derived from fossil fuels like coal.
Finding a Solution
All of this is a cause of concern for companies like Square. The firm buys billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin on behalf of Cash App customers each quarter, which means that the company indirectly contributes to carbon dioxide emissions. As such, investing in clean sources of energy is a sensible strategy.
However, finding clean and renewable energy resources with constant availability is a challenge. Though Square will not eliminate carbon emissions for all Bitcoin that it processes, its strategy aims to improve the overall environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.
This approach could help Square balance both of its missions: reducing its carbon footprint and simultaneously buying the most energy-intensive asset on the planet.
