Greenpeace is leading a campaign calling on Bitcoin to abandon Proof-of-work (PoW) and move to a more environmentally friendly consensus mechanism.
The "Let's change the Code, don't change the Climate" campaign argues that changing their software code will reduce the energy the coin uses by 99.9%: "Switching to a low-energy protocol has proven to be efficient and uses a fraction of the energy. Ethereum is changing to PoS. Many other coins also use less energy. Why doesn't Bitcoin do that?"
The campaign's official website describes PoW as an outdated technology that is a huge cause of environmental pollution. They also warn that the blockchain platform energy used by Bitcoin will only increase as the price rises.
They also asserted that just 30 people agreed to the move to another low-energy protocol. In particular, "miners, exchanges and core developers who build and contribute to Bitcoin's code" have the power to stop harming the environment.
The movement says that well-known Bitcoin users such as Tesla's Elon Musk and Block's Jack Dorsey — along with the moguls of BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and PayPal — "have a responsibility to help clean up" Bitcoin." They added, "We know who has an impact on the cryptocurrency community, from the big tech companies to the big banks."
"Bitcoin will have a devastating impact on the climate."
It is difficult to accurately measure the impact of Bitcoin Mining on the environment. But the campaign cites data from the University of Cambridge and points out that the blockchain platform already uses more energy than Sweden. "Unless their prices are no longer related to energy use, Bitcoin will have a devastating impact on the climate."
The campaign also points out that many operators have begun buying U.S. coal plants to grow their operations. "Let's change the Code, don't change the climate" accusing Bitcoin of "reviving fossil fuels" and that they alone could be responsible for warming the planet by 2 degrees Celsius.
It is worth noting that the prospects of the end of the world for bitcoin's energy expenditure have been raised before. In 2017, the World Economic Forum forecasts that by 2020, "bitcoin mining could consume the same amount of electricity that the whole world is consuming every year." However, this forecast did not materialize.
The campaign recognizes that it is making too big a demand and that many key parties will not be willing to respond to them: "We know that bitcoin stakeholders are encouraged not to change. Changing Bitcoin would render the entire expensive infrastructure worthless. This means that bitcoin stakeholders will need to move away from sunk costs – or find another innovative solution."
Ether's blockchain platform is currently in the process of transitioning to the Proof-Of-Stake (Proof-of-Stake) consensus mechanism – an ambitious and risky project that has been in the works for years.
PoS will make the miners redundant. Instead, those who have placed in ETH to run their own Nodes will be responsible for authenticating transactions – and they will receive rewards for doing so.
Critics of the PoS consensus mechanism say they create a greater level of focus – meaning that block rewards will be dominated by the holders of the most tokens.
