By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – London listed Argo Blockchain today announced it has signed the Crypto Climate Accord (CCA) in partnership with DMG Blockchain Solutions to promote the decarbonisation of the cryptocurrency industry.
Clean crypto
The two companies have been working with the CCA in recent week to ensure the objectives promote meaningful impact in reducing emissions for the cryptocurrency industry.
The companies will develop a working group to more clearly outline the accord’s aims while deploying new technologies that increase the transparency of the renewable energy sourcing of cryptocurrency mining.
The CCA is a private sector-led initiative with 40 signatories, including 20 prominent cryptocurrency companies and has outlined two objectives as part of its efforts to decarbonise.
- Achieve net-zero emissions from electricity consumption for CCA Signatories by 2030.
- Develop standards, tools, and technologies with CCA Supporters to accelerate the adoption of and verification of progress towards 100% renewably powered blockchains by the 2025 UNFCCC COP30 conference.
“As more data continues to surface regarding Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining's impact on the environment, it's imperative that the industry takes real, tangible action,” said Argo Blockchain (LON:ARB) CEO Peter Wall. “The Crypto Climate Accord helps lay the groundwork for that action and we are both eager and determined to ensure that Supporters and Signatories remain committed to the group's goals.”
Crypto at a crossroads?
The announcement comes while the cryptocurrency industry appears to be at a crossroads.
Late on Wednesday, Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the electric car manufacturer was going to stop accepting Bitcoin as a payment for its vehicles, citing environmental concerns.
The news sent the price of the cryptocurrency lower by over 10% and other major cryptocurrencies followed suit.
However, Musk didn’t completely close the door on the technology and stated that he still strongly believes in crypto.
On Thursday night, the self-appointed Technoking said he was working with Dogecoin developers to improve transaction efficiency.
The question is now whether Musk’s interventions will slow the adoption of digital assets among major firms.
ESG investing is becoming more and more important for asset management companies and anything that is seen to needlessly damage the environment will likely be of concern when these money managers decide where to allocate their capital.
Others argue that cryptocurrencies replacing other “stores of value” will actually benefit society and the environment.
“We know that replacing gold as a store of value will help the environment,” said Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban.
At 09:52BST, shares in Argo Blockchain were trading higher by 13.1% at 152.77 pence per share.