Argo Blockchain, the cryptocurrency mining company, has become “climate positive” for Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions.
It has been reported that a global advocacy group for environmental sustainability, Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from a company’s owned or controlled sources; Scope 2 covers indirect emissions through the purchase of electricity, and Scope 3 includes all other indirect forms of emission that occur in a company’s value chain.
However, Argo intends to become carbon neutral and plans to go even further “by mitigating emissions through the support of projects outside of Argo,” the company said. As part of its Climate Positive Strategy, Argo became a signatory to the Crypto Climate Accord and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A spokesperson for Argo said that the company monitors its emissions and then takes various steps to mitigate them. This includes purchasing additional verified emission reductions, or VERs, for its forestry project in Tennessee and energy efficiency project in China. The company has purchased over 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent VERs for these and other projects.
The spokesperson added:
“Argo is in the process of developing its Helios site in West Texas, planned to commence operation in 2022. It will include 200 MW of electricity consumption coming mostly from renewable power.”
The report said that offsetting the cryptocurrency industry’s carbon footprint has become top of mind for businesses and other stakeholders after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his company would no longer accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments due to environmental concerns. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor later convened an industry group called the Bitcoin Mining Council to address sustainability concerns when it comes to mining.
Proponents of Bitcoin claim that the digital currency accounts for a tiny fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, and a level that is negligible compared with the broader financial system. They also claim that Bitcoin miners increasingly utilize sustainable technologies in their operations.
Thus, the rise of ESG-conscious investing, an acronym for environmental, social, and governance practices, means that Bitcoin miners are facing a greater sense of urgency to demonstrate their green mining capacity.
Source: Cointelegraph