Policy assessments for the carbon emission flows and sustainability of Bitcoin blockchain operation in China

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-22256-3

	Policy assessments for the carbon emission flows and sustainability of Bitcoin blockchain operation in China
	Jiang, Shangrong 7; Li, Yuze 6,7; Lu, Quanying 6; Hong, Yongmiao 4,5,6; Guan, Dabo 3; Xiong, Yu 1,2; Wang, Shouyang 1,6,7
刊名	NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
	2021-04-06
卷号	12 期号:1 页码:10
ISSN号	2041-1723
DOI	10.1038/s41467-021-22256-3
英文摘要	The growing energy consumption and associated carbon emission of Bitcoin mining could potentially undermine global sustainable efforts. By investigating carbon emission flows of Bitcoin blockchain operation in China with a simulation-based Bitcoin blockchain carbon emission model, we find that without any policy interventions, the annual energy consumption of the Bitcoin blockchain in China is expected to peak in 2024 at 296.59 Twh and generate 130.50 million metric tons of carbon emission correspondingly. Internationally, this emission output would exceed the total annualized greenhouse gas emission output of the Czech Republic and Qatar. Domestically, it ranks in the top 10 among 182 cities and 42 industrial sectors in China. In this work, we show that moving away from the current punitive carbon tax policy to a site regulation policy which induces changes in the energy consumption structure of the mining activities is more effective in limiting carbon emission of Bitcoin blockchain operation. The growing energy consumption and carbon emissions of Bitcoin mining could potentially undermine global sustainability efforts. Here, the authors show the annual energy consumption of the Bitcoin blockchain in China is expected to peak in 2024 at 296.59 Twh and generate 130.50 million metric tons of carbon emissions.
资助项目	National Natural Science Foundation of China[71988101] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[72022019]
WOS研究方向	Science & Technology - Other Topics
语种	英语
出版者	NATURE RESEARCH
WOS记录号	WOS:000661132300001
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.amss.ac.cn/handle/2S8OKBNM/58827]
专题	中国科学院数学与系统科学研究院
通讯作者	Guan, Dabo; Wang, Shouyang
作者单位	1.Chinese Acad Sci, Ctr Forecasting Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China 2.Univ Surrey, Surrey Business Sch, Guildford, Surrey, England 3.Tsinghua Univ, Dept Earth Syst Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China 4.Cornell Univ, Dept Stat Sci, Ithaca, NY USA 5.Cornell Univ, Dept Econ, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA 6.Chinese Acad Sci, Acad Math & Syst Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China 7.Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Sch Econ & Management, Beijing, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Jiang, Shangrong,Li, Yuze,Lu, Quanying,et al. Policy assessments for the carbon emission flows and sustainability of Bitcoin blockchain operation in China[J]. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS,2021,12(1):10.
APA	Jiang, Shangrong.,Li, Yuze.,Lu, Quanying.,Hong, Yongmiao.,Guan, Dabo.,...&Wang, Shouyang.(2021).Policy assessments for the carbon emission flows and sustainability of Bitcoin blockchain operation in China.NATURE COMMUNICATIONS,12(1),10.
MLA	Jiang, Shangrong,et al."Policy assessments for the carbon emission flows and sustainability of Bitcoin blockchain operation in China".NATURE COMMUNICATIONS 12.1(2021):10.