Issue #002: All Time Highs
Dear subscriber,
Welcome to The Bitcoin ESG Forecast #002.
My last letter outlined evidence of a narrative shift the ESG case for Bitcoin. This week sees three new metrics measuring how Bitcoin is inching closer to institutional investor acceptance, particularly among the world's 23Trillion of ESG funds.
There’s also a surprising narrative shift that just came in (in “New and Breaking”)
Analysis Breakdown
New All Time High #1 - Methane Mitigation
What it is: The amount of emissions that the Bitcoin network offsets by destroying methane that would otherwise have gone into the atmosphere.
Why it matters: The recent COP28 has been all about methane mitigation. Bitcoin Mining is uniquely poised to mitigate that methane profitably.
In four years, and without subsidies or purchase of offsets, Bitcoin mining is now offsetting 1 in every 13 tonne of emissions though methane mitigation.
This includes Bitcoin miners like Vespene who use landfill gas that would have gone into the air, and they send it to a generator to power bitcoin mining.
New All Time High #2 - sustainable-energy based mining
48 Bitcoin mining companies, 61.5% of all known miners use sustainable energy. Of these, almost 18% of all known miners are using stranded methane that would otherwise have become airborne and contributed to climate change.
Why this matters: Mining companies are often accused of mainly using fossil fuels. However, the data does not support this. To our knowledge, there is no other industry where such a high percentage of operators use almost exclusively sustainable energy.
New All Time High #3 - off-grid mining hits 29.8%
What this means: Unlike most industries, Bitcoin miners aren’t tied to the grid. They can get power from anyone who has energy. The energy could come from a hydro-operator, a wind farm, a solar farm, even a landfill. It could also be off-grid fossil fuel.
Why miners go off-grid: Cheap power.
Where does cheap power come from? Usually its sustainable energy (75.3% of the off-grid Bitcoin mining uses sustainable energy). This shouldn't surprise anyone: the cost of sustainable energy has come down significantly in the last 15 years.
Like other industries, Bitcoin miners are profit-driven. Unlike other industries, the profit motive causes them to hunt cheap, often stranded, power (usually sustainable).
Bitcoin mining is a feel-good example about how economic incentive and ecological imperative are increasingly overlapping.
Note: Cambridge’s modeling does not include offgrid mining, which is one of the reasons it has historically understated sustainable-energy based Bitcoin mining.
Talking to non-Bitcoiners about how BTC can be ESG
My podcast with Trey Walsh just landed this morning. We decided to do something different and cover “How to talk to those new to Bitcoin about its environmental value?” So this should be a valuable resource.
*The ideas come from my book “How to Change the World With One Pitch”
New and breaking stories
The Financial Times recently interviewed me. They just wrote “Beyond COP28: A fresh look at bitcoin’s ESG credentials”, a significant shift in their reporting.
This month I also wrote a couple of articles for Bitcoin Magazine:
Why The New ESG Narrative About Bitcoin Will Power The Next Bull Run
How Bitcoin Improves Water Abundance in Water Scarce Nations
Housekeeping Notes
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These stories make a difference when they get shared. For that I need your help. This forecast is designed for you to share with people new to Bitcoin’s environmental merits. By forwarding this forecast, you’re making a difference.