Consensys, an Ethereum-focused firm, says the successful Merge for Ethereum has reduced its carbon footprint by 99.99% – higher than initially anticipated.
Last week, the Merge completed where Ethereum migrated from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) thus eliminating the high utilization of computing power to mint and manage new ETH. Consensys states that this transforms Ethereum “into an almost net-zero technology positioned for sustainable future growth, reducing overnight its carbon footprint by over 99.99%.”
Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys and co-founder of Ethereum, stated:
“We’re delighted to have commissioned this report from CCRI, which substantiates the Ethereum Merge’s impact as likely the biggest decarbonization effort of any industry in history. Having removed the high carbon footprint as one of the biggest barriers to future growth, Ethereum is now primed for further waves of interest, development, adoption, and investment, as The Merge enables Ethereum to become internet scale IT infrastructure for low carbon projects around the globe.”
CCRI or the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute, is a company providing data on sustainability aspects of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and more.
Consensys believes the transition paves the way for adopting Ethereum-based applications by individuals and entitites who may have been otherwise deterred by the high carbon footprint. Ethereum’s challenges have helped to create a battalion of competitors that aim to address the weak-points of Ethereum – like PoW.
The Ethereum Foundation had originally anticipated the energy reduction from the Merge would have been 99.95% so an incremental but meaningful improvement.