Bitcoin emissions alone could push global warming above 2°C
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Matters Arising to this article was published on 28 August 2019
Matters Arising to this article was published on 28 August 2019
Matters Arising to this article was published on 28 August 2019
A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 14 November 2018
Bitcoin is a power-hungry cryptocurrency that is increasingly used as an investment and payment system. Here we show that projected Bitcoin usage, should it follow the rate of adoption of other broadly adopted technologies, could alone produce enough CO2 emissions to push warming above 2 °C within less than three decades.
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Data availability
The authors declare that all data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article, its Supplementary Information files and at https://github.com/moracamilo/Bitcoin/.
Code availability
Raw code used for this study are publicly available online at https://github.com/moracamilo/Bitcoin/.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the numerous data providers named in the supplements of this paper for making their data freely available. We also thank SeaGrant Hawaii for providing funds to acquire the computers used in these analyses. This paper was developed as part of the graduate course on ‘Methods for Large-Scale Analyses’ in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.
Author information
Affiliations
Department of Geography and Environment, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Camilo Mora, Katie Taladay & Erik C. Franklin
Department of Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Randi L. Rollins
Pacific Biosciences Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Randi L. Rollins
Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Science, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Michael B. Kantar
Department of Botany, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Mason K. Chock & Mio Shimada
Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Kāne‘ohe, HI, USA
Erik C. Franklin
Corresponding author
Correspondence to Camilo Mora.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
, Supplementary Figures 1-2, Supplementary Tables 1 – 4
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Mora, C., Rollins, R.L., Taladay, K. et al. Bitcoin emissions alone could push global warming above 2°C. Nature Clim Change 8, 931–933 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0321-8
Published29 October 2018
Issue DateNovember 2018
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