We, the undersigned, would like to congratulate the teams responsible for successfully accomplishing Ethereum's transition to “proof-of-stake” today!
This change (also known as “The Merge”) will end the use of energy-intensive, warehouse scale, computer equipment that has been used up until now to secure Ethereum's blockchain transactions.
This transition will reduce the energy consumption of the Ethereum blockchain by an estimated 99.95%.
The “Merge” is the successful merging of two separate blockchains, one that is energy intensive by design and another is energy efficient by design in order to switch the existing Ethereum blockchain to the more efficient option.
This achievement is arguably one of the most significant reductions of energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions from any large industry in modern history.
Annual electricity use associated with the Ethereum blockchain is approximately 112 TWh/yr. The most conservative (highest) estimates of the greenhouse gases associated with one year of the Ethereum blockchain are approximately 53 million tons per year. This transition is similar to removing the emissions of the country of Switzerland annually and in perpetuity.
We applaud this historical achievement, as well as the community-led efforts already underway to use web3 tools and applications built on Ethereum and other energy efficient blockchains to go well beyond mitigating historic emissions and to become globally available open source infrastructure that underpins the verifiability and transparency essential to address the climate crisis.
We are hopeful that many organisations interested in the real world use cases of web3 technology who have hesitated to explore what is possible will now take a second look.
Together we can all play a role in charting a path forward for the responsible use of this innovative technology as a valuable tool and know that you are supporting energy efficient blockchain technology in the process.
I am joining the international effort to go beyond offsetting and mitigating Ethereum’s historical carbon footprint and explore strategies for regenerative, net positive climate solutions.
**Sincerely,
Sign here.**
Gitcoin * BICOWG * Klima * Regen Network * LOA Labs * Celo * disCarbon * Helios * Guardians of Earth * (add your organization)
About: ETH 4 Climate is a coalition of individuals and organizations integrating carbon credits and other environmental assets from a variety of sources into a comprehensive climate-positive strategy for Ethereum, supporting multiple credit types from a variety of reputable registries and sourced from multiple providers.
1* https://blog.ethereum.org/2021/05/18/country-power-no-more