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KPMG Unveils Blockchain-Based Climate Accounting Tool To Help Drive Environmental Sustainability

Multinational professional services firm and one of the Big four auditing firms, KPMG is set to offer a blockchain-based tool dubbed the Climate Accounting Infrastructure (CAI) to help organizations more accurately measure, mitigate, report, and offset their greenhouse gas emissions.

Per the official KPMG announcement, the patent-pending Climate Accounting Infrastructure will be able to analyze climate risks associated with asset valuations and help organizations better assess and employ systems to offset their emissions.

The CAI as noted by the company will come in handy in helping organizations to meet their sustainability practice goals alongside helping them in the much-anticipated reporting of the sustainability practices each firm is expected to demonstrate in alignment with the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) demands of capital markets investors.

The capability will use blockchain to securely store environmental data in a financial system as part of organizations’ climate risk assessments and asset valuations, including as part of their real estate portfolios. The capability will thus present a trusted and transparent system to measure, account for, and report on emissions data.

Arun Ghosh, KPMG’s US Blockchain leader said in a statement:”As investors broaden their focus beyond financial factors to include ESG practices, organizations are increasing efforts to reducing carbon footprints, alongside transparent disclosure of progress. Trusted reporting capabilities, such as those enabled by Climate Accounting Infrastructure, will be critical to meet stakeholder expectations and to comply with emerging regulations.”

KPMG has been very prominent in rolling out blockchain-based innovations for more functional enterprise integration. Besides announcing the launch of its patent-pending crypto analytics platform to streamline crypto-related services for financial services and FinTech companies back in June, the company currently has in operation a blockchain-enabled track and trace platform dubbed KPMG Origins in Australia, China, and Japan. The track and trace blockchain infrastructure find strong use in the supply chain industry to enhance global trade.

New Wave of Green Energy Programs Influence Crypto Mining Sector

Since the mass exodus of crypto mining operations out of China based on intensified crackdowns has triggered the urge for sustainable and environmentally friendly mining activities.

This is founded on ongoing projects by Bit Digital, Bitfarms, Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain Inc., and EV Battery Technologies.

With 27,744 crypto miners under its watch, The U.S.-based Bitcoin mining company is eyeing zero-carbon emission sources in its mining system.

On the other hand, EV Battery Technologies, a blockchain and battery tech company, recently launched a commercial emission-free crypto mining solution dubbed Daymak Solar Tree. Furthermore, it collaborated with the Renewable Obligation Base energy economy for environmentally friendly initiatives in cryptocurrency mining.

Riot Blockchain Inc., another large-scale American Bitcoin mining company, also joined a controllable load resource program by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator, to make mining sustainable.

In Central America, El Salvador’s decision to use volcano power to mine Bitcoin (BTC) was propelling the leading cryptocurrency’s quest to accelerate renewable energy development.

This move showcased that Bitcoin can act as an accelerant to renewable energy development. Geothermal energy is renewable, clean, and in some places, it makes use of a previously untapped resource.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin miners have been able to dust themselves off from the Chinese government’s suppression because the hashrate recently reached historic highs.

This has been made possible because the miners relocated to other areas like the United States, Kazakhstan, and Iraq.

Therefore, American miners have emerged among the largest beneficiaries, given that US-based pool Foundry recently generated the biggest share of issued Bitcoin.

With clean energy programs being rolled out, this approach enhances the narrative of making crypto mining green.

Climate Activists, Billionaire Launch Campaign to Tackle Bitcoin's Impact on Environment

Bitcoin’s impact on the environment is about to face the limelight as several climate activist organizations such as Greenpeace and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen are launching a campaign to tackle its power usage system, Bloomberg reported.

The campaign titled “Change the Code, Not the Climate” is trying to push the Bitcoin society to change the way it orders transactions. According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin transactions consume as much power as Sweden.

Larsen said in an interview that Bitcoin might consume as much power as Japan in five years’ time.

Over the next months, the campaign will purchase advertisements in leading publications. Bloomberg said that Greenpeace, Environmental Working Group and some local activist groups have begun working on grassroots efforts to battle Bitcoin miners.

According to the person in charge of the campaign – Michael Brune, the team has already reached several key people and corporations. Some of them have pledged Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliance, even though they are involved in Bitcoin.

“We are in this campaign for the long haul, but we are hoping – particularly since Bitcoin is now being financed by entities and individuals who care about climate change – that we can compel leadership to agree that this is a problem that needs to be addressed,” said Brune. “Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, PayPal, Venmo, Fidelity – there are lots of companies we anticipate will be helpful to this effort.”

The campaign also said that a supporting cause is increasing frustration in some communities in the U.S. that have found themselves hosting Bitcoin miners and dealing with issues such as excessive noise.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s rival, Ethereum, is working on a software overhaul to become more environmentally friendly. Currently, it is using giant server farms to order transactions via a process called Proof of Work (PoW), similar to Bitcoin. However, Ethereum’s software overhaul could see a switch to Proof of Stake (PoS), which is projected by some to cut its energy consumption by 99%, Bloomberg reported.

“Now, with Ethereum changing, Bitcoin really is the outlier,” Larsen said. “Some of the newer protocols – Solana, Cardano – are built on low energy.”

Larsen claims to have put in $5 million to fund the campaign as he feels that Bitcoin will not continue to enjoy investors’ support unless it changes. “I want to see Bitcoin and Ethereum succeed,” said Larsen, who owns some Bitcoin and Ether and XRP.

Bitcoin’s impact on the environment was highlighted last year after Elon Musk announced that Tesla Inc. would resume taking Bitcoin only after at least 50% of the mining relies on renewable energy.

According to Larson, Bitcoin’s energy consumption problem could be solved through a soft or a hard fork – both changing the network’s code to make Bitcoin less power-hungry.

A soft fork would preserve Bitcoin as a single blockchain. A hard fork would split Bitcoin into two separate networks, one supporting miners and the other running different code – perhaps PoS.

Bloomberg reported that the campaign believes that about 50 key miners, crypto exchanges and core developers have the power to change Bitcoin’s code.

TRST01 Partners with Blockchain Protocol Rubix to Create Green Economy

Blockchain technology company TRST01 (Trust O One) has established a cooperation with the blockchain protocol Rubix to provide a Web3 green blockchain technology platform focusing on the field of climate and environment to governments, organizations, and citizens, creating a green and zero-carbon emission future.

Two parties will use their professional blockchain knowledge to synthesize more private sector resources by working with the government and other departments to capture original information. They will use decentralized and peer-to-peer (P2P) Web3 technology to identify these resources and create a sustainable green economy.

KC Reddy, chief architect and founder of Rubix, said adopting a unified approach to digitizing climate action will be a major obstacle to future implementation.

Reddy said:

“Enterprises and their stakeholders need to have a comprehensive and holistic system to capture, track, inform, and validate information,” said Reddy, adding that “this will drive transparent business decision-making, which will improve organizational agility and accelerate climate actions. These next-generation efforts to digitize climate actions must be based on Web3 technologies.”

As climate change is considered a desperate problem in modern times, blockchain technology promises to be a stepping stone to economic complexity and interoperability in the transition to renewable energy.

In 2020, a Multinational professional service firm and one of the Big four auditing firms, KPMG, offered a blockchain-based tool dubbed the Climate Accounting Infrastructure (CAI) to help organizations measure, mitigate, and report more accurately and offset their greenhouse gas emissions.