The European Union released a package of documents related to an action plan for implementing the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU Plan, both of which aim at energy savings by digitalizing the energy sector.
The REPowerEU Plan was announced in May as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has had a profound impact on European energy supplies. The Russian crisis was an opportunity for fast forwarding the clean transition, the European Commission said.
The authors of the document cited an undated document written by the European Blockchain Observatory and Forum (EUBOF) think tank, which included “potential policy options that could be warranted to mitigate adverse impacts on the climate of technologies used in the crypto-asset market.” That document will be critical to a report on the environmental impact of crypto assets to come in 2025.
The paper also stated that investors need better information about the energy use of cryptocurrencies and, echoing the EUBOF document, that the EU should take the lead in creating international blockchain label standards.
The “Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions” said energy use for crypto mining has doubled in the last two years. It noted that the proposed Markets in Crypto Assets legislation would require crypto-asset market actors to make environmental disclosures.
