Cryptocarbon

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Discussion

Pete Howson:

“ There were these fundamental problems with REDD+ projects that blockchain people claim to be fixing, but actually they’re just creating new problems or even making the original problems worse. So these are: leakage, additionality, permanence, and measurement. Leakage refers to the fact that while deforestation might be avoided in one place, the root causes of deforestation aren’t tackled, so the problem is just moved to another area of forest or a different country. Additionality refers to the impossibility of predicting what might have happened in the absence of the REDD+ project. Permanence refers to the fact that carbon stored in trees is only temporarily stored. All trees eventually die and release the carbon back to the atmosphere. And measurement refers to the fact that accurately measuring the amount of carbon stored in forests and forest soils is extremely complex — and prone to significant errors. These problems have always beset climate offset projects. And these cryptocarbon initiatives have not only failed to overcome them, they actually make it worse. Because of the “garbage in—garbage out” dilemma, the data that’s understood as infallible on a blockchain is just as trustworthy/untrustworthy as data stored on any other database, and its usually all highly flawed, designed to max the profits of the seller. Communities are rewarded in a cryptocurrency, which is effectively worthless to them. They can’t normally spend it in shops or convert it to anything more useful. And when they can spend it, these tokens are programmed so they can only be spent on things the donor wants it to be spent on – what I call “surveillance philanthropy.” And a lot of these cryptocarbon projects rely on Proof of Work blockchains, like Ethereum. These blockchains have a combined carbon footprint equivalent to medium-sized countries, emitting around 150Mt CO2 every year. How is that a climate fix?”

(https://the-crypto-syllabus.com/pete-howson-on-cryptocarbon/ )