The Dodo Newsletter #5
Why bitcoin is bad for the environment, measuring working from home emissions, and turning cow burps into carbon credits.
Dodo is a platform that allows companies to become carbon neutral in just a few minutes. Each month, we round up all the latest news on climate change and the innovative solutions helping to solve the problem. If you want to receive the newsletter in your inbox each month, you can subscribe through the button below.
₿ Why bitcoin is bad for the environment
Elon musk made headlines by announcing that Tesla will accept bitcoin as payment, to then swiftly retract this proposal due to environmental concerns. The environmental impact of mining bitcoin is huge (the same size as the annual domestic electricity consumption of Sweden) due to the energy used in its production. Moreover, a single bitcoin transaction uses the same amount of power as the average American household uses in a month. You can read more about the impact here.
🐮 Turning cow burps into carbon credits
While much of the climate agenda has focused on CO2, Methane has over 80 times the warming power making it a potent greenhouse gas. This startup has created a plant based supplement that reduces methane from cow burps by 30%. With one cow emitting as much greenhouse gases as six Volkswagen Golfs, this looks like a simple way to make an impact. You can read more here.
💰 The average UK pension finances 23 tonnes of CO2 per person
With the rise of ESG investing, more consumers are wanting to ensure their savings aren’t contributing to their environmental impact. Over 44% of people would switch to a green pension if they could and this article outlines some of the options available. You can read more here.
🇩🇪 German court orders government to do more on climate change
In a unique case, several climate activists argued that the German government had failed in their duties by providing insufficient targets to reduce its emissions. With Germany’s supreme court ruling in their favour, this could open more cases in other countries that are falling behind in their climate goals. You can read more here.
🛢️ End new oil, gas and coal funding to reach net zero
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said that investors need to end all fossil fuel funding in order to reach net zero by 2050. The IEA underpins most governments and company policies so it’s a significant statement by the agency. To achieve net zero, they have advised that investment in fossil fuels supply should fall by $400b in 2050. You can read more here.
🏠 WFH can increase emissions
Surprisingly, recent research has shown that if a person was to work from home year-round it would increase emissions by up to 80% to over 2.5 tonnes per year. However this is dependent on some important factors which we break down in our latest article. This month, we were also featured in Business Live where we talked through the challenges that SMEs face on their sustainability journey.
We want to make it easy to become carbon neutral. If you want to hear more, you can email us any time at hello@dodo.eco.