The Good-The Bad-The In Between: 2021 was a particularly dirty year in Cryptomining, 200+ Countries Now Onboard Fight Against Plastic, & more

Edition 21

Mar 04, 2022

Hi there!

Welcome to another edition of Living In A Greenhouse!

What’s going on in Ukraine is ridiculous. War under false pretexts is apparently too passé now. My thoughts are with everyone affected and caught in this needless turmoil. I cannot possibly have any more faith in how drastically different the convictions of leaders of nations are, from the people of said nations.

Before we get into this week’s edition, a new IPCC report is out. The 2nd working group released their findings on Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities earlier this week. For those interested, here is an in-depth Q&A on the report by Carbon Brief. There’s a lot to take in. (PSA: They don’t mess about when they say in-depth)

Alternatively, here’s a 12-minute explainer video from one of my favourite Climate Creators, breaking down the findings of the report.

And now, on to this week’s edition.

Mar. 4: Weekly Meter

The Good

1. 200 countries agree to discuss treaty that takes on global plastic pollution

Without action, the annual flow of plastic into the ocean will nearly triple by 2040, to 29 million metric tons per year (range: 23 million-37 million metric tons per year), equivalent to 50 kg of plastic per metre of coastline worldwide.

This is an extract from the 2020 report on plastic waste by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Earlier this week, nearly 200 countries agreed to negotiate a legally binding UN treaty to cover the entire plastic value chain.

Efforts to limit plastic pollution have historically attempted to limit downstream plastic waste and improve recycling infrastructure, without addressing production of single-use plastics. Inclusion of the entire plastic value chain is significant.

Interestingly, the consumer goods industry which includes some of the largest users of plastic like Unilever, Nestle, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, recommended that the treaty cover the entire lifecycle of plastics. This extended coverage is likely to bring down the price of recycled materials utilised in product packaging.

Despite the agreement to the resolution, we will not see the treaty in action until the end of 2024 when the UN Environment Programme will bring together a negotiating committee to finalise the treaty.

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At least, we aren’t blind to the issue of plastic pollution any more.

2. US Offshore wind auctions break records

Six lease areas in the federal waters off New York and New Jersey. 488,000 acres. 7,000 MW of offshore wind.

The total of the winning bids amounted to $4.37 billion (or $8,950 per acre).

That’s exponentially higher than the previous record for offshore wind leases - $405 million for 390,000 acres back in 2018 for four lease areas off Massachusetts ($1,040 per acre).

At the risk of overemphasising the significance of the leases, here’s what the record for winning bids for oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico looked like - $191 million for 1.7 million acres. This was just last year.

The proximity to high load centres on the East Coast is expected to have been a reason for the high auction prices. All but one of the six winners are based in Europe or entered a bid in consortium with European partners. The list also included two European oil companies, Shell and TotalEnergies - consistent with the larger trend of Europe shifting quickly towards renewables.

Now, onto the usually long-drawn stage of acquiring permits, project financing, and begin construction in the next couple of years.

Despite regulations lagging market interest in offshore wind, momentum is strong in the transition away from fossil fuels.

The Bad

1. Cryptomining got ‘dirtier’ in 2021. Some of us are familiar with how cryptomining uses more energy than countries. So much so that it sometimes reminds me of Goku powering up for his spirit bomb.

There’s more bad news on the subject of energy consumption and cryptomining. The Bitcoin network’s use of renewable energy sources like and, solar, or hydropower dropped to 25% in 2021 from 42% in 2020.

Causation isn’t correlation, but China banned Bitcoin last year. This resulted in a mass exodus of ‘miners’ to every other country in the world.

A likely explanation is that the Bitcoin miners lost access to hydropower. Having to setup shop in countries like Kazakhstan and the United States, cryptomining is powered by coal and natural gas.

Reliable legal protection for private property in the US has modified fields in states like Nebraska into mining cryptocurrencies on 40-foot shipping containers lined up in rows. (Here is a 60-second video tour of a mining farm).

The wider hope, after the Chinese government crackdown, was of reduced mining activity and a significantly lower energy consumption in cryptomining. Safe to say that’s no longer the case.

The In-Between

1. Clean Energy stocks rise amidst increase in oil prices. There aren’t many good things that can come from a single man’s decision to invade a sovereign neighbour. But if we must find something, here’s one in-between good and bad.

Clean energy stocks across US and Europe surged in the double-digits and continued to outperform stocks with exposure to Russian fossil fuels. All this while the price of oil continued to rise, which usually meant investors flock to buy oil stocks.

This surge is also counter-intuitive to the events from 2014 when, Putin annexed Crimea and clean energy stocks tanked.

What’s changed? Investor and public confidence in the ability of renewables to meet demand as the world transitions away fossil fuels.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has increased pressure on governments to increase their energy security and reduce their reliance on imported fossil fuels. Just how reliant is the European Union on Russia, you ask? 44% of EU’s natural gas requirements was met by Russia. If you are interested in a quick history of how Russia hooked Europe on its oil and gas, here is an interesting read.

Oh, and Nord-Stream 2, the natural gas pipeline project that would have connected Russia and Germany, is off the table.

Bonus

Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant

Media coverage from earlier today reported that Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Ukraine and Europe, has been captured by Russian forces.

There was and is no indication that the attack will send the world into nuclear meltdown. The plant's design includes stronger protections and structures to contain any potential release of radiation, which Chernobyl lacked.

The capture is considered strategic, given Zaporizhzhya supplies 20% of Ukraine’s electricity.

Here’s a website run by the Ukrainian State Authorities that tracks and reports changes in radiation levels. Check updates here.

I am very impressed with the clarity and the level of detail in the updates, given the circumstances.