Greening the Crypto Industry: Overview of Post-MiCA EU Environmental Requirements
The EU is actively framing the narrative around the environmental impact of the crypto industry. The paper - and summary presentation - below delve into the EU's key policy measures in this area, including the EU Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (“MiCA”), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”), the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CSDDD”), and what these might mean for the crypto industry more broadly.
At their core, these initiatives underscore the EU's commitment to ensuring transparency, accountability, and sustainability within the crypto sector (i.e. primarily for exchanges and issuers), and pushing larger players towards even more robust environmental and human rights due diligence. Amid these regulatory developments, the crypto industry, particularly the Bitcoin miners, is at the forefront of sustainable innovation, challenging traditional perceptions about its actual environmental impact. Indeed, in the case of Bitcoin miners specifically, their ever increasing use of renewable energy sources and adoption of energy-efficient hardware, suggests an interesting synergy between blockchain technology and sustainable development goals is emerging. In any case, the debate is on and promises to be lively.
This article aims to provide an overview of these latest EU initiatives at the intersection of crypto and environmental regulations, as well as the industry’s likely responses to meet the Environmental, Social, and Governance (hereinafter, “ESG”) imperative.
Summary Presentation
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Author: Jerome Dickinson, founder of avroytech.
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