خلاصة:
Greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 have returned to pre-pandemic levels, and it is expected that emissions will increase by 4.9% this year. One of the reasons for this increase is cryptocurrency mining, which relies on electricity generated from burning fossil fuels and electronic waste. Its impact on the environment, as a shared heritage of humanity, undeniably undermines the human right to enjoy a healthy environment. On the one hand, the potential for international organized crime, due to the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions, tightens the connection of this issue with other branches of international law. Although green cryptocurrencies, such as Bitgreen, can herald a different form of trade, halt paper currency printing, and prevent the cutting down of thousands of trees, there are structural and normative weaknesses in drafting a treaty to impose restrictions on cryptocurrency mining. Given the long road ahead to achieve the goals of such a treaty, it seems necessary to manage this slow and less tangible crisis by resorting to existing customs and principles of international environmental law, while hoping for the actions of states at the national level (such as the imposition of taxes on cryptocurrency mining by the U.S. government). At the same time, we must acknowledge this phenomenon and take steps toward regulating the extraction and use of cryptocurrencies.
ملخص الجهاز:
As we believe, cryptocurrency mining with current methods and using fossil fuels is nothing but harm to the environment as a common heritage of humanity and endangering the right to a healthy environment and must, until achieving requirements such as what is known in the European Union as the MiCA agreement _and could be a suitable model for an agreement at the international level_ through principles identified in international law and emphasized in the case law of the International Court of Justice, customary international law and analogy with other documents available in the field of dealing with climate change (as the final result of traditional cryptocurrency mining), fill these challenges and gaps.
In the previous sections, we pointed to the negative effects of cryptocurrency mining, the most prominent of which is the increasing use of fossil fuels to supply the electricity needed for this extraction and, as a result, the entry of more greenhouse gases, especially carbon, into the atmosphere and its impact on accelerating climate change; An issue that, considering the aforementioned environmental laws, is clearly in conflict with these codified laws and directing global technologies towards low energy consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and of course sustainable development and environmental protection for future generations, and ignoring these environmental measures can violate the Paris Agreement and it remains to be seen how the contracting countries will justify the increase of carbon entering the atmosphere in the face of the strict regulations of the Paris Agreement, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the need for five-year reporting in this regard and transparency.
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