Crypto Carbon Footprint List

The list below outlines how sustainable each of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are, where dark green is the most sustainable and brown is the least sustainable. The cryptos are ranked in order of how sustainable they are.

For ease of comparison, a VISA-transaction is equivalent to Medium Green, as it consumes approx. 0.003 kWh per transaction (0.4 grams of CO₂e). The researchers do however acknowledge that many cryptocurrencies – contrary to VISA-transactions - function as value storage and is peer-to-peer rather than executed through multiple intermediaries.

The list has been developed by Cryptowisser.com in collaboration with a team lead by the Swedish sustainability expert Erik Florman, founder of Cleanblocks.io. Background information on cryptocurrency energy consumption, assumptions and qualifications for the report, and further details on how the data has been compiled and what metrics that constitute which grades etc., can be found at the bottom of this page. The aim is to update the below list on a monthly basis.

nome	Símbolo	Carbon Footprint	Source of information	Consensus Algorithm
STEPN Token	GMT	True Green	Carbon Neutral (Self‑reported) Estimated Energy Usage	Hybrid Proof of Stake / Solana blockchain	Get Coin
Algorand	ALGO	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Energy Usage	Pure Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Celo Coin	CELO	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	Proof of Stake / Byzantine Fault Tolerance	Get Coin
Avalanche Coin	AVAX	True Green	Carbon Neutral (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
The Sandbox Token	SAND	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
WAX Coin	WAXP	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	Delegated Proof of Stake	Get Coin
MultiversX Coin	EGLD	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	Secure Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Immutable X Token	IMX	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	ZK-Rollup (Validity Based Proof)	Get Coin
Solana Coin	SOL	True Green	Carbon Neutral (Self‑reported) Estimated Energy Usage	Hybrid Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Hedera Hashgraph Coin	HBAR	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	Hashgraph Consensus	Get Coin
EOS Token	EOS	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	Delegated Proof of Stake	Get Coin
NEAR Protocol Coin	NEAR	True Green	Carbon Negative (Self‑reported) Estimated Carbon Footprint	Thresholded Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Polygon Token	MATIC	True Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Internet Computer Coin	ICP	Medium Green	Estimated Carbon Footprint	Internet Computer Protocol	Get Coin
Casper Coin	CSPR	Medium Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Stake Correct-by-Construction (CBC)	Get Coin
Helium Coin	HNT	Medium Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Coverage	Get Coin
Jupiter Coin	JUP	Medium Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Tezos	XTZ	Medium Green	Estimated Carbon Footprint	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
VeChain Token	VET	Medium Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Authority 2.0	Get Coin
Fantom Token	FTM	Medium Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Fantom Opera	Get Coin
Stellar	XLM	Medium Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Stellar Consensus Protocol	Get Coin
IOTA	MIOTA	Medium Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Directed Acyclic Graphs	Get Coin
Holo Token	HOT	Medium Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Distributed Hash Table	Get Coin
XRP	XRP	Medium Green	Estimated Energy Usage	XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol	Get Coin
Floki Inu Token	FLOKI	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
APECoin	APE	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
UNUS SED LEO	LEO	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Shiba Inu Token	SHIB	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Osmosis Coin	OSMO	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Toncoin	TON	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Cosmos Coin	ATOM	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Klaytn Coin	KLAY	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Bitcoin BEP2	BTCB	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Delegated Proof of Stake and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance	Get Coin
USDD Token	USDD	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Conflux Network Token	CFX	Light Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Work & Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Aave	AAVE	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
OKB Token	OKB	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Delegated Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Synthetix Network Token	SNX	Light Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
FTX Token	FTT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Mina Coin	MINA	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake (Ouroboros Samasika)	Get Coin
Glimmer Coin	GLMR	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Nominated Proof of Stake Ouroboros (babe)	Get Coin
Terra Classic Coin	LUNC	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
BitDAO Token	BIT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Convex Finance Token	CVX	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Ronin Coin	RON	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Uniswap Token	UNI	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Binance USD	BUSD	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Staked Authority	Get Coin
TrueUSD	TUSD	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Terra Coin	LUNA	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Wrapped Bitcoin	WBTC	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Authority	Get Coin
BitTorrent Token	BTT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Delegated Proof of Stake / Tron	Get Coin
Arweave Coin	AR	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Ethereum	ETH	Light Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Optimism Token	OP	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
OmiseGO Coin	OMG	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Authority	Get Coin
Huobi Token	HT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Chiliz Token	CHZ	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Authority	Get Coin
Kava Token	KAVA	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake / Ethereum & Cosmos	Get Coin
Harmony Coin	ONE	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Lido DAO Token	LDO	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
THORChain Token	RUNE	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
PAX Gold Token	PAXG	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Ankr Network Token	ANKR	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Service Level, Proof of Stake, Byzantine Fault Tolerance	Get Coin
Kusama Coin	KSM	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Nominated Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Voyager Token	VGX	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Theta Fuel Coin	TFUEL	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Pax Dollar	USDP	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Livepeer Token	LPT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Delegated Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Curve DAO Token	CRV	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Trust Wallet Token	TWT	Light Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Staked Authority	Get Coin
Jasmy Token	JASMY	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Quant Token	QNT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Neutrino Dollar	USDN	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Leased Proof of Stake / Waves blockchain	Get Coin
IoTeX Token	IOTX	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Roll-Delegated Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Compound Coin	COMP	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Filecoin	FIL	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Storage	Get Coin
PancakeSwap Token	CAKE	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Staked Authority	Get Coin
Gemini Dollar	GUSD	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Amp Token	AMP	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Akash Network Coin	AKT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Delegated Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Zilliqa Coin	ZIL	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of work (PoW) & Byzantine fault tolerance (pBFT)	Get Coin
Axie Infinity Token	AXS	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Theta Token	THETA	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Flare Finance Coin	EXFI	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Loopring	LRC	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Ring Miners / Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Decentraland Token	MANA	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
ChainLink Coin	LINK	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Audius Token	AUDIO	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
KuCoin Shares	KCS	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Bitget Token	BGB	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
dYdX Token	DYDX	Light Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Nexo	NEXO	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Cronos Token	CRO	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Fei Protocol Token	FEI	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Flow Coin	FLOW	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Oasis Network Coin	ROSE	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Gala Token	GALA	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Triple Proof Node System	Get Coin
Maker	MKR	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
GMX Token	GMX	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Dai	DAI	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	POSDAO Proof of Stake	Get Coin
SingularityNET Token	AGIX	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Frax Share Token	FXS	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Basic Attention Token	BAT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Render Token	RNDR	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Enjin Coin	ENJ	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Waves Coin	WAVES	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Leased Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Aptos Token	APT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Bone ShibaSwap Token	BONE	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
ssv.network Token	SSV	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Arbitrum	ARB	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
USD Coin	USDC	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Kadena Token	KDA	Light Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Binance Coin	BNB	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Staked Authority	Get Coin
1inch Token	1INCH	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Qtum Coin	QTUM	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Injective Protocol Token	INJ	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Secret Coin	SCRT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake / Cosmos blockchain	Get Coin
NEO Token	NEO	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Stake (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance)	Get Coin
Dogecoin	DOGE	Light Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Polkadot Coin	DOT	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Nominated Proof of Stake (Ouroboros)	Get Coin
Cardano Coin	ADA	Light Green	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Stake (Ouroboros Praos Version)	Get Coin
TRON Coin	TRX	Light Green	Consensus Algorithm	Delegated Proof of Stake	Get Coin
Bitcoin Cash SV	BSV	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Dash	DASH	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Horizen Coin	ZEN	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Ravencoin	RVN	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	KAWPOW (Proof of Work)	Get Coin
eCash Coin	XEC	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Siacoin	SC	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Zcash Coin	ZEC	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Ethereum Classic	ETC	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Work	Get Coin
NEM Coin	XEM	Beige	Consensus Algorithm	Proof of Importance	Get Coin
Monero Coin	XMR	Beige	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Litecoin	LTC	Beige	Estimated Energy Usage	Scrypt Proof of Work	Get Coin
Bitcoin Cash	BCH	Beige	Estimated Energy Usage	SHA256-Based Proof-of-Work	Get Coin
Bitcoin	BTC	Brown	Estimated Energy Usage	Proof of Work	Get Coin
Tether	USDT	N/A		Proof of Reserves	Get Coin
Stacks Coin	STX	N/A		Proof of Transfer	Get Coin
The Graph Token	GRT	N/A		Proof of Indexing	Get Coin

Details of The Sustainability Color Grades

The cryptos in the Crypto Carbon Footprint list can receive five different marks where Dark Green is the most environmentally friendly and brown is the least environmentally friendly. These are the classification criteria:

Color Grade	Description	Energy Consumption per Transaction (kWh/transaction)	Carbon Footprint per Transaction (kg CO₂e/transaction)*	Comments
True Green	Very high energy efficiency Very low carbon footprint Verifiable carbon neutral or negative	< 0.01 kWh / transaction	≤ 0 kg C0₂e / transaction	Defined as carbon neutral or negative. Currently self-reported. Will require verification at later stage to obtain Dark Green.
Medium Green	Very high energy efficiency Very low carbon footprint	< 0.01 kWh / transaction	< 0.00475 kg C0₂e / transaction	As, or more, energy efficient than a VISA transaction, Google Search and a regular email without attachment.
Light Green	High energy efficiency Low carbon footprint	≥ 0.01 kWH / transaction < 1 kWh / transaction	≥ 0.00475 kg CO₂e / transaction < 0.475 kg CO₂e / transaction	As, or more, energy efficient than an email with a large attachment.
Beige	Low energy efficiency High carbon footprint	≥ 1 kWh / transaction < 100 kWh / transaction	≥ 0.475 kg CO₂e / transaction < 47.5 kg CO₂e / transaction	50kWh is similar to the daily carbon footprint of a 150 sqm villa in a Northern Climate.
Brown	Very low energy efficiency Very high carbon footprint	≥ 100 kWh / transaction	≥ 47.5 kg C0₂e / transaction	Similar to the carbon footprint of a commercial plane flying for 1-2 hours.
*Based on IEA 2019 global emission factor for 1 kWh.

Understanding Cryptocurrency Carbon Footprint

The carbon footprint from using a cryptocurrency is based on the energy consumption that is generated by the process of mining/validating and running nodes of using cryptos in combination with how clean that energy is.

The amount of energy used for various cryptos depends on the mechanism / consensus algorithm used for a block of transactions to be added to a cryptocurrency’s digital ledger, so called blockchain, in combination with how energy efficient the equipment is that is performing the algorithms.

The two common consensus algorithms (or blockchain types) are Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS). They are similar, but they differ in how they execute a transaction. Consequently, they have different energy consumptions. Proof of Work generally use about 1,000 times more energy than Proof of Stake.

How clean the energy is, is dependent upon, inter alia, the sources used to generate energy in the grid on that particular geographic location. If the the mix of energy sources in the grid uses a high amount of fossil fuels, the grid will have a high carbon footprint and if the grid uses a high amount of fossil-free and renewable energy, the grid will have a low carbon footprint. Purchasing Renewable Energy Contracts (RECs) for your energy usage lowers your emissions as you are using “green energy”. The carbon footprint of your purchased energy is defined as an emission factor, using the metriccarbon dioxide equivalents per kilowatt hour (CO2e/kWh).

In order to understand the exact carbon footprint from a transaction by a particular cryptocurrency we have to understand the energy usage by the miners/validators which requires data on the equipment used and the carbon emission factor of the energy grid at the particular time of the transaction.

To simplify the estimates, we can use a global emission factor for the average global energy grid calculated by International Energy Agency (IEA). IEA 2019 emission factor was 475 CO2e/kWh. However, bear in mind, that a clean energy grid (e.g., Sweden’s) emits approximately 1/10 of the global energy grid. Accordingly, it matters greatly where the miners’ servers are located, which often varies over time, so calculations should be considered as estimations only.

Assumptions and Qualifications

Analysis and estimates have been made based on publicly available information obtained between 1 November 2021 - 31 January 2022. Last updated 1 March 2023.
The sorting of the list is based on the color grade in falling order with True Green first. The cryptocurrencies for whom we could not obtain any data at all are placed at the bottom – outside the list. Within each color grade, the cryptocurrencies are sorted based on kWh and grams of CO2 per transaction. Where no such data is available, the sorting is alphabetical.
For a cryptocurrency to receive the Medium Green or True Green sustainability grades, a verified energy and/or carbon footprint calculation per transaction is required as supporting information. The highest possible Sustainability Color Grade without such supporting information is Light Green.
True Green is currently considered highly energy efficient in combination with self-reported carbon neutral or carbon negative.
The carbon footprint is calculated by estimated energy usage multiplied by the emission factor of the global energy mix. We have used IEA emission factor from 2019.
When calculating a cryptocurrency’s carbon footprint for the purposes of this Crypto Carbon Footprint List, we have as far as possible tried to use a “typical transaction”.
The actual carbon footprint will vary by geographic location of the miners and the emission factors of the respective energy grids at that particular time. For example, for cryptos where the miners are primarily located in a clean energy grid powered mostly by fossil free and renewable sources, the crypto would have significantly lower carbon footprint per transaction, as compared to cryptos where the miners are primarily located in an energy grid powered by fossil fuels. For ease of comparison, we have used the global energy mix for all cryptocurrencies.
The researchers sent out a draft of the list to the teams behind the cryptocurrencies in the list that we could find contact information for (roughly 70%) before launching the list. We have incorporated any proposed revisions or revised information from the teams, provided that such revisions were supported by seemingly credible sources and were received prior to the given information deadline.
Some cryptos could be in the wrong category due to unavailable information for researchers. To provide information to Cryptowisser or make a revision in the classification, kindly send us an email at [email protected].