The sudden decision by Elon Musk to withdraw Bitcoin payment option for Tesla purchases citing the increased carbon emissions of the largest cryptocurrency seems to have shaken the world from a nap.

There is a push for making Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies environment friendly and Elon has promised that Tesla will restart accepting when the carbon emissions are down to an agreed level. But is Bitcoin that dangerous to our earth?

The Real Climate Killer

As people start debating on the viability of the digital assets and their impact on the global climate, the discussion seems to be shifting away from realizing that where blockchain and Proof of Work do indeed consume a lot of energy but is not that much of a greater issue. A study by the Harvard Business Review found that the total Bitcoin consumption is less than 0.55% of global production. This is equivalent to a very small country like Sweden.

Directly translating the electrical power consumption of cryptos into CO2 emissions is flawed though. Electrical power is agnostic. For appliances and electrical consuming hardware, it doesn’t matter where it comes from and neither is the production source traceable. The intense consumption does not differentiate between fossil fuels and other clean and/or renewable energy sources such as hydel and solar.

On the other hand, one particular area that does contribute a lot towards climate change is ironically not blockchain or crypto-based: the automotive industry.

UNA: Curbing Auto Industry Carbon Emissions

UNA is a decentralized platform that is turning the tables on the misconception that anything related to blockchain is a climate killer and instead is using the same technology to reshape the automotive industry.

This is achieved by UNA to keep track of the CO2 creation by recording all data:

• Emission Recording: Vehicle usage is recorded on the UNA blockchain. Every vehicle’s unique VIN can be used to identify it individually and the ledger will contain the complete use and emitted carbon throughout the complete lifetime, enabling a review of how much each has contributed towards environmental change.
• Digital Passport: The human side of vehicles is not ignored. Each driver will have a digital identity on the UNA blockchain too. Their preferences, driving habits and style etc. will also be recorded. The drivers can switch cars and it wouldn’t matter as their preferences will be attached to them, not the vehicles.

Companies can use this data to build a complete target market analysis and see what kind of vehicles contribute the most towards climate effect and redesign to make them environment friendly. At the same time, the driver habits can be studied to create customer profiles and learn about their desired, behavior and improve their vehicles.

Added Benefits

UNA’s carbon tracing can be implemented even long before the vehicles are on the road. Integrating with their manufacturing and complete supply chain, manufacturers can see how much the individual parts, partners and suppliers have their own part to play in carbon emissions. This way they can even further reduce their global warming impact.

At the same time, the UNA blockchain can be linked with the total security of vehicles. These can have driver profiles written into them for authorization, allowing only the owner or permitted people to drive. UNA’s security can be very finely tuned to even allow specific options, such as a guest or rental mode which can geographically limit where the vehicles can be driven or even a child mode that will give entry to the car, but not start it.

UNA tackles the largest carbon-emitting industry in the world in a unique way by using blockchain. The technology is tamper proof with the highest level of security and transparency, ushering in a new era of decarbonization of the world.