The Ether blockchain transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake has reportedly brought down its energy usage by over 99% – a development that numerous climate activists are wishing for Bitcoin. 

Specifically, via a September 15th notice after the Merge carried out, the America-headquartered Environmental Working Group (EWG) reportedly disclosed details of its commencement for a $1-million campaign, working towards a goal of calling for Bitcoin (BTC) to go green, as opposed to using an “outdated protocol” like PoW. 

The announcement reportedly surfaced during the time when environmental activity group Greenpeace introducing a petition aimed at Fidelity Investments to support the transition to PoS.

“Other cryptocurrency protocols have operated on efficient consensus mechanisms for years. Bitcoin has become the outlier, defiantly refusing to accept its climate responsibility.” Michael Brune, director of the EWG campaign, additionally remarked. 

EWG senior vice president of government affairs Scott Faber shared a statement claming that the Merge event was generally “good for the climate”, when it comes to bringing down the energy requirements for the Ethereum blockchain. 

He mentioned insights from a September report from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which offered a final conclusion that cryptocurrencies – particularly noting PoW staking – were among the primary contributors to energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions, using more power in America than that for home computers.

“The Merge proves that changing the code is possible,” said Faber. “The Merge proves that digital assets that rely on proof-of-work can change to proof-of-stake and use far less electricity […] We’re hopeful that the Bitcoin community will follow Ethereum’s lead.”

Faber also shared that he would offer assistance to any efforts by the White House to set energy standards affecting crypto miners, saying regulators “should not stand by and hope for the best” but needed to take action “quickly” given the climate crisis. 

“We’re agnostic. We support cryptocurrency. We’re not opposed to digital assets, but we are concerned about the rising electricity use associated with assets that rely on proof-of-work, and the climate pollution that is inevitably the result of more and more electricity use.”