San Francisco-based blockchain payments company Ripple has partnered with Nelnet Renewable Energy, the renewable energy investment business of NYSE-listed Nelnet, on a US$44 million clean energy fund to support solar energy projects in the United States, the company said.
Fast facts
- The solar projects financed by the Ripple Nelnet Renewable Energy Fund are estimated to offset over 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent amount of CO2 emissions from consuming 154 million gallons of gasoline, the company statement said.
- “Guaranteeing a clean energy future is a major priority across every industry, not only to drive future economic growth but also to ensure a more sustainable world,” said Ken Weber, head of social impact at Ripple. “As the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain continues to grow, it’s evident that the technology will underpin our future financial systems.”
- The initiative is part of Ripple’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint as part of decarbonizing the cryptocurrency industry. Ripple is part of the Crypto Climate Accord, a private sector-led initiative that aims to enable all blockchains to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025. In 2020, the XRP Ledger Foundation, Ripple and Energy Web partnered to decarbonize the XRP Ledger — the first major global blockchain to do so, according to Ripple.
- Bitcoin has attracted a lot of attention from institutional and retail investors — as well as from critics who have argued that its energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus algorithm and mining activities harm the environment through its considerable carbon emissions. Following China’s ban on crypto mining, many miners have shut down their facilities in China and migrated to other places such as Texas that appear to have more friendly regulation and the availability of cheap electricity.