Good news for crypto enthusiasts: You can now buy NFTs that are linked to specific lands in Brazil’s rainforests. The company claims it’s a bold new vision for integrity, but it’s actually a harbinger of a wave of problematic crypto-led greenwashing.
The company’s Nemus currently owns only 158 square miles (410 square kilometers) of rainforest, but some of the cash from NFT sales will be used to fund additional land purchases and forest restoration projects. I would like to use it for. Like preserving trees and maintaining forests. NFTs sold by Nemus do not guarantee specific ownership of specific land, but provide it to the purchaser. A little dizzy“Parents” — The ability to access information about land conservation and decisions about its conservation.
“Means to protect the rainforest have historically been limited,” said the group. Website Declare grandly. “The old method isn’t working. Nemus invites you to a generation of Guardians to fix this.”
according to ReutersFlavio de Meira Penna, founder of Nemus, “rejected” concerns about NFT carbon dioxide emissions and argued that the company’s mission to protect Amazon was much more important. (Before establishing Nemus According to Penna’s LinkedInHe has been involved in various projects in Brazil, including a sustainable lumber business. Agribusiness Venture, and “Sale of Brazil’s Minority Shareholders in Oil and Gas Business to US Multinationals”) Earther asks about Penna’s statement and its environmental impact and future plans for carbon offsetting. I contacted Nemus asking the company to do it. , we There was no response from them at the time of the press.
Like many cryptographic operations, Nemus has some starry aspirations.On that website, “Litepaper” will guide you to potential parents (ugh) Future vision For the world with Nemus.It’s the world If similar organizations are established to protect the ocean, coral and “other valuable natural resources”. A place where the world market based on land conservation thrives. “People no longer have the luxury of destroying our land.” In this vision for the future, cryptocurrency carbon dioxide emissions are no longer an issue. “The efforts led by Nemus have a significant impact on climate change, and its ecosystem enables efficient trading of carbon credits generated from the land protected by Nemus,” the website lays out. “It helped establish a true market for offsetting emissions. Due to the high cost of offsetting emissions, it was significantly reduced compared to the value of simply doing good. “
Even without this potential future crypto utopia, all of Nemus’ short-term goals seem to be of great value, at least on paper. Do you want to protect important rainforest land from harmful development? Great solution. Indigenous peoples involvement, do you say the company plans to do that? Absolutely necessary. It is even more necessary to do all this at Amazon, one of the world’s most important carbon sinks, which is rapidly exposed to the threat of climate change and overexploitation.
However Current NFT-related carbon emissions cannot be shaken off in some moonshots Vision Future.Cryptocurrencies like Ethereum are based on so-called things Proof of work, Or the process of setting up a computer to solve the equations that form the basis of a network.These equations Many Of energy. Ethereum’s, according to Digiconomist, which estimates and tracks the energy usage of various cryptocurrencies Current world estimated energy usage 112 terawatt hours Per year. (In some contexts All over Sweden Used 123 terawatt hours In 2020. The surge in popularity of NFTs has helped increase this number. When the NFT boom began in earnest in late March last year, Digiconomost estimated: Cryptocurrency used about 30 terawatt hours Per year.
Ethereum, the blockchain that forms the basis of NFTs, Move to a system called Proof of StakeCryptographic experts say that it can help reduce energy consumption substantially.However, the shift is constantly delayed due to various factors... Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, speaks frankly about the myriad problems that plague cryptocurrencies and wants to sell NFTs only as a service of public goods. Told the crowd at a crypto conference earlier this year Companies worried about Ethereum’s carbon emissions should not use the network until they move to Proof of Stake, even if the date is years away.
Many NFT followers and platforms have delved into Carbon offset as a “solution” Guarantees certain credits associated with the purchase of crypto art. This is theoretically counted against the emissions required to create them. However, carbon offsets are just band-aids that allow pollutants to continue to emit large amounts of emissions, distracting deeply from the actual work required by decarbonization of society as a whole. (You can see a kind of circular logic that Nemus may present that is particularly plagued by some carbon offset schemes: Nemus funding land conservation with cryptocurrencies generated on the dirty grid. And then imagine providing the same land conservation as the offsets available, greenwashing the impact of generating more cryptocurrencies.) And the carbon market is difficult to monitor and certify. Famous: 2019 ProPublica Survey It turns out that many forest carbon credit projects in Brazil could not actually protect the forest.
If i have Guess, Nemus is just The first forefront of the wave of NFT-based greenwashing schemes It promises a climate change solution, though it is less than practical.The idea of reaching a green techno utopia, even if all the company’s promises are fulfilled Conversations about the actual concrete shortcomings of today’s technology should not be discouraged.And while web3 proponents have pointed out that possibility, in the short term, NFTs and cryptography are still Focus power on the hands of a few people— Many are in a position to profit from selling NFTs in the short term (Early stages of Nemus) Investors receive a small cut for each sale). Greenwashing is doing a cryptocurrency refurbishment — and knows who will fall into it next.
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