CleanNFTs is a phrase that a community of over 3,000 artists from around the world use to describe NFTs from platforms offering Proof of Stake cryptocurrencies. In early 2021 a group of artists and members of the NFT community joined together on Discord to discuss the issues with Ethereum (using Proof of Work) energy usage and since then have been working towards educating, raising awareness and looking at ways to improve the environmental impacts of releasing NFTs.
General consensus;
- NFTs themselves do not produce carbon emissions but some cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum use energy intensive resources for mining.
- Ethereum currently has a carbon footprint associated with creating blocks by mining, read more from their own website.
- NFT art platforms running on more energy efficient Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks are currently the best solution for creating NFTs without impacting the environment with high energy use.
- There are now many NFT art platforms using PoS currencies as of September 2021.
- Carbon offsetting has been discussed in great deal in the community and there are many different thoughts on this, best to make your own conclusions around effectiveness of offsetting