Understanding the Association Between Bitcoin Mining and Environmental Sustainability in Light of the Sustainable Development Goals Through the DARDL and KRLS Methods

ÇELİK A., ÖZIRMAK M.

Sustainable Development, 2025 (SSCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Publication Date: 2025
  • Doi Number: 10.1002/sd.3471
  • Journal Name: Sustainable Development
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, PASCAL, ABI/INFORM, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, Aqualine, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, CAB Abstracts, Environment Index, Geobase, Greenfile, Index Islamicus, PAIS International, Political Science Complete, Pollution Abstracts, Sociological abstracts, Veterinary Science Database, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Keywords: Bitcoin mining, DARDL, environmental sustainability, KRLS
  • Istanbul Gelisim University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Assuring environmental sustainability is essential for the continuity of the ecosystem. Every sector of the economy has some degree of impact on environmental sustainability. The United Nations (UN)’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have placed these objectives within a broader global framework, offering a global plan aimed at ensuring environmental sustainability. This study assesses the role of cryptocurrency mining on environmental sustainability, incorporating monthly data for the period from 2015 to 2023. In this context, the impact of the electrical energy consumed in Bitcoin mining, which has the largest transaction volume among cryptocurrencies, and the climate policy uncertainty on Bitcoin greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are examined by applying dynamic stimulated autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) and kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) methods. The results of the empirical analysis indicate that the increase in Bitcoin electricity consumption and climate policy uncertainty have a significant negative impact on Bitcoin GHG emissions. Put another way, cryptocurrency mined using fossil fuels and climate policy uncertainty poses a considerable threat to environmental sustainability. These findings are crucial for policy makers and all stakeholders who want to achieve environmental sustainability goals to develop proactive proposals. It is also highlighted that Bitcoin mining should bring environmental regulations that can mitigate environmental degradation.