The bill of representatives of the left parties, aimed at a complete ban on energy-intensive mining of cryptocurrencies, did not receive the support of the majority of Norwegian deputies.
In November 2021, the Norwegian government began considering proposals for a partial ban on cryptocurrency mining put forward by the Swedish regulators. The background was the growth in electricity consumption by miners, which does not allow the Scandinavian countries to comply with the Paris climate agreement.
In March 2022, parliamentarians from the radical left Red Party (Rödt), with the support of the Socialist Left Party and the Green Party, submitted a bill to the Norwegian parliament to ban energy-intensive cryptomining. Also, the Rödt party tried to achieve the introduction of an increased tariff for bitcoin mining.
Currently, Norwegian households, companies and the public sector pay an average of $2.51 per kilowatt-hour for electricity, while industry has a reduced fee of about $0.07 per kilowatt-hour.
“Despite the fact that now we have enough energy, in the future we will have to prioritize more strictly, especially if we replace fossil fuels with renewable ones and Europe becomes less dependent on Russia,” said Rödt’s representative in parliament is Sofie Marhaug.
However, the parliamentary majority did not support the initiative of the Red Party and in May a bill to ban the mining of energy-intensive cryptocurrencies was rejected.
“We are very disappointed in most colleagues. In the future, we plan to electrify a large part of the country, and if we do not want to spoil the Norwegian nature, we should prioritize what and how this energy will be used for. But it seems that the parliamentary majority prioritizes the market and is ready to bill for mining to ordinary Norwegian consumers of electricity,” Sophie Marhaug announced.
According to opponents of the bill, “it is doubtful in principle to discriminate against data centers on the basis of politically biased social benefits.”
In April 2022, Arcane Research reported that thanks to hydropower and numerous renewable energy sources, “100% green bitcoin” is being mined in Norway.
Source: Bits
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