Zumo and its partner Zero Labs have been awarded a grant by Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, which will go towards funding the firms’ continued research into the decarbonisation of cryptocurrency.

The Edinburgh-based cryptocurrency platform recently concluded its Zero Hero pathfinder project’s live trial to compensate for electricity usage of bitcoin purchased through the Zumo app.

The pilot centred on buying Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) - where one REC equals one MWh of green electricity.

Over the trial period, the company said the REC purchases covered £1.5 million in bitcoin which compensated for a total of 850MWh of electricity usage – enough to drive an electric car for over three million miles.

Zumo’s report sharing the results of the pilot argued that RECs must increase in sophistication to meet the current requirements of net zero strategies.

Kirsteen Harrison, environmental and sustainability adviser, Zumo, said: “The results of our Zero Hero pilot project are hugely encouraging, showing both what is possible and a significant appetite from customers for clean energy solutions.

“But this is just the beginning, and the story can only continue through the collaboration of all market participants – miners, platforms and end users – within the crypto sector. We hope that our new report will help continue to shift the dial from talk towards action.”

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