Canadian investment manager Ninepoint will invest management fees in forest conservation to offset the carbon footprint of its bitcoin ETF.
Ninepoint, a Canadian investment firm with $8 billion in assets under management, will offset the carbon costs of its bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) using a portion of its management fee, according to a recent release.
“Bitcoin is both a rapidly growing asset class and increasingly important financial technology. We must all do our part to ensure Bitcoin grows in a more sustainable way,” said Ninepoint’s managing director of digital assets, Alex Tapscott, per the release. “Investors increasingly want real ESG solutions for their portfolios, while not sacrificing on diversification. I believe Ninepoint Bitcoin ETF offers the best of both worlds and could be a model for our industry.”
To offset the ETF’s carbon footprint, Ninepoint will be supporting various forest conservation projects in the Amazon. These programs offset the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by planting trees that convert it into oxygen, and contribute to the United Nation’s sustainable development goals. Ninepoint is partnering with environmental software project CarbonX and The Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute to determine the ETF’s carbon footprint and how to offset it.
The Ninepoint Bitcoin ETF is the result of a recent unitholder-approved conversion from what was a closed-end investment fund that had over $300 millions in assets. Units of this bitcoin trust were converted to units of the ETF on a one-to-one basis.
Ninepoint’s initiative stems from the common assumption that Bitcoin mining is bad for the planet’s climate due to its extensive energy use and high carbon emissions. Though it is not the case that Bitcoin is bad for the planet, and Bitcoin does not waste energy. Rather, Bitcoin is key to an abundant, clean energy future and presents an opportunity to accelerate the global energy transition to renewables as well as promote programs like Ninepoint’s.