Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact that Bitcoin, and Bitcoin mining, has on Scotland's ability to reach its targets for cutting carbon emissions.
We have not made any such assessment. However, achieving the ambition, set out in our Update to the Climate Change Plan 2018-2032: Securing a Green Recovery on a Path to Net Zero , published in December 2020, to reduce electricity sector emissions to zero before the end of this decade would mean that the energy used for bitcoin mining has no effect on emissions within Scotland.