Germany wants to pay you in crypto to fight climate change

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Climate change has become an urgent issue that requires the cooperation from everyone if we are to tackle it, and German lawmakers think crypto is the way to do it. The lawmakers from Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP) are pushing for the adoption of a policy that will reward, in crypto, anyone who removes greenhouse gases such as CO2 from the atmosphere.

Carbon emission in the European Union hit an 11-year high this year, showing just how critical the situation is. And while most proposed solutions have focused on less emission, the FDP believe the government should do more. According to a report by German outlet Welt, the FDP believes that those who remove greenhouse gases from the environment should be rewarded with a cryptocurrency they have named Arbil.

“Put CO2 on the digital chain,” reads the motto of the proposed crypto.

According to the leaders of the FDP, one of the major reasons that climate change initiatives don’t succeed is because there’s no one to pay for them. With Arbil, buying CO2 filters could prove to be a worthwhile investment.

Marco Buschmann, first parliamentary director of the FDP parliamentary group ,explained, “That sounds technically complex at first, but it’s actually quite simple. Anyone who withdraws CO2 from the atmosphere is paid for it. In this way, we want to reward active climate protection and promote inventiveness and innovation.”

The FDP further proposed the creation of an association whose members will be fully committed to climate protection. The association will be responsible for the development of the new crypto and will also determine how it’s mined. Those allowed to mine the Arbil coins will be limited, which will reduce the consumption of energy, the FDP stated.

The value of one Arbil coin will correspond to the value of one ton of CO2 which currently stands at €27 ($30).

The use of blockchain technology will also ensure the system isn’t prone to fraud, the FDP stated.

Blockchain records exactly and unalterably when and how many CO2 equivalents are bound. At the same time, the traceability of all transactions minimizes fraud.