In the EU, the G in ESG stands for Gaslighting In Brazil it stands for, well, Governance ESG Inside, a Brazilian sustainability media company just became the 16th sustainability-focused media outlet to report positively on the environmental benefits of Bitcoin mining They covered the investment by Itau Unibanco (Brazil's largest bank) into Minter, a startup that uses Bitcoin at renewable energy sites where the power would otherwise be wasted But this is the bit that shows ESG working as it should: Phillippe Schlumpf, head of Itau Ventures (the bank's corporate VC arm) said this about the investment: "Minter's thesis combines two relevant vectors: the expansion of renewable generation and the growing demand for computational infrastructure ... [addressing] curtailment in a flexible way, close to the point of generation, with attention to governance." Imagine any EU banker publicly stating that Bitcoin mining supports renewable expansion and addresses curtailment with "operational discipline and attention to governance." For political reasons (it threatens ECB's attempt to control the narrative on Bitcoin) - that would be career limiting to say the least. In Brazil, freed from that political constraint, banks can do what makes commercial and ESG sense. The environmental benefits highlighted by ESG Inside are worth listing because they're the same ones that 24 peer-reviewed publications have been establishing for years - it's just that now a major bank's investment team is saying them out loud: - monetizes wasted renewable energy that generators are currently being forced to curtail - provides flexible, interruptible load that stabilises the grid by absorbing surplus and releasing it on demand - enables 100% renewable-source Bitcoin mining without diverting grid power from households Meanwhile, the EU continues to instruct officials to write reports labelling Bitcoin environmentally harmful (even though the paper underpinning that view has now been debunked). But the actual data, the peer reviewed science, the countries deploying renewables at scale, and even their bankers, are reaching the opposite conclusion in increasing numbers. The G in ESG is supposed to mean governance - making evidence-based decisions with transparency and accountability. The irony is not lost on me that it is the LATAM economy which has been busy doing that, while EU stays busy gaslighting.

Itaú Unibanco lidera rodada Série A em startup de infraestrutura digital que monetiza energia renovável excedente | ESG Inside