The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a blog post Thursday by economist Shafik Hebous, Deputy Division Chief in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, and Nate Vernon-Lin, anotner economist at the IMF.

The authors highlighted the environmental challenges posed by crypto mining and AI data centers, noting that these sectors already account for 2% of global electricity consumption. They added:

And that share is likely to climb to 3.5 percent in three years, according to our estimates based on projections from the International Energy Agency.

They warned that this increasing energy use could push crypto mining’s contribution to global carbon emissions to 0.7% by 2027, emphasizing: “Extending the analysis to data centers (based on IEA estimates), means their carbon emissions could reach 450 million tons by 2027, or 1.2 percent of the world total.”

To address this issue, Hebous and Vernon-Lin proposed targeted electricity taxes, stating:

The tax system is one way to steer companies toward curbing emissions. According to IMF estimates, a direct tax of $0.047 per kilowatt hour would drive the crypto mining industry to curb its emissions in line with global goals.

“If considering air pollution’s impact on local health as well, that tax rate would rise to $0.089, translating into an 85 percent increase in average electricity price for miners. Such a levy would raise annual government revenue of $5.2 billion globally and reduce annual emissions by 100 million tons (around Belgium’s current emissions),” the IMF Blog authors explained.

“For data centers, a targeted tax on their electricity use would need to be set at $0.032 per kilowatt hour, or $0.052 including air pollution costs. It is slightly lower than for crypto because data centers tend to be in locations with greener electricity. This could raise as much as $18 billion annually,” they noted.

However, critics argue that these taxes could significantly hinder the growth of the crypto industry. Moreover, some studies also suggest that crypto mining’s environmental impact remains relatively small compared to other major industries, such as e-commerce or traditional finance.

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