Internet Computer Footprint (ICF)— tamperproof, unstoppable and climate-conscious?
Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) had a break-out year in 2023, with record user growth, a surge in transaction volume, and numerous projects bringing new products to market. At the same time behind the scenes, ICP was also proving a future of green cloud computing is within reach.
The full ICP Sustainability Report (report) can be found here and provides a detailed comparison of ICP’s 2022 and 2023 environmental metrics. In contrast, this article will explore what the report’s findings mean for ICP, and what we can (and are) doing about it.
Where we are vs where we’re going!
2022 Report Proposals
2/5 — Completed
- Real-time emissions tracking of the IC’s electricity consumption and corresponding emissions
- Dedicated resource to champion sustainability initiatives within the IC ecosystem
2/5 — In Progress
- Develop a fully decarbonised subnet on the Internet Computer
- Bring the network to carbon neutrality
Version 2.0 of the ICF dashboard (Q1, 2024), will address both of these proposals.
1/5 — Abandoned
- Immediately reduce the carbon intensity of the IC network by node relocation
It was deemed not to be technically feasible to move nodes at this stage of network development.
ICF Roadmap 2024
- The release of real-time emissions tracking for OpenChat DAO, setting a new global benchmark for environmental transparency in decentralised applications(DApps).
- The launch of v2.0 of the ICF dashboard will create an ICP ‘Climate Economy’, attracting new projects and innovations into the ecosystem
- 2 Environmental Tokens that will underpin sustainability across the network and future Utopia networks
- Plans to offer ICP native services cross-chain and to Web2 companies
Keep an eye out for full details in the ICF white paper (Q1, 2024)!
Results & Analysis
Increased network efficiency with scale
As the 2022 report was going to press, DFINITY graciously accepted that the numbers would not accurately reflect their deep commitment to building a highly efficient network. Why? Because they had built a significant amount of ‘slack’, or reserve capacity, into the network. Hence, the cost of a single transaction was significantly higher than it strictly needed to be.
With the release of the 2023 report, one hopes that they now feel vindicated. Efficiency numbers from 2022 to 2023 have improved alongside growing network activity, and are likely to continue to improve as network activity increases. In short, ICP gets more efficient as it scales.
“The power consumption of a single transaction on the IC is 0.003 Wh/tx, down from 0.006 Wh/tx in 2022”
Keep an eye out for future reports as we track this pivotal figure going forward.
Gross electricity consumption and emissions rise
“The direct electricity consumption of the IC is 1,248,694.2 kWh/year, up from 1,052,741.76 kWh/year in 2022”
“The yearly scope 2 carbon footprint of the IC is ~389.0 tCo2e, up from ~275.8 tCo2e in 2022”
Scope 2 emissions rose in 2023 compared to 2022. Scope 2 emissions relate to indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, heat, cooling or steam. For ICP, that’s primarily the electricity directly consumed by the nodes. What this means is that all things equal, bringing new nodes into the network will always increase scope 2 emissions.
Additionally, increased network activity means the nodes are pulling more electricity to meet network demand, although this is marginal; nodes with low utilisation still draw a significant amount of electricity. This isn’t the whole ‘scope 2 story’, however, and to understand more, we need to look closer at the location of the new nodes.
Note: The science of digital emission measurement continues to evolve as new methodologies and practices become available. This report focuses on scope 2 emissions, to learn more about what scope 1,2 and 3 mean in the context of ICP, check out this thread posted on X (formerly Twitter) by ICF.
Decentralisation vs sustainability
Decentralisation is core to ICP’s ‘tamperproof and unstoppable’ value proposition. Over the past year, node providers began offering services in several new geographies, improving the decentralisation of the network. But at what cost?
Some of the regions that came online, such as Sweden with the lowest grid carbon intensity in the EU, reduced the average carbon intensity of the network. Others achieved the opposite. Spinning up nodes in South Africa and Bangladesh, both heavily reliant on coal in their fuel mixes, contributed to an increase in the average emissions factor of the network.
“The average emissions factor climbed from 0.262 kg/kWh to 0.311 kg/kWh in 2023.”
A growing network that is consuming more energy with a higher average emissions factor will inevitably see a growth in the gross scope 2 emissions. Luckily, this doesn’t have to be the case. Below is a non-exhaustive list of strategies to disrupt this trend. What is more, ICF is working to implement a number of them already.
- Introduce mechanisms for Node Providers to purchase renewable energy via RECs
- Adjust Node Provider reward incentives to favour running greener nodes
- Include sustainability metrics as part of the Node Provider selection process
Conclusion
The 2023 ICP Sustainability report illustrates how the robust emissions analytics implemented across the protocol in 2023 are enabling a data-driven approach to network decarbonisation. Positive trends can be reinforced, and backsliding on environmental metrics can be spotted and acted against.
Throughout 2023 ICP’s technology stack demonstrated its suitability for a future where ‘climate-conscious computing’ is a high-value service. ICF’s goal is to extend the network’s leadership in ‘climate conscious computing’, ensuring a durable competitive advantage for the entire ecosystem.
As the IC’s decarbonisation journey unfolds, we are immensely grateful for the ongoing support from the ICP community at large. Thank you, and we look forward to sharing what we’ve been working on very shortly!
