NOVNETWORK ASSESSMENT

CELOElectricity Consumption
and Carbon Footprintof the CELO Network

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Network Assessment
CELO Blockchain•

November 2023

CELO employs an energy-efficient Proof of Stake (PoS) protocol. In comparison to Proof of Work (PoW)based protocols such as Bitcoin, CELO consumes significantly less electricity.

•We find a total annualized electricity consumption of 47 MWh for the CELO network as of September 2023.

•Furthermore, we calculated the carbon emissions associated with the electricity consumption via location
specific emission factors, taking the network node locations into account.

•For the CELO network, we find a total annualized carbon footprint of 17.21 tCO2e at a carbon intensity of367 gCO2 per kWh.

•The marginal power demand per TPS (transactions per second) in the CELO network amounts to 0.55 W.

•

Compared to other PoS networks, CELO performs slightly above average in carbon intensity and power
demand per node. Due to lower number of transactions, the marginal power demand per transaction isbelow average.

•In this assessment, we have focused on the core CELO network, comprising validators, and have not includedemissions from ancillary activities like testnets or corporate operations.

SELECTED BENCHMARKING RESULTS
Carbon Intensity[gCO2/kWh]050100150200

250300350

400450500

Power per Node[W]

050100150200250300

350

11.2

Marginal Power
Demand per TPS[W]

0Legend:0.2

indicates the range,

0.4

0.6

0.8

CELO’s performance and median value of the peer group*.

*Peer group consists of Algorand, Avalanche, Cardano, Cosmos, Ethereum, Polkadot, and Solana, which have been assessed inthe latest CCRI PoS Benchmarking Study. Available here: https://carbon-ratings.com.

METHODOLOGY
The analyses underlying this factsheet follow the same approach and methodology as outlined in CCRI’s
methods whitepaper for assessing the electricity consumption and carbon footprint of PoS networks.1

There are five main steps:

We analyze the network and its minimum hardware requirements and1

HARDWARE SELECTION

select the hardware sample that we use to measure a single node’s
electricity consumption.

2

HARDWARE
MEASUREMENTTOTAL NETWORK

3

ELECTRICITYCONSUMPTION4MARGINAL ELECTRICITYCONSUMPTION

We run a full node on all selected hardware devices and measure theirelectricity consumption to calculate a best-guess estimate for theaverage network node while accounting for the hardware distribution.

We estimate the electricity consumption of the entire network by scaling
the electricity consumption with the total network node count.

We examine the number of transactions handled during themeasurement period and derive the marginal electricity consumption
per transaction.
We gather data on the node locations2 of the network and use regional

5CARBON INTENSITY AND

emission factors to calculate the network specific carbon intensity. We

FOOTPRINT

use this carbon intensity to translate the network’s electricity
consumption into a carbon footprint.

CCRI (2022). Determining the electricity consumption and carbon footprint of Proof-of-Stake networks.
https://carbon-ratings.com/dl/whitepaper-pos-methods-2022
1

2

We derive location data from https://thecelo.com.

Results
CELO: Electricity Consumption and Carbon Footprint(all metrics as of September 28, 2023)
PoThe analyses underlying this factsheet are commissioned by Climate Collective

KEY NETWORK METRICS
NameCelo

SymbolCELOConsensus mechanism

Proof of Stake

Network typeLayer 1

Validator count2203

24h-analysis-period transaction count
Annualized transaction count

201,937
73,707,005

KEY FINANCIAL METRICS
Market capitalization (rank) [USD]Market price [USD]

231,031,231.81 (#116 according to CoinMarketCap)
0.4514Circulating supply [CELO]

511,790,944

0024 hours trading volume [USD]

10,115,684.54

KEY ELECTRICITY METRICS
Average electrical power per node [W]Electrical power of network [W]24.334
5,352.60

Annualized electricity consumption [kWh]46,896.94

Marginal power consumption per TPS [W]0.54900423

KEY CARBON METRICS
Annualized CO2 emissions [tCO2]

3

17.21

Marginal CO2 emissions per tx [g CO2]

0.05597

Applied CO2 emission intensity [g CO2/kWh]367.00CELO defines in its documentation two running nodes (with slightly deviating configurations) per validator; therefore, we multiply the numberof validators (110) times 2.
4
Value for a representative node assuming the node distribution among hardware configurations as shown in the Appendix.

Appendix

HARDWARE-SPECIFIC MEASUREMENT RESULTSHardwareconfiguration

1234CPUBroadcom
BCM2711

Ram

Intel i3-8109UIntel i58400TIntel i51135G7Intel i5-10400

AMD 3970X

8 GB

8 GB

8 GB

16 GB

64 GB

256 GB

128 GB SD

512 GB SSD

256 GB SSD

2 TB SSD

2 TB SSD

2 TB SSD

nono

yes

yes

yes

yes

3.031

2.688

2.893

3.675

25.30480.464

--

5.380

5.704

26.37193.068Assumed node
distribution--

12.5 %

37.5 %

37.5 %

12.5 %

Measurement
period2023-09-28 14:09 CET to 2023-09-29 14:09 CET

Storage
Configurations
selected

56

Mean electrical
power in idle
[W]
Mean electrical
power of node[W]

SoftwareversionGeth: 1.8.0-stable; Docker image: 2b11ce94fc27

About CCRI

CCRI – Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute – is a research-driven
company

providing

cryptocurrencies,

data

blockchainon
andsustainability
otheraspectsoftechnologies.

The

interdisciplinary team has built a multi-year research track record
with a specific focus on cryptocurrencies and their sustainability
impacts. CCRI uses the most up-to-date data sources as well as
methods based on formerly peer-reviewed studies published inrenowned scientific journals. CCRI provides insights that help theirclients to understand and manage crypto-related ESG exposure. They
serve a broad range of clients including institutional investors,exchanges and blockchain networks.

© Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute, 2023
Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI) is a brand of CCRI GmbH based in Dingolfing, Germany.

CCRI 2022

https://carbon-ratings.com

6