Crypto Art And NFTs Are The Latest Way To Fight Climate Change

California Startup, Hitch, Teams with Crypto Artist to Offset 1 million kg of carbon, or 5,000 times the footprint of an NFT

NFTs and crypto art are here to stay. While the recent conversation around NFTs centers on their carbon footprint, sustainable brands are collaborating with crypto artists to fund large investments in climate projects that offset thousands of times more carbon than is generated by an NFT.

For Earth Day this year, Hitch, a carbon neutral brand and the creators of the Hitch Bottle and Cup —the first full-size water bottle with a removable barista-approved cup hidden inside—is collaborating with South African artist Daniella Attfield to create a unique NFT art piece that benefits the climate.

The piece, launching on SuperRare today, offsets 1,000 metric tons, or 1,000,000 kilogram, of CO2, through investment in two carbon sequestration projects, the Bull Run Forest Carbon Project in Belize, which protects nearly 5,000 hectares of endangered forest, and the funding of large scale tree planting efforts in Madagascar via Eden Reforestation Projects.

As a result, while an NFT creates an average of 200kg of CO2, and the art piece offsetting 1,000,000kg of CO2, the artwork offsets 5,000 times the carbon footprint of the NFT. 1,000,000kg’s of CO2 is also the equivalent to the carbon footprint of the average citizen in an industrialized country for their entire life.

“We’re excited to see the emergence of a movement of crypto artists who are using their art and creativity to fund larger investments in climate action well beyond the offset of the NFT itself.”  commented Hitch co-founder Sky Gilbar. “We’d love to see more crypto artists offsetting the carbon footprint of their NFT’s, and hopefully doing even more to fund climate action.”

The 22-year-old artist Daniella Attfield discovered cryptoart in 2018 and became a full time crypto artist in 2020. She describes her style as neon line art, and she draws inspiration for her work from the rich and diverse South African landscapes. The artwork, which is environmentally themed, is being unveiled today.

This is just one of Hitch’s efforts to make an impact this Earth Day. The brand just launched their Climate Together initiative, in which they gathered 21 other sustainable brands to take climate action together. Collectively, they’ve planted 15,000 trees in Madagascar with Eden Reforestation Projects and removed 150,000 plastic bottles from the ocean with Plastic Bank.

Hitch, in addition to being certified carbon neutral via Climate Neutral, has also funded the restoration of ecosystems damaged by the effects of single-use paper and plastic. To date they’ve planted 25,000 trees and removed 2,500,000 plastic bottles from the ocean.

The auction goes live today on SuperRare.

The founders of Hitch are native-Californians. Sky Gilbar and David Silverander’s mission is to transform our disposable-first culture into one that champions conscious, sustainable living, by creating beautifully designed reusable storage solutions that are convenient to carry, sustainably made and joyous to use. Their first product is the Hitch Bottle and Cup, the world’s first full-size water bottle with a removable barista-approved cup hidden inside. Hitch is a Climate Neutral certified company.