The European Commission, in cooperation with international partners, is starting work to develop an energy efficiency rating system for crypto-currencies. The purpose of the rating is to tackle the growing energy consumption in the virtual market in the face of the spectre of an energy crisis looming in Europe. According to the information provided on the European Commission’s websites, in the last five years the energy consumption by the crypto-asset market has increased by 900%, which accounts for approx. 0.4% of the global electricity consumption.

The new rating system is to mobilise the crypto-asset market to implement solutions that are more energy efficient. One of them is the application of the ‘proof of stake’ system instead of the ‘proof of work’ which requires much less energy to execute transactions on a blockchain network. Bitcoin mining uses 99% more energy than Ether mining.
The European Union called on Member States to reduce the energy consumption of crypto-asset actors, to abolish tax credits for ‘miners’, and to stop crypto-currency mining in the case of overloaded electricity systems.

Source:https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/pl/qanda_22_6229 and https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-18/eu-puts-bitcoin-in-crosshairs-with-crypto-energy-labeling-plan?leadSource=uverify%20wall.