Quick answer: The Stellar Development Foundation commissioned PwC US to build a framework for measuring the environmental footprint of blockchain networks, then applied it to Stellar. The published findings put Stellar’s electricity use at about 481,324 kilowatt hours a year and its emissions at about 173,243 kilograms of CO2 a year, roughly the annual electricity emissions of 33.7 U.S. homes. The low figure comes from the Stellar Consensus Protocol, a proof-of-agreement design with no mining. The Foundation also committed to paying for removal of the network’s historical carbon footprint since 2015.
Updated 07/17/2026. By Jake Claver. Educational content, not investment advice.
“Blockchain uses a lot of energy” became conventional wisdom largely because of Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining. But not all blockchains work that way, and the honest response to the energy question is to measure, not assert. That is what makes the Stellar and PwC work useful: it puts a repeatable method and real numbers behind a network’s environmental claims, rather than a slogan.
What Stellar and PwC actually built
According to the Stellar sustainability report, the Stellar Development Foundation enlisted PwC US to develop a framework to assess blockchain protocols’ electricity consumption and emissions, then used it to benchmark the Stellar network. The point of a framework, as opposed to a one-off estimate, is that it can be applied consistently across different networks and rerun as a network grows. The Foundation describes it as a first-of-its-kind assessment that weighs electricity use, greenhouse-gas emissions, e-waste and embodied carbon, and, importantly, the differences between consensus mechanisms.
That last factor is the crux. A blockchain’s energy profile is driven far more by how it reaches agreement than by how many transactions it processes. Comparing a proof-of-work chain and a proof-of-agreement chain without accounting for that difference produces misleading numbers, which is why a documented methodology matters.
The numbers Stellar reported
In its announcement of the methodology and findings, the Foundation reported concrete figures for the Stellar network:
- Electricity use: about 481,324 kilowatt hours per year.
- Emissions: about 173,243 kilograms of CO2 per year.
- Plain-language comparison: roughly the average annual electricity emissions of 33.7 U.S. homes.
Those are small numbers by the standards of the energy debate around crypto, and the report is explicit about why: the Stellar Consensus Protocol is a low-electricity mechanism achieved through proof-of-agreement, with no mining involved. Where proof-of-work chains spend electricity to make attacks expensive, Stellar’s validators reach agreement through a federated voting design that does not burn energy as a security cost.
Why an auditable method is the real story
The specific kilowatt-hour figure will change as the network and its validator set change. What holds is the approach: commission an independent firm, publish the methodology, apply it consistently, and let the numbers be checked and updated. That is the difference between a marketing claim and a measurement. It also lets the same yardstick be pointed at other networks, which is what makes cross-chain comparisons meaningful instead of rhetorical.
Stellar paired the measurement with a commitment to act on it. The Foundation established a carbon dioxide removal commitment and said it would pay for removal of the network’s historical carbon footprint going back to 2015, and work with ecosystem participants on ongoing annual removal. You can read more about the network and its design on the Stellar Development Foundation site and in the Stellar developer documentation, which cover the Stellar Consensus Protocol in technical detail.
Why this matters
Environmental disclosure is moving from optional to expected, and enterprises and regulators increasingly ask for evidence, not adjectives. A blockchain that can hand over a documented, third-party framework and specific figures is in a very different position from one that can only say it is green. For sustainability reporting, procurement decisions, and emerging disclosure rules, an auditable number beats a reassuring one. Separately from any view on the STELLAR asset or its price, the measurement work is what lets a network make an environmental claim that survives scrutiny.
Common questions
How much energy does the Stellar network use?
Stellar’s published findings put the network’s electricity use at about 481,324 kilowatt hours per year and its emissions at about 173,243 kilograms of CO2 per year, roughly the average annual electricity emissions of 33.7 U.S. homes.
Why is Stellar’s energy use so low compared with Bitcoin?
Stellar uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol, a proof-of-agreement mechanism with no mining. Proof-of-work networks like Bitcoin deliberately spend electricity to secure the chain, while Stellar’s validators reach agreement through federated voting that does not use energy as a security cost.
What did PwC do for Stellar?
The Stellar Development Foundation enlisted PwC US to develop a framework to assess blockchain protocols’ electricity consumption and emissions. Stellar then applied that framework to benchmark its own network and published the results.
Does Stellar offset its carbon footprint?
Yes. The Stellar Development Foundation established a carbon dioxide removal commitment and said it would pay for removal of the network’s historical carbon footprint since 2015, with ongoing annual removal going forward.
Why does a measurement framework matter more than a single figure?
A single figure changes as a network grows. A documented, independent framework can be rerun consistently over time and applied to other blockchains, so the numbers can be checked, updated, and compared rather than taken on faith.
This content is educational only. It is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Check primary sources and speak with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
