Art. 1 Definitions | RTS on sustainability indicators | MiCA

This is the foundational definitions article, establishing the precise meaning of key technical and environmental terms used throughout the regulation.

It is notably comprehensive, covering both crypto-asset and DLT-specific concepts — such as incentive structures and consensus mechanisms — alongside a range of environmental terms borrowed from existing EU environmental legislation, including the three scopes of GHG emissions, renewable energy, waste categories, and natural resources.

The breadth of definitions signals that the regulation operates at the intersection of the crypto-asset framework under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 and the wider EU sustainability reporting landscape.

Important points:

Understand that GHG emissions are split into three distinct scopes (scope 1, 2, and 3), each defined by the degree of directness of the emissions source in relation to DLT network nodes.
The environmental terms used in this regulation draw directly from existing EU legislation, including the Renewable Energy Directive, the WEEE Directive, and the Waste Framework Directive, anchoring crypto sustainability disclosures within the broader EU environmental regulatory framework.
The definition of "climate and other environment-related indicators" is tied explicitly to the Annex tables, meaning the scope of what must be reported is determined by reference to those tables throughout the regulation.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

‘incentive structure’ means the set of incentives and penalties established as part of a consensus mechanism to economically incentivise distributed ledger technology (DLT) network nodes to cooperate in applying the rules and procedures of the consensus mechanism for the purpose of validating transactions in crypto-assets;
‘greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions’ means emissions of gases listed in Part 2 of Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council(⁵) expressed in tonnes of CO₂-equivalent;
‘climate and other environment-related indicators’ means the indicators listed in the section ‘Mandatory key indicator on energy consumption’ of Table 2 of the Annex, in the section ‘Supplementary key indicators on energy and GHG emissions’ of Table 3 of the Annex, and in the section ‘Optional indicators’ of Table 4 of the Annex;
‘scope 1 DLT GHG emissions’ means greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated from sources that are controlled by the distributed ledger technology (DLT) network nodes using the consensus mechanism;
‘scope 2 DLT GHG emissions’ means GHG emissions from the consumption of purchased electricity, steam, or other sources of energy generated upstream from the DLT network nodes using the consensus mechanism;
‘scope 3 DLT GHG emissions’ means all indirect, upstream and downstream GHG emissions not covered by points (d) and (e) that occur in the value chain of the DLT network nodes using the consensus mechanism;
‘energy from renewable sources’ or ‘renewable energy’ means energy from renewable sources or renewable energy as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council(⁶);
‘waste’ means waste as defined in Article 2, point (23), of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;
‘waste electrical and electronic equipment’ (‘WEEE’) means waste electrical or electronic equipment as defined in Article 3(1), point (e), of Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(⁷);
‘non-recycled waste’ means any waste not recycled within the meaning of ‘recycling’ in Article 3, point 17, of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(⁸);
‘hazardous waste’ means hazardous waste as defined in Article 3, point 2, of Directive 2008/98/EC;
‘natural resources’ means natural resources as defined in Table 2 of Annex II to the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772.