A controversial proposal that attempted to limit pollution from the most energy-inefficient cryptocurrencies failed in the EU parliament today.

The EU Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs voted on Monday to proceed with a legislative framework to regulate digital assets, but dropped a rule in the framework that would have disallowed people in the EU from using an energy-hungry process to generate cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.

Bitcoin and Ether and other such cryptocurrencies have stirred up alarm over how much energy they consume, and the greenhouse gas emissions they generate as a result. This is particularly important for the EU, which is grappling with an energy crisis and a rise in electricity rates that has now been compounded by the problems presented by Russia's operation in Ukraine.

The entirety of the Bitcoin network uses more electricity in one year than the entire country of Norway. Bitcoin miners use special computers that solve complex puzzles that need a lot of energy. The EU parliament considered banning that very puzzle-solving because of the amount of energy it consumes.