There's a bit of a reporting bias when it comes to BTC's (or even crypto itself) environmental impact. We're only able to say "it uses as much electricity as X country" because there's a well-defined ledger of every BTC transaction.

The question is how much non-crypto "conventional" currencies cost the planet.

That being said, BTC probably isn't the "best" cryptocurrency. I'm not sure about the details because I don't know much about this space now, but other commenters have pointed out that it's more efficient for ledgers to record proof of stake rather than proof of work.