Blockchain network Solana has become the first major smart contract blockchain to provide real-time measurement of its carbon emissions. The Solana Foundation will regularly update a dashboard with environmental metrics including energy consumption, carbon footprint and network power intensity. The dashboard, which is created in collaboration with carbon data platform Trycarbonara, will gather data from on-chain metrics and a sample of Solana validators to provide a more precise measurement of the network's energy consumption. Solana policy lead Amira Valliani hopes the initiative will encourage other blockchain networks to disclose their carbon footprint. Environmental impact is a pressing issue for the blockchain sector because of the huge amounts of energy consumed. While Ethereum has reduced its estimated carbon footprint by 99.99% via a switch to proof-of-stake, Bitcoin's energy consumption has attracted controversy for its impact on the environment. A Texas bill was recently passed to limit the ability of Bitcoin miners to access energy during demand spikes.

(By Sander Lutz)