• The Solana Foundation and Ripple form a new non-profit organization to pioneer crypto-based climate change solutions. 
• The two blockchain bigwigs have previously pioneered individual climate action initiatives. 

Ripple and Solana are teaming up with others to accelerate the use of crypto-based solutions for climate change. The two blockchain titans joined a newly founded non-profit organization, called Blockchain x Climate Leadership Network (BxC).

Coindesk, which is also a member of the initiative, reports that BxC’s launch was announced at a GBBC’s event during the 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland.

The initiative also includes Eqo Networks, industry group Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), and blockchain-climate collective BxCi as members. The non-profit says that it intends to use crypto to support climate change mitigation efforts. The use will largely revolve around creating new economies that do not harm the environment.

The collective also wants to attract more attention to blockchain projects that have real-world applications and social benefits. This is because this makes more sense than using crypto just for speculative purposes.

I think the climate use case makes the most sense in terms of real-world utility beyond, let’s say, speculative retail involvement,

Daniel Hwang, strategic adviser to BxC said during an interview.

BxC has been gearing up for launch since 2022 when it was conceived in Greenland by its founding members the Solana Foundation and Ripple. The two were joined by environmentally-oriented layer 1 blockchain Regen Network and association Climate Collective as supporting partners.

Meanwhile, Eqo Networks, which specializes in creating such climate-minded leadership networks, and BxCi, formerly known as Blockchain Infrastructure Carbon Offset Working Group, and GBBC, lead the project’s initiatives.

BxC is already doing work to provide a supporting infrastructure ecosystem for the initiative. Led by Hwang, it is developing carbon credit measurements to help calculate the number of greenhouse gases generated by human activity. Hwang’s team has also held workshops and forums focused on education.

Ripple and Solana working to reduce blockchain technology’s climate impact

More broadly, BCX has also formed working groups that are currently active and will form the foundation of the non-profit. These include working groups on carbon market registries, standards and auditability, policy development, regenerative finance, and emerging markets in the global south.

Meanwhile, the initiative is not the first time Solana or Ripple have involved themselves in pioneering climate impact mitigation action. The Solana Foundation announced in 2021 that it would fund a refrigerant destruction initiative to reduce carbon emissions. At the time, it also noted that the proof-of-stake Solana blockchain had achieved carbon neutrality.

Similarly, Ripple committed to going carbon neutral by 2030 back in 2020. In 2022, the blockchain giant reiterated this commitment by voluntarily signing the Climate Pledge. It also pledged $100 million in funding to scale and strengthen carbon markets, the largest pledge of its kind in the crypto industry.