The World’s Digital Carbon Emissions Per Minute

Netflix had 167 million users at the end of 2019 – and as we’ve seen, Netflix streaming emits over 4 million kg of CO2 per minute. Here’s a look at the impact of streaming the full series of our top 15 favorite Netflix shows:

This means that by watching all seven seasons of Orange is the New Black, for example, we’re emitting the same amount of CO2 that it takes 15 trees to sequester in a year.

We know that a standard email emits 4g of CO2 on its own. But we can also look at projections for the coming years to figure out just how much damage our emails are doing collectively.

We’re expected to send 306.4 billion emails per day in 2020, and that figure is expected to rise to 347.3 billion emails per day in 2023, ultimately adding another 164 thousand tons of CO2 into the air per day. Let’s visualize these figures:

We’d need a plot of land roughly the size of Ohio to fit the 55.7 million trees needed to sequester the projected 2020 emissions, and for 2023, we’d need a plot the size of Louisiana.

How much does the US contribute to the global email carbon footprint overall? Well, 75.5% of Americans use email – and that’s out of a population of 327.2 million. Therefore, we can estimate there are 247.7 million people using email in the US. The average American sends or receives 121 emails per day, and if each person sent one less email a day, it would save the US 362,000 tons of CO2 a year – equivalent to nearly 220,000 flights from LA to London. Sending five fewer emails a day would save the US 1.8 million tons of CO2 a year.

Now, let’s visualize these figures:

YouTube is the world’s second most visited site after Google, and the average mobile viewing session on the platform lasts more than 40 minutes. YouTube has reached one billion hours of global viewing per day. Let’s visualize what this means:

So, what exactly does it mean to go viral? Let’s take a look at the top 10 most viewed YouTube videos, as of March 2020:

Check out how those digital views translate to material carbon footprint examples:

Globally, we make more than 2 trillion Google searches per year, which creates 40,000 tons of CO2. That amounts to 24,242 LA-London flights, or 8,696 cars on the road for a full year.

So, what exactly are we searching on Google that takes up all of this energy? Here’s a look at the most searched keywords, and the CO2 they each produce per year:

At this point, we know a bit more about what our individual tweets are doing to the environment. But what about all of the times we simply engage on Twitter? Unfortunately, every funny retweet or witty reply comes at a cost. Check out the environmental impact of the top ten most-retweeted tweets ever:

So, what do our top retweets say about us? Well, they range from money giveaways, to funny jokes, to fangirl favorites. The number one most-retweeted tweet is from Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, promising a money giveaway to 100 randomly chosen people.

In a sharp contrast, the fifth-most retweeted tweet is from One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson, who sent a very bro-mantic message to bandmate Harry Styles:

Never underestimate the power (or in this case, the carbon footprint) of fangirls!

On a global scale, we send more than 8.3 trillion texts per year, which creates 83,000 tons of CO2. That’s the equivalent of 50,303 LA to London flights, or 180,445 cars on the road for a full year.

The US alone is responsible for 45% of the world’s text volume, which translates to the following:

Per year, the amount of trees that the US would have to plant alone demands a plot of land one and a half times the size of Gibraltar.

If you’ve made it this far, you’re definitely aware of the severity of our digital carbon footprint. But it’s not all bad news – there are things we can do to lessen our impact.

There are small, ethical choices that we can make daily. If the data behind Google searches surprises you, you can try searching with Ecosia instead – this is a search engine that donates 80% of its profits to reforestation efforts.

If the email numbers are what sobered you up, try out Posteo, an email service powered by 100% green electricity that offers email accounts, calendars, and address book functionalities.

There are also even smaller things you can do, with no disruption to your daily routine. These include:

• Lowering the brightness on monitor screens
• Putting computers on “sleep” mode during breaks, or turning them off
• Block video autoplay (this not only saves the planet, but also your sanity)

For ecommerce stores, bloggers, and local businesses alike, one of the best moves you can make to reduce your digital carbon footprint is to make sure that your website is eco-friendly. This applies to everything from choosing green web hosting, to uploading printer-friendly content. But we’d say choosing a green hosting provider is the best place to start! A physical web server generates a lot of heat, and in turn, web hosting companies need to invest in a lot of air conditioning. Some web hosting providers are more responsible than others when it comes to solutions like renewable energy, so you’ll want to make sure your provider is on the right side of history!

If you’ve read the stats above and feel discouraged – don’t be! Now that we’re in the know, the best thing to do is to start taking action. And the good news is, there are little things we can start doing right now that will help reduce our digital carbon footprints.