On 15 March, we’re holding a day to raise awareness of the environmental footprint of digital technology. Being concerned about the environment also means being aware of our digital usage.
This day is part of an awareness-raising initiative aimed at contributing to responsible digital use. It’s a great opportunity to share some convivial moments with you on this theme during the week from 10th to 14th March. We’ve already come up with a number of events where we can discuss the steps, we can all take, at our own level, to reduce the amount of waste we store online, but we invite you to share your ideas as well.
In concrete terms, when we talk about being more aware of our digital responsibilities, we’re thinking of deleting the message archives that we keep preciously on our phones ‘just in case’. Spoiler alert: we hardly ever use these archives… We also think of all the e-mails we open without ever deleting them, or the hundreds of newsletters we receive every week: ever more numerous, ever more polluting.
But beyond the mental burden that this over-solicitation imposes on us, there is a very real, measurable impact that we often choose to ignore: digital pollution. For example, do you know how much CO2 an e-mail emits?
In 2022, the carbon base of the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) offered an assessment of the carbon footprint of an e-mail:
– A simple e-mail emits 4g of CO2.
– An e-mail with an attachment emits 35g of CO2.
– A spam email emits 0.3g of CO2.
For TikTok videos, which generally last between 15 and 60 seconds, the carbon footprint per video would be approximately between 0.73 and 2.92 grams of CO₂. This footprint can vary depending on the quality of the video and the connection mode (Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G).
On a global scale, with more than 1.5 billion users in 2024, TikTok would be responsible for emitting around 50 million tonnes of CO₂ per year, a carbon footprint comparable to that of Greece!1
Beyond direct pollution, it is crucial to consider the data storage space required by these billions of users. Because if one thing is certain, it’s that nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is stored!
Imagine that all the data not stored on your personal devices, but in the Cloud, is stored in data centres, which themselves consume a lot of energy. These facilities require a constant power supply and air conditioning to prevent the equipment from overheating.
In short, you’ve got it: so many factors and emissions linked to our digital consumption that we don’t even realise have an impact on the environment, but they are very real.
Because Transition Minett wants to initiate events based on your ideas, we are listening to any suggestions you may have on the theme of digital pollution. What topics or issues would you like to see addressed during the week of 10 to 14 March? Or perhaps you have an activity or action in mind that we could set up together?
We are also planning to organise a screening of a documentary on the digital footprint. What kind of discussions or animation would you like to see after this screening?
Feel free to submit your ideas on our participative platform: participation.transition-minett.lu or by email to comm@transition-minett.lu
💡So get on your keyboards and share your best ideas with us!
- Source: novethic.fr ↩︎