As we wrote last week, there are some major changes coming to the way internet emissions are calculated. With improved data sources and research we now have more accurate data to work with. At Wholegrain we’ve always compared internet emissions to those from other sectors and countries and we have been busy updating them inline with the new model.
Here are a few stats to mull over while drinking your organic, fair trade, hot beverage of choice.
The internet is hungry for power but seems to have lost some of its appetite
Based on new research, the annual energy consumption of the global internet is 1021 TWh. (1 Terawatt hour/TWh = 1 billion Kilowatt hours/KWh). This figure, used in V4 of the Sustainable Web Design Model, is down from the previous total of 1988 TWh in V3. At the same time, the amount of annual data transfer on the web has doubled to around 5.29 ZB (1 Zettabyte/ZB = 1 trillion Gigabytes/GB). Some of the changes are down to new research and access to data across the network. Put simply, the internet appears to be becoming more efficient, which is great news.
So how do the emissions associated with that 1021 TWh compare to other sectors and figures?
A dive into Our World in Data
Using an average global carbon intensity of 481g CO2e per KWh of electricity (source) we can calculate that the 1021TWh of electricity used by the internet equates to 491 million tonnes of CO2e (all greenhouse gases combined).
Our World In Data puts the global CO2e emissions at 37.15 billion tonnes in 2023. Based on the new calculations above, the internet is responsible for 1.32% of them. According to the previous model, internet emissions were estimated at 2.57% of global emissions, so the proportion of emissions from the net has nearly halved.
The Internet vs the World
If the internet was a country (please don’t dwell too long on that image) it would be the 13th largest emitter between Mexico (512 million tonnes) and Brazil (483 million tonnes). Previously we’ve had the internet higher up the list. While 13th might be unlucky, it still puts the internet as a higher emitter than countries like Italy, the UK and France among many others. (Source)
The Internet vs the Aviation industry
We often compare internet emissions to those from air travel, but which is the bigger emitter based on the new data? Well, it depends on what you mean by air travel.
The internet had higher emissions than International Aviation in 2023 (423 million tonnes vs 491 million tonnes) – Source. However things are slightly more complicated than that. International Aviation is defined as flights that take off from one country and land in another. The associated emissions are not attributed to any one country and calculated separately by Our World in Data.
For a truer, if less up to date, reflection we could look at Global Aviation emissions. Based on 2021 figures global aviation emissions accounted for 2.5% of global emissions. On that basis we can extrapolate that today’s global aviation emissions remain higher than today’s internet emissions.
The Internet vs low-income nations
As a final comparison it’s worth noting how global internet emissions compare to low-income nations. Low-income nations are defined by the World Bank as countries with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of $1,135 or less in 2022. Countries in this category are broadly located in Central Africa, but also include Syria, Afghanistan and N. Korea.
Excluding those related to agriculture, the combined CO2e emissions of all low-income nations only equate to 76% of internet emissions.
Effectively richer nations’ internet usage emits more CO2e than most of the economic activity of the poorest countries in the world. A reminder once again of the inequalities faced when it comes to CO2e emissions.
No time for complacency
While the improved efficiency across the delivery network is great news it does not allow us to be complacent. As the network improves so does demand for bandwidth and data. New AI services and data harvesting programmes are pushing big tech firms further from their energy reduction and sustainability goals.
The average size of web pages also continues to rise. In the past ten years the average transfer size of a web page for desktops has increased by 130% to 2.6mb. Mobile pages have increased even more dramatically, by 295% to 2.3mb. (Source)
Efficient, accessible websites designed for people and the planet remain just as important as they ever were.