We often talk about emissions related to transport, production and buildings. Much more rarely do we talk about those generated by digital activities — yet every company, every day, produces invisible emissions through its online operations.
Digital Cleanup Day, celebrated every year on March 21, was created precisely to shine a light on this blind spot. It is not just a day to empty your inbox or delete duplicate files: it is an invitation to seriously rethink the environmental impact of every organisation’s digital infrastructure.
In this article, we explain what the digital carbon footprint is, what drives it — and, most importantly, how you can start measuring and reducing it.
What is the Digital Carbon Footprint
The digital carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions generated by the use of digital technologies. It is not just about the electricity consumed while browsing: it includes the entire lifecycle of digital within your organisation, structured into three main phases.
1. Device production
Every computer, smartphone or server requires the extraction of rare minerals, energy-intensive industrial processes and intercontinental transport before it even reaches your desk. The most polluting moment is not when you use the device, but when it is manufactured.
80%
of emissions
Emissions from the production phase of a smartphone.
→ Production generates around 80% of the device’s total lifecycle emissions.
Source: ITU & World Bank, 2024
2. Daily use
Servers, data centres and transmission networks operate 24/7 to enable every online activity: email, video conferencing, cloud storage, searches. Every byte transmitted or stored has a real energy cost.
3. End of life
Devices that are discarded without proper disposal release heavy metals and toxic materials into the environment. The rate of proper e-waste recycling remains critically low at a global level.
62 Mt
e-waste in 2022
Global electronic waste generated in 2022 — +82% compared to 2010.
→ Only 22.3% was properly collected and recycled.
→ Without intervention, this is expected to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030.
Source: ITU & World Bank, 2024
Why digital emissions are still a blind spot in corporate reporting
Most companies that have started a sustainability journey monitor emissions related to energy, mobility and supply chain. Very few systematically include digital emissions.
The reason is simple: they are invisible. They do not come out of a chimney, nor are they measured at a fuel pump. Instead, they are spread across dozens of everyday behaviours — a video meeting, an email attachment, a query to an AI model — which individually seem negligible, but become significant when aggregated.
1,7–4%
of global emissions
The share of global greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the ICT sector.
→ A percentage now comparable to that of international civil aviation (~1.9%).
→ With the rise of generative AI, this share is expected to increase further.
Source: ITU & World Bank, 2024
The problem is not digital itself. The problem is not measuring it.
The main sources of digital emissions in an organisation
To manage a phenomenon, you first need to understand where it comes from. These are the four areas that most impact a company’s digital footprint.
Video conferencing and internal communications
Video calls have become the primary communication tool for millions of companies, but they come with an often overlooked environmental impact. High-definition video transmission requires significantly more data than a simple audio call, leading to increased use of servers and networks. Seemingly simple actions — such as turning off the camera when it is not strictly necessary — can make a measurable difference.
-96%
call impact
Reduction in environmental impact of a video call when the camera is turned off.
→ A study by Purdue University, Yale and MIT quantified the effect of toggling the camera on/off.
Source: Veritas Technologies, The State of Dark Data (2020)
Dark data and unmanaged storage
Dark data refers to everything an organisation stores but does not use: outdated reports, duplicate files, intermediate document versions, layered backups over time. These are not inert — they occupy physical space on servers that continuously consume energy and require cooling.
A structured data governance policy — defining what to retain, for how long and in which formats — is one of the highest impact-to-cost actions to reduce digital emissions.
85%
of corporate data
The share of data stored by organisations that is never used.
→ These “ghost data” occupy servers running 24/7, generating continuous emissions.
Source: Veritas Technologies, The State of Dark Data (2020)
Email and asynchronous communication
Email is the most universal communication tool in organisations and one of the least monitored from an environmental perspective. The impact of each message varies significantly: a short text email has a minimal footprint, but a message with large attachments, sent to dozens of recipients and stored for years across multiple servers, accumulates a far more significant footprint. When multiplied by typical organisational volumes, the annual impact per employee can reach several tens of kilograms of CO₂e.
Generative AI
Generative AI models require a much heavier computational infrastructure than traditional digital tools — both during training and everyday use. In organisations where dozens of employees use these tools daily, the additional consumption quickly becomes significant. This is not about giving up AI, but about integrating its use into a broader measurement strategy.
10x
more electricity
Energy consumption of a generative AI query compared to a traditional Google search.
→ According to the IEA: Google = 0.3 Wh; ChatGPT = 2.9 Wh per query.
→ By 2030, data centres could account for 8% of total electricity consumption in the United States.
Source: IEA; Goldman Sachs Research, 2024
How to measure a company’s digital carbon footprint
Measuring digital emissions requires a methodological approach that considers three dimensions simultaneously: devices (hardware in use and lifecycle), infrastructure (cloud, servers, connectivity) and behaviours (usage patterns of email, video conferencing, AI and storage).
There is no universal formula: impact depends on factors such as the energy mix of the country where data centres operate, the cloud provider’s energy sourcing, the company’s device fleet and employee usage habits.
A robust analysis starts with real data — consumption, volumes, usage types — and translates them into emissions using recognised methodologies such as the GHG Protocol.
Where to start: five practical actions for Digital Cleanup Day and beyond
Digital Cleanup Day is a great opportunity to build more conscious habits. Here are five concrete, zero-cost starting points.
- Cloud storage audit. Spend an hour mapping what is stored and for how long. Identify folders with duplicate files, outdated versions or content not accessed in the past year. Define a minimum retention policy and apply it.
- Email practices review. Reduce unnecessary CCs, discourage heavy attachments (use shared document links instead), unsubscribe from unread newsletters. Small systematic changes produce significant effects at scale.
- Video conferencing guidelines. Define when the camera is necessary and when it is not. Encourage audio-only meetings for short updates.
- Generative AI usage policy. Define priority use cases and discourage use for tasks that can be handled by less energy-intensive tools. Measuring how AI is used is the first step to optimising it.
- Extending device lifecycle. Delay replacing hardware that is still functional. Each additional year of use significantly reduces the overall production footprint of a device.
These actions are a strong starting point. But for companies aiming to integrate digital emissions into a structured sustainability strategy — and report them to stakeholders, banks and clients — the next step is systematic measurement.
Conclusion
Digital Cleanup Day reminds us every year that digital is not neutral. The emissions we don’t see are still real — and for organisations they represent both an unmanaged risk and a concrete opportunity for improvement.
Reducing your digital footprint does not mean giving up technology. It means using it more consciously — and measuring it with the same rigour applied to other components of your sustainability report.
Kyklos Carbon supports companies from measurement to actionable improvement.
Sources
• ITU & Banca Mondiale (2024). Measuring the Emissions & Energy Footprint of the ICT Sector.
• UNCTAD (2024). Digital Economy Report 2024.
• IEA — stime consumo energetico per query AI vs ricerca tradizionale.
• Berners-Lee M. (2020). How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything.
Your office is polluting even when it’s turned off. Have you ever measured how much?