Earth Day should get us all thinking about how our personal lives impact the planet. But what about your work life? Ever wonder what happens when you hit send on a new email campaign? Do those emails leave a carbon footprint? There was a time when everyone thought email was environmentally friendly . Because it replaced the use of paper, which saves trees, right? More recently, however, the environmental impact of digital activities has become clearer. All the little things we do online require energy, and they add up.
It’s estimated that internet usage coupled
with our devices and supporting systems (like data centers) make up 3.7% of annual global emissions. According to the data on CO2 emissions, if the internet were its own nation, it would be the fifth-largest polluter in the world. The truth is, all those marketing emails do require the use of energy and fossil fuels. And, it’s possible to waste that energy. So, there’s no better time than now to start thinking about sustainable email marketing. Let’s take a closer look at what you can do to support a more sustainable Nigeria Business Email List approach to email marketing, including an inspiring new initiative. What is email’s carbon footprint? A few studies have attempted to quantify how much carbon dioxide a single email produces. Citing 2010 research from Mike Berners-Lee’s book, How Bad Are Bananas?, the BBC says the carbon footprint for a typical, personal email is equivalent to 4g CO2 while a message with a hefty attachment could be equal to . Berners-Lee estimated that emails sent by a typical business person in one year would produce enough energy to drive a car 200 miles.
email carbon footprint comparison graphic
However, some say the environmental impact of email may have increased over the last decade. Charlotte Freitag, an expert who works for Berners-Lee’s consultancy told the BBC: “We think the footprint per message might be higher today because of the bigger phones people are using.” Of course, it’s not just the act of sending an email that has UAE Cell Number an environmental impact. Energy is also used to store emails in the cloud as data centers support our overflowing inboxes. That includes plenty of transactional and promotional emails from brands. Is email marketing wasteful? While existing research tends to focus on the personal use of email, it’s not hard to make the leap to marketing emails and their potential impact on the climate. If you’re an email marketer, you see the numbers all the time.
