Why Decarbonise?
We live in an ever increasingly Digital World, you only have to look around to see the impact digital is having.
Why Decarbonise? Travel by bus or tube and where once you will have seen heads lost in books or conversations you will instead see heads buried in mobile devices. Nearly every service we touch now from travel to eating out or our home utilities has some level of digital engagement. Want to browse a menu in a cafe,use a QR code, want to board a plane - access your digital wallet, want to complete a meter reading, access your smart meter.
Whilst some of these experiences are undoubtedly better than what came before, its equally clear that some are not. The rush to digitise is often made with no thought for the cost in human experience or, and this is where we come in, the cost in terms of carbon impact.
Percentage of global electricity consumption estimated to be attributable to generative AI.
An easy comparison to make which we find helps people understand the impact is aviation. Digital technologies, contribute nearly 3 times the amount of climate emissions as flying.
In fact its estimated that the technology sector will soon account for more than 20% of all global electricity usage. (enerdata 2020)
The recent rise in prominence and use of Generative AI has seen it already account for more than 1% of all global electricity. Crypto Currency mining is another significant contributor to global emissions, with estimates in 2022 suggesting that you would need to plant 2.9 Billion trees a year to offset the carbon emissions from Bitcoin alone.
We believe that software is the biggest driver for all of these emissions, and our estimates and work to date suggest that on average you could save around 53% of these emissions.
So why would you not decarbonise your Digital?
