Energy transition's blind spot? Our digital CO₂ footprint

We reduce the heating by 1 degree. Choose the train over the plane. We sort our waste, opt for vegetarian meals, and buy less. Each of these is a commendable step toward a sustainable society. But there’s one climate impact we’re all still massively overlooking: our digital CO_₂ footprint.

Everything we do online—from storing old emails to video calls and using artificial intelligence (AI)—emits CO_₂. And quite a lot of it. If the internet were a country, it would rank among the top 10 global energy consumers. This is just the beginning. The rise of AI is accelerating and will drive even more emissions in the coming years. We’re at the start, so we’d better act quickly to mitigate the consequences.

Around 45 data centers use as much electricity as 1.9 million homes

The data centers that keep all our photos, search queries, video meetings, and AI chatbots running are massive energy consumers. They’re responsible for half the emissions of the aviation sector. New figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) show that the largest data centers in the Netherlands use as much electricity as nearly a quarter of all households. With further digitization and the rise of AI, this demand will only grow. A simple ChatGPT query consumes up to 25 times more energy than a Google search.

An invisible addiction

Meanwhile, the systems we use daily are designed to keep us glued to our screens for as long as possible. Big Tech knows exactly how to hold our attention—because attention is worth its weight in gold. But at a high ecological cost.

Digitization is indispensable, but it must also be sustainable

Digitization is essential, but if it’s not sustainable itself, we’re missing the mark. The government must take steps now to make our digitization sustainable: promote device reuse, limit unnecessary data storage and AI tool use, and encourage sustainable online behavior. It’s time to develop these plans and new ways of working.

A green future isn’t just about solar panels and heat pumps—it’s also about conscious and clean digital behavior. And instead of yet another Teams call… maybe just phoning while taking a walk isn’t such a bad idea after all.