Online video streaming accounts for 1% of global carbon emissions. A seemingly insignificant amount. However, 1% is more than some countries contribute in total. Therefore, as the environmental consciousness of consumers increases, a period of climate reckoning for online streaming companies may be on the horizon.

Internet use increases CO2 emissions

In 2019 two academics sparked dozens of sensationalist headlines when they reported on the vast jump in energy used to consume music since the days of records and CDs. Around the same time a French think tank, The Shift Project, published reports on the environmental impact of ICT and online video. Their research showed that CO2 emissions of a phone increases nine-fold when using the internet, a significant proportion of this as a result of online streaming. Debate on the environmental cost of our digital lives is clearly heating up.

Streaming traffic predicted to increase

As we enter the new decade, the 2030 EU environment, energy and climate targets loom large. The internet is often assumed to have a minimal impact on the climate, but in reality is causing an increasing amount of emissions. Cisco have predicted that video will account for 82% of all internet traffic by 2022, making the limitation of streaming emissions critical.

This suggests that our binge-watching habit is not as harmless as we might think. As TV continues to migrate to the internet, we will have to reckon with the carbon impact of watching whatever we want, whenever we want and for however long we might want.

Sustainability will come to the fore

This does not necessarily mean renouncing streaming. Instead, greater awareness encourages transparency and accountability. Following the revelations of the environmental toll of music streaming, Spotify published its first sustainability report. It also moved its servers to Google Cloud, a platform that has committed to carbon neutrality.

Sustainability will be an important theme in 2020. If internet companies are transparent about their environmental impact and invest in strong environmental policies such as renewable energy, consumers will choose streaming platforms that align with their concerns. A decidedly less painful option for the conscious consumer than eschewing streaming altogether.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

View profiles in store

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData

Submit

UK USA Afghanistan Åland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Côte d"Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Réunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates US Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam British Virgin Islands US Virgin Islands Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Kosovo

Industry * Academia & Education Aerospace, Defense & Security Agriculture Asset Management Automotive Banking & Payments Chemicals Construction Consumer Foodservice Government, trade bodies and NGOs Health & Fitness Hospitals & Healthcare HR, Staffing & Recruitment Insurance Investment Banking Legal Services Management Consulting Marketing & Advertising Media & Publishing Medical Devices Mining Oil & Gas Packaging Pharmaceuticals Power & Utilities Private Equity Real Estate Retail Sport Technology Telecom Transportation & Logistics Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Venture Capital

Tick here to opt out of curated industry news, reports, and event updates from Verdict.

Submit and download

Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Greenpeace’s ClickClean offers a valuable resource for consumers concerned with their internet-fueled emissions, by easily enabling them consumers to see which apps are powered by renewables.

Currently, Facebook, Google and Apple are ahead of Amazon Prime, and are leagues ahead of Netflix, Vimeo and HBO.

Practical changes can be made

Still, perspective is everything. An individual with a penchant for watching Friends on repeat every evening won’t rival the carbon output of someone who races sports cars around a track to unwind – not least because electricity is much easier to decarbonize.

What’s more, streaming is not as compute-intensive as internet searches that we rely on every day. Vishal Misra, a computer scientist at Columbia University points to computationally intensive web activity as having a much greater energy toll.

Given that $1 invested in digital technologies today results in 37% more energy consumption than just 10 years ago, streaming isn’t the only digital activity we need to reconsider.

‘Digital Sobriety’, to use a Shift Project term, encourages users to perform a realistic assessment of the climate toll of their digital activities. Practical changes can be made, as Spotify has shown, but to do so requires introspection and accountability. Both consumers and enterprise will need to be more selective when using internet technologies, but for now streaming is probably still okay.