Think before you click – internet poses threats to the planet

It is as easy as one, two, click and most of us do not give any more thought to our online activity beyond getting the search results that we need, posting a picture on social media, buying something, or sending an e-mail.

But take a step back and consider that each time you load a website, store information on the cloud, order something or send an e-mail, there is a small environmental cost to it.

Our internet habits are not as clean as we may think, considering the huge amount of electricity it takes to power the web globally, the sheer number of deliveries made every day.

Greenhouse gas woes

According to a recent report, Lean ICT, by the Shift Project, a carbon transition think-tank in Europe, the internet was estimated to match aviation in its greenhouse gas emissions at around 4% of all global emissions in 2019, increasing by 9% annually.

It is easy to imagine when considering that around five billion people are online, every day.

Online video, according to the Shift Project, is responsible for 60% of current online data flow, with consequent emissions of around 300 million tons of emissions annually.

This is all expected to double by 2025.

In South Africa, with our high dependence on fossil fuels for energy, emissions are high.

According to Henk Sa, a partner at environmental consultancy Ecometrix, Eskom is responsible for around 50% of all carbon emissions in SA.

While no actual statistics are available for total local internet consumption, consider that, according to Stats SA, we have a digital community of 36.54 million, of which 34.93 million access the internet via mobile devices.

That is around 60% of the population.

Sustainable online initiative

Vodacom, a major provider of data and connectivity searches, has recognised this and have initiated various programmes to minimise its footprint and lessen its dependency on energy derived from fossil fuels.

“The electricity sourced from the grid is supplemented by electricity generated from diesel generators, solar panels, fuel cells and batteries mostly owned or managed by Vodacom.

“Since 2010, we have invested significantly in renewable energy sources to power our network and building operations, from being the first to install the largest solar roof top at our offices in Century City in 2012 to entering into power purchase agreements with renewable power producers.

“Our commitment is to achieve a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025,” says chief executive for external affairs at Vodacom SA, Takalani Netshitenzhe.

“One of the projects aimed at reducing our impact is the introduction of an Internet of Things [IOT] capability in our base station sites, which significantly reduces energy consumption.

“In 2020, 6 500 sites were implemented with an IOT capability and our plan is to roll out this project to all our base station sites.”

Vodacom consumed 608 gigawatt hours of electricity in its previous financial year.

MTN did not respond to questions by the time of going to print.

e-Commerce boom

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the use of e-commerce skyrocket in South Africa.

In a late 2020 global e-commerce survey by GetApp, six in 10 people surveyed locally noted that they have started spending more time online than in physical stores.

This is indicative of the future role that online shopping may have on carbon footprinting.

Consider the value chain emissions of warehousing, internet data transmission, additional packaging and multiple delivery runs called last mile fulfilment.

“But counterbalance this with the environmental opportunity cost of getting into your car and going to the mall. There are no clear statistics to show which is the most environmentally beneficial option,” says Ecometrix.

SA online shopping brand Takealot.com declined to participate in this story.

Conversely, Amazon self-publishes its carbon footprint annually and it is up 15% from 2018’s 44 metric tons, pegging 2020 emissions at 51 metric tons.

Hein Kaiser