The Carbon Footprint of Digital Products and How to Act on It
- Oksana Zheleznova
- 10 hours ago
- 6 min read
Digital products often feel intangible. Emails, cloud storage, streaming platforms, AI tools, and mobile applications seem to exist in a weightless virtual world.
But behind every digital interaction lies a vast physical infrastructure of data centers, networks, and electronic devices — all of which consume energy and generate greenhouse gas emissions.
As the digital economy expands, understanding the carbon footprint of digital products and services has become an increasingly important part of climate strategies on the national, international and company levels.
The Hidden Carbon Cost of Digital Technologies
The global Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector accounts for an estimated 1.5% to 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, roughly comparable to the aviation industry.
In absolute terms, this represents hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO₂ equivalent each year, with demand continuing to grow as cloud computing, streaming, and artificial intelligence expand worldwide.
According to estimates from the International Energy Agency, global data center electricity consumption is expected to rise significantly as AI and digital services scale across industries.
For an individual user, digital activities can represent a substantial share of their personal climate footprint.
Studies suggest that a typical digital lifestyle — including device use, internet activity, and cloud services — can generate up to 850 kg of CO₂e per year, depending on usage patterns.
Where Digital Carbon Emissions Come From
The carbon footprint of digital products typically comes from three main sources: device manufacturing, digital infrastructure, and user activity.
Device Manufacturing
The largest share of emissions often occurs before a device is even switched on.
Manufacturing smartphones, laptops, and other electronics requires energy-intensive mining of metals, semiconductor fabrication, and global supply chains.
Research indicates that 75–80% of a device’s lifetime emissions occur during production.
Typical embodied emissions include:
Smartphone: ~70–100 kg CO₂e
Laptop: ~250–350 kg CO₂e
Because of this, extending the lifespan of devices is one of the most effective ways to reduce digital emissions.
For example, using a smartphone for four years instead of two can reduce its annualized carbon footprint by nearly half.
Data Centers and Networks
Data centers are the industrial backbone of the digital economy.
They process data, run applications, store information, and power everything from streaming services to AI models.
These facilities operate 24 hours a day, consuming electricity both for computing and cooling. Major technology companies are investing heavily in renewable electricity to power these facilities, but global demand for computing continues to rise.
Everyday Digital Usage
Individual digital activities may seem insignificant on their own, but their cumulative impact across billions of users is substantial.
For example, sending an email without an attachment generates approximately 0.3 grams of CO₂e, while an email with a large attachment can reach around 50 grams.
Streaming one hour of HD video produces roughly 36 grams of CO₂e, and a single AI prompt can generate between 0.1 and 0.5 grams, depending on the energy source.
Streaming services, social media platforms, and cloud computing now account for a significant share of global internet traffic, making everyday digital behavior an increasingly important contributor to overall emissions.
The AI Surge and Rising Energy Demand
Artificial intelligence is rapidly increasing the energy intensity of digital infrastructure.
AI models require large computing workloads for both training and operation, often running on specialized processors in high-performance data centers.
Some estimates suggest that a single AI query may consume up to ten times more electricity than a traditional web search.
In addition to electricity demand, AI data centers also require significant water resources for cooling systems.
Large facilities can use millions of liters of water per day to manage the heat generated by high-performance computing clusters.
As AI adoption accelerates, improving the energy efficiency and carbon intensity of digital infrastructure is becoming a major priority.
How Digital Products Can Reduce Their Carbon Footprint
Reducing emissions from digital services requires coordinated action across energy systems, hardware design, and software development.
Clean Energy for Data Centers
Many technology companies are transitioning toward 24/7 fossil fuel free electricity, matching their power consumption with renewable generation every hour.
Other innovations include:
liquid or immersion cooling technologies
energy-efficient server hardware
waste heat recovery for district heating systems
advanced data center design with low Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)
These strategies can reduce operational emissions significantly.
Green Software Engineering
Software design itself can influence energy consumption.
Poorly optimized code requires more processing power, which increases electricity demand.
New “green coding” approaches aim to reduce this impact through:
carbon-aware computing that schedules workloads when renewable electricity is available
efficient programming languages and algorithms
smaller, optimized AI models
modular microservices that run only when needed
These techniques can reduce computing demand by 10–20% in many systems.
Companies like Ceibo Estudio are already helping digital businesses in Latin America measure and optimize their software's carbon footprint at the infrastructure level — turning these green engineering principles into actionable recommendations that also reduce cloud costs by 10–30%.
Circular Hardware and Supply Chains
Because device manufacturing accounts for most digital emissions, circular design is becoming a priority.
Strategies include:
modular electronics that allow easy repair
longer hardware lifecycles
recycled materials in device manufacturing
refurbishment and reuse of servers and components
In simple terms, the most sustainable device is the one that already exists.
Global Initiatives Driving Sustainable Digital Transformation
Recognizing the growing climate impact of digital infrastructure, international organizations have launched initiatives to coordinate sector-wide action.
One of the most prominent is the International Telecommunication Union’s Green Digital Action initiative, launched at COP28. It brings together more than 50 partners from governments, technology companies, research institutions, and civil society to accelerate climate-positive digital transformation.
A Twin Transition
Green Digital Action promotes a “twin transition”:
Decarbonizing the ICT sector itself
Using digital technologies to reduce emissions across the wider economy
The initiative aligns with the Paris Agreement climate goals and promotes science-based pathways that could reduce ICT sector emissions by around 45% by 2030.
Key areas of work include:
tracking and reducing ICT greenhouse gas emissions
promoting circular economy standards for electronics
advancing green computing and open environmental data
strengthening telecommunications systems for climate resilience
Through global collaboration and policy engagement, the initiative aims to ensure that digital transformation supports — rather than undermines — global climate targets.
The Role of Carbon Offsetting
Even with aggressive mitigation efforts, some emissions associated with digital products are hard to eliminate. In these cases, carbon offsetting plays a very important role in moving the industry to Net Zero goals.
The Shift Toward Durable Carbon Removal
Climate guidance such as the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting and SBTi encourages companies to transition from traditional avoidance offsets toward durable carbon removal solutions.
Examples include:
biochar carbon removal
direct air capture with geological storage
mineralization and enhanced rock weathering
These approaches store carbon for centuries or longer and are increasingly considered necessary for long-term net-zero strategies.
Because of their durability and limited supply, high-quality removal credits often command significantly higher prices than traditional offsets.
Carbonmark: Solutions for Scalable Climate Action
As digital companies move from climate commitments to implementation, the challenge is turning strategy into execution. At Carbonmark, we support this transition by providing the infrastructure needed to source, manage, and operationalize carbon credits at scale.
We work with companies to design customized carbon portfolios aligned with their decarbonization pathways and climate goals, including a growing share of durable carbon removal. Each project undergoes additional due diligence to ensure high integrity and that the claimed impact is real, measurable, and verifiable.
Through our marketplace, companies gain direct access to carbon credits with transparent pricing, clear methodologies, and detailed project documentation — enabling faster, more informed, and fully auditable procurement decisions. Visit our Buyers’ page for a step-by-step guide on how to source and retire carbon credits through the Carbonmark marketplace.
Beyond sourcing credits for corporate offsetting, Carbonmark enables companies developing digital products to embed climate action seamlessly into the user experience. This not only engages climate-conscious users but can also unlock an additional revenue stream.
Through our API, users can support carbon projects starting from as little as 1 kg of CO₂, making participation in carbon markets more accessible while channeling finance to high-impact climate solutions.
Here's how Ascend Bit Corp is driving change through Carbonmark’s API integration, empowering millions of users to participate in climate action.
With Carbonmark, climate action becomes measurable, traceable, and easy to communicate, turning sustainability into a tangible and scalable part of your business.
Building a Climate-Aligned Digital Economy
The digital economy will continue expanding, and with it the infrastructure that powers our online lives.
Reducing the climate impact of digital products will require a combination of:
clean electricity for data centers
energy-efficient software and hardware
circular electronics supply chains
responsible carbon offsetting for residual emissions
At the same time, digital technologies themselves can help accelerate climate solutions across other sectors, from smart energy systems to AI-enabled climate modeling.
The challenge ahead is ensuring that the digital transformation is not only innovative and scalable but also aligned with global climate goals.
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