February 28, 2023 | less than a minute read

Is the "Cloud" damaging our planet?

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Justin Bettey

Director EMEA - Supplier Management

Get in touch

Justin Bettey

Director EMEA - Supplier Management

A very thought provoking documentary from the BBC on the carbon impact that the cloud is having on the environment. I for one in my personal and professional life have literally moved most of my information/data onto the cloud, believing that i am reducing my carbon footprint by not needing or using paper, pens, external hard-drives, cables, printers and other electronic paraphernalia. But seems all I may have done is to shift my carbon footprint to an invisible carbon generating activity in server rooms around the world. According to various sources the "cloud" now accounts for 2.7% of of all global greenhouse gas emissions, thereby exceeding emissions from commercial flights.

https://www.intertek.com/carbonzero/

We all love the cloud. It stores our pictures and emails, it powers our internet searches, and it helps us stream movies and box sets. But out of sight, the cloud depends on processing factories - vast data centres that use enormous amounts of power and water. Every time we go online, we increase its carbon footprint. Richard Bilton investigates the growing environmental problem we’re all responsible for.