When it comes to fighting climate change, each of us does our best to make small changes. Using a paper straw instead of a plastic one, driving a hybrid car and bringing a glass Tupperware for lunch. All those things are all useful, but most people still have a large blind spot when it comes to the unsustainable activities, in this particular case, daily use of streaming services. Many of us love to come home to a series on Netflix or listen to music on Spotify, hardly do we give more thought to the impact it could have on the environment.
In July 2018, Paris-based think tank The Shift Project released a report showing that global data transfer and the associated infrastructure accounts for nearly 4% of global CO2 emissions. Digital technology emits 4% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and this consumption is set to increase by 9% a year. The driver of that growth? Online video trafficking. 80% of all data transferred online is in some form of video data, i.e. streaming videos stored on a server and viewed remotely, via sites like Netflix, YouTube or Vimeo.
In 2018, online video traffic produced over 300 million tons of CO2. This is equivalent to the CO2 emissions of Spain and represents 1% of global emissions annually. Streaming services such as Netflix contribute 34% of this, whereas, for instance, streaming pornography accounts for 27% of online video streaming carbon emissions.
In 2017, Greenpeace released a report on the following topic “Who is Winning the Race to a Build a Green Internet?”. Spotify was evaluated at a very low grade of D, the report stating that “Spotify has not adopted a commitment to renewable energy or goals to increase its supply.”. Netflix received the same grade, most notably for not regularly providing data on its energy consumption costs.
It is in this context that we decided to focus our research on the environmental impact of streaming services (particularly Netflix and Spotify, two of the biggest streaming services worldwide). Secondly, we aim at finding creative solutions to the ever-growing issue of environmental-damaging consequences those services produce.
According to a report by Deutsche Welle, a German news broadcaster, the latter consumes at least 10 p.p. more electricity compared to all the production of equipment and technology combined.
But how the streaming services address the negative impacts they services have on the environment?
In 2014, the pornography website Pornhub announced that it would collaborate with various environmental associations (such as Arbor Day Foundation, Trees For The Future et American Forests) in order to plant trees each 100 videos watched. Similarly, initiatives, such as Ecosia, use advertising money to plant trees.
But are the efforts enough? We believe that no, they are not sufficient to pay off the negative environment imprint they services produce on the environment. Therefore, Green Stream, in addition to supporting environmental organisation, strongly believes in the environmentally-friendly aspect of the production process.
