COP Websites' Carbon Footprint: A Growing Concern

Analysis reveals COP websites emit significantly more carbon than average pages, increasing over 13,000% since 1995. The study urges for scrutiny on digital carbon costs, suggesting renewable energy hosting and strict page size limits as solutions. Ongoing COP30's site emissions yet unverified.

A recent analysis from the University of Edinburgh highlights a significant environmental concern: websites for the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) are emitting substantially more carbon than typical internet pages. This reliance on high-computation multimedia content has led to emissions increasing over 13,000% since the first COP in 1995.

Published in PLOS Climate, the study scrutinizes the digital carbon footprint through data accessed from web archives like the 'Internet Archive'. Researchers found that while digital presence offers substantial value, it comes with an often overlooked ecological cost. Melissa Terras, a lead researcher, emphasized the necessity to address this carbon cost, especially for organizations committed to environmental protection.

The team suggested measures to mitigate digital expansion's environmental impact, such as optimising websites and using servers powered by renewable energy sources. The importance of refining digital infrastructure is underscored as COP30 in Belem winds to a close, though the carbon emissions from its website remain undetermined.

(With inputs from agencies.)