You may have noticed it. Since January 1, 2022, your fixed and mobile Internet bills have included a new item of information, that of your carbon footprint. Operators are now obliged to include it.
The objective is to make us aware of the impact of our consumption of mobile data on the environment. Watching a video on your smartphone, playing an online game, or exchanging messages on WhatsApp and Instagram is not trivial.
In France, digital represents 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to Arcep, the telecommunications regulatory authority. This figure could increase considerably in the years to come, reaching up to 7% of emissions if nothing is done to reduce its impact.
“To access digital services, we need equipment”, an infrastructure, recalls Raphael Guastavi, digital and environment manager at the Ecological Transition Agency (ADEME). “Each time we look for data, and in particular video streaming, which represents the largest part of the data flow passing through the networks, we call on material and energy resources, and therefore this generates emissions. greenhouse gases. “
To inform and educate consumers, operators must therefore indicate the CO2 emissions linked to our data consumption. The amount of data spent, in gigabytes, was already listed on your receipt. “Next to it will be written the greenhouse gas equivalent, expressed in grams, kilograms or tonnes for the largest consumers”, details Michel Combot, president of the Telecoms Federation.
According to him, this will push many of us to adopt the right actions, such as activating the Wifi of our smartphone when we are at home, rather than staying on 4G networks, or even avoiding high definition videos.
But other players in the sector, such as the vice-president of the National Digital Council, denounce a faulty calculation method. “Digital technology has a large number of positive externalities”, explains Gilles Babinet. He thus gives the example of the Blablacar carpooling site, “which reduces our carbon footprint through huge energy savings that we never talk about.”
Some even fear the impending introduction of a carbon tax on Internet packages. Nothing of the sort has been mentioned yet.
Your mobile data consumption has an impact on the environment – Boris Hallier
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