Hourly footprint

In October 2024, ADEME accompanied the release of the studyon the environmental impact of audiovisual use in France, carried out by Arcom and Arcep. The full report is available here.

This study proposes different scenarios for Internet use and their environmental impact. We have selected 2 scenarios:

• A4: Listening to music/podcasts on a streaming platform (application) on a smartphone connected to the internet via a mobile network
• V5: Watching online video on an HD video-sharing platform on a smartphone connected to the internet via a mobile network

For scenario A4, the study estimates (see page 329 of the report):

• a carbon footprint of 0.0131 kgCO2e/h or 13.1 gCO2e/h.

• a water footprint of 0.000134 m3/h or 0.134 l/h.

  For scenario V5, the study estimates (see page 334 of the report):

• a carbon footprint of 0.0523 kgCO2e/h or 52.3 gCO2e/h.
• a water footprint of 0.000536 m3/h or 0.536 l/h.

We are using an average of these scenarios, this is a strong (but conservative) assumption because the use of a smartphone for listening to music or watching video is not necessarily representative of all Internet use (sending emails, surfing the web, streaming video on TV or computer, etc.).