Hourly footprint

In October 2024, ADEME supported the publication ofthe study on the environmental impact of audiovisual usage in France, carried out by Arcom and Arcep. The full report is available here.

This study presents various scenarios for internet use and their environmental impacts. We have selected two scenarios:

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

As the environmental impact of manufacturing the devices has already been taken into account elsewhere, this section focuses solely on the impact of networks and data centres.

For scenario A4, the study estimates (see page 329 of the report) a carbon footprint of 7.87e-3 + 8.22e-4 = 8.69e-3 kgCO2e/h.

For scenario V5, the study estimates (see page 334 of the report) a carbon footprint of 2.80e-2 + 1.66e-3 = 2.966e-2 kgCO2e/h.

We use an average of these scenarios; this is a strong (but conservative) assumption, as using a smartphone to listen to music or watch videos is not necessarily representative of all internet uses (sending emails, browsing the web, streaming video on a TV or computer, etc.).