What is the carbon footprint of digital services? The IBU partnered with its digital ecosystem developer Vincit to calculate the emissions created by its new digital ecosystem, including the new app and revamped website as well as the Data Center and streaming services provided in cooperation with Eurovision.

We all agree digital technologies improve our daily lives. But we may not realise that these services, too, have an environmental impact and we need to be mindful of the footprint that is created by digital infrastructure and end devices. The good news is that we can all do our bit to help reduce this impact.

The hidden impact of digital services

Digital services help reduce our emissions, such as by optimising logistics. But even this coin has two sides – information and communication technology (ICT) also carries an environmental footprint of its own. Digital services, such as applications, streamed services and data transfer require physical devices and electricity to operate. This causes emissions, consumes natural resources, and uses scarce minerals. It is estimated that ICT solutions cause between 1.4 percent to 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The carbon footprint of IBU’s digital ecosystem

Based on a carbon footprint calculation conducted by IBU and Vincit in the second half of 2021, the total carbon footprint of the IBU’s digital ecosystem, including emissions from live video streaming, is approximately 88 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Since there are an estimated 2 million fans of biathlon using these services, the emissions per user are not large. Compared to the total carbon footprint of the IBU’s worldwide operations, digital services are not a major source of emissions. Travel to and from and energy consumption at the IBU events are much bigger culprits.

However, nearly 90 tons CO2e is significant enough; it translates to some 200 barrels of oil consumed. That’s why the IBU has taken the decision to compensate for this impact for the moment, ensuring that its digital ecosystem is climate-neutral already now. As part of its commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of the sport by 50% by 2030 and aim at net zero by 2040, the IBU will also be working to reduce emissions from its digital services going forward.

What will the IBU be doing to reduce its digital footprint?

As part of its general commitment to reduce its emissions by 50% by 2030, the IBU will work with its digital ecosystem partners Vincit and Eurovision to:

1. Optimise asset size: Finding ways to reduce and optimise data transferred such as optimising videos and images according to the end-user device and screen size, optimising video for different bandwidths and using lazy loading for images.

2. Optimise capacity: Using on-demand capacity instead of dedicated capacity in data centers such as serverless offerings in cloud.

3. Switch to renewables: Preferring solutions that use renewable energy in for example data centers.

4. Involve the supply chain: Engaging with companies that operate in the digital value chain and asking for information about energy efficiency and consumption. Here the IBU will be working with its hosting service provider Amazon Web Services to track and reduce its emissions in the future.

What can you do to reduce the carbon footprint of your digital consumption?

Even if the total carbon footprint per user is relatively small, you too can help. For example, you can reduce your emissions by:

1. Switching to WiFi or LAN: Use a wireless or fixed network when using the services with a mobile phone or laptop at home or any location with a network.

2. Checking where the power comes from: Make sure that it's renewable energy that’s powering your digital devices such as phones and laptops (call your power company if unsure!).

3. Upgrading your devices less often and remembering to recycle: The emissions of manufacturing network devices (such as internet boxes) are a significant part of the digital carbon footprint. This can be reduced by using the devices for as long as possible and making sure you recycle the devices appropriately when you do switch to another device.

To read more on how the footprint of the IBU’s digital ecosystem was calculated, visit this blog post on Vincit’s website.

For further reading on the carbon footprint of digital services we recommend the following articles:

Sitra: https://www.sitra.fi/en/articles/five-important-questions-about-the-environmental-impacts-of-increased-digital-use/

UNFCCC: https://unfccc.int/blog/netflix-and-chill