The world’s digital carbon footprint

Dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion is often seen as key to slow­ing glob­al warm­ing. By using new tech­nol­o­gy such as arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and data ana­lyt­ics, the the­o­ry is we can increase effi­cien­cy and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, there­by reduc­ing emis­sions. But all this com­put­ing pow­er needs to be run by some­thing — and up to now this has pre­dom­i­nant­ly been fos­sil fuels. And while the indus­try is work­ing towards reduc­ing emis­sions, with many com­pa­nies announc­ing net-zero emis­sions tar­gets, the pace of growth in usage means emis­sions glob­al­ly look set to keep ris­ing.