The Internet and Climate Change
It feels like the earth is on fire as we commemorate Earth Day in 2024. figuratively speaking, as some areas struggle with fierce burns and other areas are completely submerged in excessive water. Temperatures are rising, ice is melting, and sea levels are rising. Amidst all of this, it’s important to take a moment to consider how the Internet affects climate change.
On the one hand, the Internet is a tremendous force for good in helping reduce the greenhouse gases we may individually create and in connecting all the people working on climate solutions around the world. On the other hand, by its very nature, the Internet requires electricity to operate, and the devices we all use require the extraction of minerals and create vast amounts of e-waste. And, in the face of climate change, the Internet’s infrastructure needs our help to be able to continue to operate.
The Internet’s Role in Addressing Climate Change
Reflecting on the peak of the COVID pandemic lockdowns a few years ago, it became evident that the Internet played a crucial role in sustaining our lives. By working remotely, we were able to establish connections, communicate effectively, cooperate efficiently, and generate innovative ideas. All without traveling and generating any of the climate damage associated with travel. An intriguing phenomenon occurred when certain places experienced a resurgence of clean air after a prolonged period of pollution. A reduced amount of fossil fuels were utilized. Individuals acquired knowledge on how the Internet could be utilized to diminish the need for commuting and air travel. Although a significant number of individuals have resumed commuting to physical workplaces and engaging in travel activities (resulting in a resurgence of air pollution), there are still those who have chosen to work remotely, at least partially. We’ve seen how the Internet can help us lessen our own impact on the climate in this way.
The Internet also plays a major role in the dissemination of scientific data and knowledge about potential solutions to climate concerns. Scientists are collaborating using the Internet to engage in large-scale studies. They’re making their knowledge available to many other scholars. Regular people are getting involved in “citizen science” activities that are gathering data, such as this example in Serbia. Vast sensor networks are being constructed that collect climatic data via Internet connections.
Indeed, many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rely heavily on Internet connectivity. If we are to have any hope of attaining the SDGs, the Internet is essential for communication and collaboration.
We’ve also seen how the Internet can help people respond to calamities, some of which are linked to climate change. Organizations like the International Red Cross, NetHOPE, and the ITDRC rely on Internet-based communication to assist individuals in need.
In all of these ways, the Internet is a positive force that helps people adapt to our changing climate.
Climate Changes Caused by the Internet
The Internet needs electricity, it’s in its nature. The 1s and 0s that make up the fabric of the Internet are signals carried by electrical lines, optical cables, or radio spectrum. The generation of those 1s and 0s demands power. No power, no Internet.
How is that power produced? Is it through renewable sources? Or fossil fuels? While remote working may help you lessen your own effect through transportation, is it just transferring the point of pollution to the big power plants that need to create more electricity to support our systems and devices?
The reality is that the Internet’s infrastructure needs power in so many places: the transmission lines, the network routers, the Internet exchange points — even the subsea cables need power for repeaters and landing stations.
The Internet’s network infrastructure has a certain amount of demand, but considerably more is needed for the data centres for all the applications, systems, and services. Much has been written about the tremendous power consumption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and our new favourite AI tools are also massive users of electricity. One estimate is that training a large language model such as ChatGPT-3 consumes as much energy as the yearly consumption of 130 US homes. The demand is straining the electricity grid in some locations.
But beyond those specific technologies, all our social networks, web hosting, and cloud computing systems need data centres. Large firms such as Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are continually creating more and more data centres to match their rapid expansion. Those data centres need power. They need physical space. According to a recent MIT research, “the cloud” currently emits more greenhouse gasses than the aviation sector, and “a single data centre can consume the equivalent electricity of 50,000 homes.” The report also mentions the enormous cooling costs, the huge amounts of water required, and the noise pollution affecting neighbouring citizens.
Beyond power and water, all the electronics we use, whether they be routers, computers, or cell phones, require the extraction of minerals and materials to build the equipment. For instance, lithium mining has a horrible impact on the surrounding region in order to produce the batteries that we all require. And when these devices reach the end of their life or are no longer needed, they add to the vast mountains of e-waste that are rising up globally.
Newer connectivity alternatives, too, such as low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems (e.g., SpaceX’s Starlink, OneWeb) bring new concerns. As these constellations reach their full deployment, and with LEO satellites only having a five-year duration, what will the impact be of 10s or maybe 100s of satellites burning up in our upper atmosphere each week? We simply don’t know.
Adapting to Climate Change
In the face of climate change that is already happening, there is a larger question — how do we assure the Internet continues to operate?
As sea levels rise, what happens to the landing stations for the subsea cables that convey 90+% of our traffic across the Internet? People in the industry have paying heed and doing research, but is it enough?
With the rise of more extreme weather events around the globe, we’ve seen wildfires destroy all the telecommunications infrastructure of a region. We’ve seen flooding drown out local connectivity options — even this past week in Dubai, in the desert! We’ve seen massive storms take out all the physical infrastructure on islands or in coastal communities.
Working on Fixes
Although it’s simple to feel overburdened and lost in hopelessness, the good news is that alternatives are being developed.
Regarding reducing the influence of the Internet on the climate, a few examples include:
1. The Green Web Foundation is looking at the impact of web hosting providers.
2. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) has chartered an E-Impact Program for “discussing environmental impacts and sustainability of Internet technology”. Participants include persons from within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) community, universities, and other groups and communities.
3. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has a new Sustainable Web Community Group establishing best practices for building more sustainable websites.
4. Since 2021, the Internet Society Foundation has provided funds under their Research program for “Greening the Internet”.
Building higher network resilience–at every level of our networks–is a vital element of adapting the Internet to continue functioning as our environment changes.
