# Study shows UK’s daily carbon footprint for emails is more than 2,750 tonnes

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2024/07/19/study-shows-uks-daily-carbon-footprint-for-emails-is-more-than-2750-tonnes/
- Published: 2024-07-19T16:00:56+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**A study by an email validation and deliverability firm shows that the UK is one
of the top email carbon emitters globally, with a daily carbon footprint of 2,751
tonnes from an estimated 8.32 billion emails sent every day.**

This makes the UK one of the top email carbon emitters globally, [Zero Bounce](https://www.zerobounce.net/)
says. [Its study](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSS7GB03dU3R3gmlxm3xOLu15ExmieprvAjZpWjIJhvmC2mh3PRc1jiVOareLKHzc4qIi3gsI1kAWvj/pubhtml?gid=1221221258&single=true&urp=gmail_link)
shows that 85% of the UK’s population, or 57.7 million people, use email. The country
sends 8.32 billion emails daily, with an average of 144.03 emails per user. This,
it says, results in a daily carbon footprint of 2,751.32 tonnes and a per-user footprint
of 43.21 grams, with the UK’s email activity representing 1.29% of the global email
traffic.

#### Daily global carbon emissions from emails

Overall, it says, sending and receiving emails emits about 1344.3 tonnes of carbon
globally on a daily basis. 

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The study used the most recent reports of population numbers from the World Population
Review. The information about the percentage of email users came from the reports
by Statista, while the number of emails sent out per country were taken from the
Talos Intelligence website. Zero Bounce also notes that it is globally recognised
that on average one email transaction emits 0.3 grams of CO2. The carbon footprint
was calculated according to the number of emails sent out per user. 

#### Top 5 countries for email carbon emissions

The United States tops the ranking: the study says that 89.45% of the US population
uses emails, emitting on average 3,207 tonnes of CO2 daily. Each user, on average,
sends or receives 31.72 emails per day, contributing 9.52 grams to the daily carbon
footprint per capita. The country’s email activity accounts for 6.82% of the overall
world email traffic, the second largest in the list.

Germany came second, followed by Ireland and the Netherlands, with the UK in fifth
place.

A spokesperson from Zero Bounce said:_ _

> “There is a substantial carbon emission from email usage and that emphasises the
> need for greater awareness and strategies to reduce the digital carbon footprint.
> Understanding the environmental impact of our digital communication practices 
> is crucial for developing sustainable solutions and mitigating climate change.”

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 * **[The cost of e-mail](https://fundraising.co.uk/1998/12/21/cost-email/)** (21
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