Around 50,000 guests from around the world are expected to attend this year’s COP 30 world climate conference in Belém, Brazil. Most will come by plane – from far away.
For example a trip to COP, if you take a flight from London via Lisbon to Belem and back in economy class (around 15,200 kilometers) it sounded loud myclimate.org around 2.7 tons of CO₂ per passenger.
But not only that: as researchers from the University of Edinburgh say in a new field Study As stated, climate conference sites face ten times as many carbon than the average website.
Higher carbon footprint compared to traditional sites
Analysis shows that average CO₂ emissions from COP sites increase by more than 13,000 percent between 1995 – the year of the first climate conference – and 2024. This huge increase is due in part to the strong growth in computing power and energy worldwide. internet use explain.
However, according to the study, the CO₂ footprint of COP websites is still far above the average for conventional sites. These sites now produce an average of around 2.4 grams of CO₂ per visit (COP 25) – some even much more.
“For comparison: According to the research team, the average CO₂ emissions of a normal website is about 0.36 grams per view. This significant increase is due to the fact that COP websites increasingly use computationally intensive content such as images, videos and interactive elements,” explained the experts.
The World Climate Conference is expected to be attended by 50,000 visitors from all over the world
Ten trees are needed
For comparison: website visits during COP3 in 1997 – the first year for which data is available – resulted in emissions of around 0.14 kilograms of CO₂, equivalent to the amount a mature tree can absorb in two days.
In COP29 However, in 2024 in Baku (Azerbaijan), the value will be 116.85 kilograms of CO₂. According to the University of Edinburgh, this number has increased by around 835-fold since 1997. To match this number, several mature trees are needed each year.
“Our research shows that the carbon impact of digital presence is often overlooked even by those truly committed to protecting the environment,” said Professor Melissa Terras from the Institute for Design Informatics at Edinburgh College of Art.
