How I See It –  Conversation with Edmon Chung and NetMission Ambassador, Ananya Singh:  Environmental Sustainability & Internet Governance

How does the Internet impact our environment?

When we think of the Internet, we often think of a virtual world in cyberspace, but that network still has physical infrastructure behind it, and these machines and network’s carbon footprint is growing. COVID 19 has shown us that remote work, online education, and online everything will make us depend a lot more on the Internet. 

It is good news that our network held up even as traffic surged with the pandemic, it is a testament to the resilience and scalability of the network infrastructure, but we should be mindful of what is actually powering the Internet today and make a conscious effort to transition to cleaner energy. It is true that without the Internet, we would leave much more carbon footprint. But that should not deter us from shifting to more sustainable energy sources for powering the Internet itself. 

With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the United Nations, the 4th and 5th Ps were added to the original three – adding to people, profit, planet, is partnership, and peace, which I see as policy. It simply boils down to the concept of interdependence, the fact that our actions, collectively or on its own, affect everyone.

Ananya: Although the energy needed for a single Internet search or email is small, approximately 4.1 billion people, or 53.6% of the global population, now use the Internet. Those scraps of energy, and the associated greenhouse gases emitted with each online activity, can add up. What is the environmental impact of our daily Internet habits?

Yes, hardware production also requires a lot of energy, even if it is easier not to think of the blights of e-waste whenever we buy a new gadget. All in all, the energy consumption of the Internet is enormous.

If the Internet were a country, it would be the sixth-largest in the world based on the energy it uses, ahead of Germany, and a little shy of Russia. It is responsible for approximately a billion tons of CO₂ emissions per year, with coal representing the largest share of the energy mix for many of the world’s data centers. This puts the carbon footprint of the Internet at approximately the same level as global air travel.  Is there any change of habits you would advise users consider to lessen the Internet’s carbon footprint?

Any policy recommendations on how the Internet can facilitate the achievement of environmental sustainability? 

We live in a world of interdependence, especially for the governance of the Internet and the environment, both of which know no boundaries.  Problematic policies in one jurisdiction spill over to other jurisdictions.  As in the Internet, I believe we need a global multi-stakeholder model to address environment sustainability.  The UN, and its government driven model was put in place at a time when global coordination was infeasible, but the Internet changed that.  Governments are designed to have national interests as their priority.  It is precisely that government representatives are doing their job that the global public interest may be compromised if left to a government only model.

Simply leaving it to corporations and multinationals is equally problematic.  By definition, their nature is to focus on customers and profits.  What we need is a multistakeholder model where governments are one of the stakeholders but not the only stakeholder in the driver seat for the global public interest to be realized.  ICANN is a good example, even as it continues to require improvement.  It would be great if we could have an ICANN for the environment and other aspects of global public policy development.