Who will win the 2022 World Cup? For now, we don’t know, but from the web sustainability point of view, the digital sustainability soccer world cup goes to Brazil.
Each web page pollutes, causing CO2 emissions; to bring attention on the issue of “digital pollution”, KarmaMetrix.com calculated the emissions of CO2 caused by the websites home pages of the teams qualified for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, simulating the World Cup scoreboard, with the groups and the crossings exactly as they will be in Qatar.
Among the qualified teams, the Brazilian Football federation website is the most sustainable one (55 kg of Co2 per year*), followed by Denmark and Germany (111 kg of Co2 per year* each) completing the podium with equal merit.
The last place in the digital sustainability ranking is occupied by United States (6,655 kg of Co2 per year *), followed by Canada (4,521 kg of Co2 per year *) and Switzerland (1,323 kg of Co2 per year *).
“It is important to raise awareness about the fact that the web also pollutes and contributes to climate change, that affects every corner of our planet” comments Ale Agostini, founder of Karma Metrix. “Making digital objects more efficient and eco-sustainable means contributing to the fight against climate change. Football and sport can contribute and lead by example.”
According to online carbon calculator Website Carbon, the average website produces 1.76g of CO2 for every page view; so a site with 100,000 page views per month emits 2,112kg of CO2 every year. The more complex a website is, the more energy it requires to load – and the greater its climate impact.