Primarily through the use of energy-intensive data centers and servers, each action on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok or YouTube generates CO2 emissions. To measure the full environmental impact of social media, Greenly, the leader in carbon accounting services for events and enterprises, carried out an in-depth study, highlighting the shared responsibility on social media companies and end users to reduce this impact and get closer to Net Zero objectives.

Are social media providers carbon-neutral?

Despite a number of social media providers having stated objectives to attain carbon neutrality by a certain date, Greenly believes such claims to be contentious, and argues that no company can truly be said to have attained carbon neutrality or Net Zero yet.

• Meta – a progressive pivot to renewable energy, 7.4M tonnes in carbon-equivalent emissions

Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) has positioned itself as a leader in sustainability within the tech industry. Following significant investments in renewable energy and operational efficiency, the company claimed to have achieved carbon neutrality for its global operations in 2020, a claim whose accuracy Greenly contests, as discussed above.

Between 2017 and 2023, it contracted over 11,700 MW in renewable energy globally, reducing operational greenhouse gas emissions by 94%, and invested in 98 renewable energy projects, of which 76 are operational as of 2023. Meta’s data centers are among the most efficient in the industry, with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of approximately 1.08, compared to an industry average of 1.8, and a Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), measuring direct water consumption, of 0.18 L/kWh, against an average of 0.5 L/kWh. Thanks to these measures, Meta has avoided emissions worth 16.4M tCO2e since 2021, equivalent to a whooping 7.8 million return flights between Paris and New York.

Following these encouraging developments, the company is now aiming to achieve carbon neutrality across its entire value chain by 2030, launching a supplier engagement program, with 28% of its suppliers already setting emission reduction targets. For Greenly, this is a highly doubtful target because of the inherently vague nature of ‘carbon neutrality’, and the significant challenge of reducing scope 3 emissions.

Further challenges persist for Meta, with its carbon footprint set to rise with its expansion into areas such as AI and the metaverse. The next steps must be taken carefully if it is to maintain its encouraging trajectory.

• X (formerly Twitter) – an interest in sustainability clouded by its takeover

Prior to its acquisition by Elon Musk in 2022, Twitter had set ambitious sustainability goals, aiming for carbon neutrality in its data centers by 2022 among a broader reduction in its environmental footprint. Initiatives included carbon offsetting, waste reduction, the use of renewable energy in its offices and data centers, and obtaining green building certifications. However, the future of these commitments has turned increasingly uncertain post Twitter’s acquisition and subsequent rebranding to X, with the lack of updates on sustainability goals, coupled with mass layoffs, causing doubt over the priority accorded to environmental goals. Outstanding concerns include X’s need to decarbonize its data centers, which face increased traffic from video content and live streaming.

In 2022, Greenly had estimated the carbon footprint of an individual tweet at 0.026 gCO2. Taking into consideration the 867 million tweets sent everyday, or 316 billion tweets annually, Twitter’s carbon footprint was 8,200 tCO2e, the equivalent of 4,685 round trips between Paris and New York.

Despite Musk’s involvement in other environmentally-conscious ventures, it is difficult to make pronouncements about X’s sustainability, owing to the current lack of transparency around its sustainability strategy. Without clear, measurable commitments, X risks falling behind competitors currently pursuing aggressive climate mitigation strategies.

• TikTok – climate mitigation efforts underway to manage a huge footprint (53.71m tCO2e).

Owned by ByteDance, TikTok has become one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, but its environmental impact is a growing concern. The company has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, targeting a 90% reduction in operational emissions and a complete transition to renewable energy for its data centers. However, its challenges are rendered fairly unique by a massive user base and an energy-intensive infrastructure, not to mention the difficulty of truly achieving carbon neutrality.

Based on the average emissions rate from the UK, US and France, Greenly estimates that viewing TikTok would emit 2.921 g/CO2e/min for an individual user. With Sensor Tower estimating TikTok’s user base at 1.1 billion active users, using the app for an estimated 45.8 minutes a day according to Greenpeace East Asia. Greenly estimates that the annual carbon footprint related to TikTok video watching (data center + data transfer + electricity use by the devices of end users) is approximately 53.71 million tCO2e.

To reduce its environmental footprint, ByteDance has established a data center in Norway powered entirely by renewable energy. This facility is expected to serve as a model for future data centres, focusing on high energy efficiency and potential for heat reuse, reducing overall energy demand.

Despite these advancements, TikTok lags behind other tech giants in terms of transparency about its climate goals, having drawn criticism from organizations such as Greenpeace East Asia. Intensive video streaming and high user engagement, with users spending an estimated 45.8 minutes per day on the app, pose further challenges with regards to carbon footprint management.

TikTok’s success in reducing its carbon footprint will be crucial for its long-term sustainability and its contribution to China’s national climate goals, which aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

• Snapchat – an ambitious climate strategy

Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, claims to have achieved carbon neutrality for its scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2021 and powers all its offices with 100% renewable energy. The company aims to further reduce emissions by 25% for scopes 1 and 2 and by 35% for scope 3 by 2025, compared to its 2019 baseline.

Snapchat has set an even more ambitious goal: becoming a net-negative carbon company by 2030. To achieve this, the company is investing in carbon offset projects and has committed $10 million toward carbon capture initiatives by 2030. Snap supports global projects such as renewable energy developments in India and Turkey, reforestation efforts in Brazil and Paraguay, and socially impactful programs like clean cookstove installations in Ghana, which aim to reduce carbon emissions, limit deforestation, and improve air quality for local communities.

However, Snapchat faces challenges such as managing growing energy demands driven by its increasing user base and energy-intensive features like augmented reality. The company also conducts climate risk assessments under the TCFD framework to enhance its resilience. This proactive approach not only aims to meet Snap’s environmental objectives but also seeks to inspire other platforms to take meaningful action in combating climate change.

• YouTube – an intelligent carbon management strategy, 14.3M tCO2e

As part of Google, YouTube benefits from its parent company’s sustainability initiative. In 2023, Google’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reached 14.3 Mt CO2e, a 13% increase from the previous year, primarily due to the expansion of its data centers. These data centers, however, boast high energy efficiency with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.10. Google aims to achieve 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030, currently operating at approximately 64%, despite rising energy consumption.

YouTube leverages innovations like “carbon-intelligent computing,” which schedules video processing and storage during periods when renewable energy is most abundant, and AI-powered smart data centers that optimize real-time energy use and employ water-efficient cooling methods.

Additionally, the platform plays a pivotal role in climate education and awareness. It enforces strict policies that prohibit the monetization of content denying climate science and engages in partnerships to amplify reliable information. Through context panels on climate-related videos and searches, YouTube provides users with insights from authoritative sources such as the United Nations, countering misinformation and ensuring access to credible scientific data on environmental issues.

The ecological footprint of data centers

The environmental impact of social media is significant, driven by the energy required for data transmission and server operations. Platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube contribute substantially to carbon emissions, as every action—streaming, messaging, or scrolling—consumes energy, much of which still relies on fossil fuels.

To quantify this impact, climate experts at Greenly analyzed the energy consumption of various social media platforms, revealing that video-focused services like TikTok consume considerably more energy than text-based platforms. For instance, TikTok uses approximately 15.81 milliampere-hours (mAh) per minute, compared to 10.28 mAh per minute for Twitter. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook fall in between, with Instagram consuming 8.9 mAh per minute—still relatively high due to its visual content, including photos and stories.

The study also considered device-specific usage patterns, noting that laptops generally consume more energy than smartphones. This highlights the importance of both platform and device choice in assessing environmental impact. Users can play a role in reducing the carbon footprint of these services, which enable entertainment and connectivity anytime and anywhere.

Raising user awareness: reducing electricity consumption at every level

The environmental impact of social media extends beyond companies’ operational emissions, also being influenced by user behaviour. Concretely, the carbon footprint varies depending on the type of device used and the country’s energy mix. For instance, users would generate greater emissions in a country such as the United States over the United Kingdom, owing to the former’s greater reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation.

US Emissions:

UK Emissions:

With the environmental impact of social media use varying depending on the platform, the nature of the device used and the country’s energy mix, Greenly suggests that users take the following steps to reduce their carbon footprint:

• Users could spend less time on video-based platforms such as TikTok or Youtube
• Users could opt to access these sites via smartphone instead of their computers
• Users could also prioritize text/image based platforms (Twitter, Threads) over video-centric ones.

As Alexis Normand, CEO and co-founder of Greenly, explains: “The impact of our daily social media usage can often seem unexpected. Data centers, the powerhouses of our online lives, consume substantial amounts of energy and cause a significant degree of invisible pollution. However, as the ongoing efforts of tech giants demonstrate, there lie tremendous opportunities to reduce this footprint and opt for greener infrastructure. Users can also play a role in this transition, and we firmly believe that collective effort from all stakeholders can help build a sustainable digital ecosystem where technological progress remains aligned with the needs of our planet.

The study is accessible in full here.