Emails

Our forest impact

339.2M short emails sent

equal the CO₂ our forest is estimated to capture (101.76 tonnes)

How we calculated this

Calculation methodology

The emissions calculation for a short email, defined as an email containing approximately 5 sentences or less, sent from a laptop to another laptop, is based on the energy consumption of data centers, networks, and end-user devices. This estimate considers the average energy usage and emissions factors for electricity consumption.

101,760 kg ÷ 0.0003 kg/email = 339,200,000 short emails sent

Our forest's estimated capture: 101.76 tonnes CO₂

Emissions per item (short emails sent): 0.0003 kg CO₂

Sources & references

How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything (2020 Edition)

Mike Berners-Lee's authoritative research showing short emails sent from laptop to laptop produce 0.3g CO2 equivalent, based on comprehensive lifecycle analysis.

View source

The Guardian - Digital Carbon Footprint Analysis

Comprehensive analysis of daily digital activities' carbon footprint, confirming 0.3g CO2 for typical email communications.

View source

Pawprint Ecological Assessment - Email Carbon Footprint

Scientific analysis confirming that the average carbon footprint of an email is 0.3g CO2e, with detailed breakdown of contributing factors.

View source

Who built this?

I'm Arnstein. I build content systems, websites, and the infrastructure around them — for teams and agencies who need something that actually works. This calculator is one small example of that.

See what I work on