To build awareness around how netizens can reduce their digital carbon emission, Antarctica Global, a climate technology company, has rolled out Pebble.
Pebble is a web browser extension and software infrastructure tracking tool designed to empower users to become conscious of their digital carbon footprint.
The idea behind the launch of Pebble was that while efforts are aimed at recognised polluting sectors like transportation and agriculture, internet usage also causes carbon emissions.
Pebble helps calculate a user's digital carbon footprint, which is the amount of carbon dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere as a result of internet activities, which are based on:
- User devices: Smartphones, laptops, and tablets demand vast amounts of energy during manufacturing and use, contributing to carbon emissions.
- Network Infrastructure: Routers, switches, and content delivery networks (CDNs) play a pivotal role in data transfer, consuming energy and impacting the environment.
- Data centres: These facilities house servers and computing equipment, consuming substantial electricity and generating carbon emissions.
Pebble's digital carbon emissions tracker uses location-based carbon intensity factors to provide users with precise information about their digital carbon footprint based on their location.
It offers a dashboard that provides users with a report of their digital carbon footprint, including insights into website-specific emissions. The extension also translates digital emissions into tangible equivalencies - comparisons to meet consumed, plastic bottles and fuel used.
Kumail Amiruddin, co-founder and chief operating officer, Antarctica Global, said, “Recent research suggests that ICTs global greenhouse gas emissions may be as high as 3.9%, nearly double that of the aviation sector. This revelation serves as a wake-up call for action.”
Mathieu François, co-founder and chief executive officer, Antarctica Global, said, ”Global warming is setting the pace for global wars tomorrow. Wars for energy, wars for water and greens, wars for oxygen. It is time to act, right now. To save our mothers and heal, by all means, Mother Nature.”
