According to a new study, the average TikTok user produces 48.49 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per year – that’s the same as Greece’s footprint or 197 kilometers more per year in a petrol car.
TikTok’s annual carbon footprint is probably larger than Greece’s, according to a new analysis by Greenly, a carbon accounting consultancy. It is estimated that each user produces greenhouse gases equivalent to driving an extra 197 kilometers a year in a petrol car.
In 2023, TikTok’s emissions in the United States, United Kingdom and France were estimated at around 7.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) – higher than those associated with Instagram (despite having almost twice the user base), Twitter/X and Snapchat in the same region.
These three countries represent just under 15% of TikTok’s global user base of around one billion users. Doing the math, the platform’s global carbon footprint is probably around 50 million metric tons of CO2e.
However, this estimate is underestimated since the study only incorporates emissions associated with data centers – which account for around 99% of the footprint – and charging devices after using the platforms. Other smaller sources of emissions are left out, such as emissions associated with office space and employee travel.
Greece, on the other hand, was responsible for emitting 51.67 million metric tons of CO2e in 2023.
Greenly also found that TikTok users have the second highest emissions per minute of use and the highest annual emissions. This is due to the large amount of video content (which consumes much more energy than text or images) and the longer average scroll times – the average user spends 45.5 minutes scrolling.
“The whole algorithm is built around the massification of videos,” as explained to The Guardian by Alexis Normand, executive director of Greenly: “Addiction also has consequences in terms of encouraging people to generate more and more footprint [de carbono] on an individual basis.”
According to Greenly’s analysis, the average carbon consumption per minute is 2.923 grams on Youtube, 2.921 grams on TikTok and 2.912 grams on Instagram. Over the course of a year, an average TikTok user will emit 48.49 kg of CO2e on the app, while Youtube will emit 40.17 kg of CO2e and Instagram 32.52 kg of CO2e.
Technology companies like Meta and Google publish detailed reports to the Carbon Disclosure Project every year, making their findings publicly available on their websites. Not so with ByteDance, the company behind TikTok.
ByteDance has committed to achieving “net zero emissions in its business operations by 2030”, focusing on reducing operational emissions and transitioning to renewable energy through initiatives such as “Project Clover”, which combines security, privacy and environmental objectives. However, to date, only one renewable data center has been built: a 12 billion euro facility in Norway that runs on 100% renewable energy.
Despite its efforts, the company has yet to publish a comprehensive sustainability report specifying how it plans to deal with emissions throughout its supply chain, including the production and distribution of digital content, a factor considered critical to achieving carbon neutrality.
“Organizations such as Greenpeace East Asia have highlighted TikTok’s slower progress in disclosing comprehensive sustainability metrics compared to other tech giants, calling for more detailed reporting on its decarbonization roadmap,” reads an Greenly article.
It is unclear whether or not these reporting practices and commitments will continue under new ownership. If the platform is bought by a US company, the rules passed this year require the company to publicly disclose its emissions if they are “of significant importance” to its investors. However, Trump is likely to reverse this rule.
“As with social media platforms, most of which are growing their user bases and expanding energy-intensive data center operations, achieving significant emissions reductions requires a much broader and systemic effort. Rather than aiming to be ‘net-zero’, companies should focus on being ‘net-zero compatible’, aligning their strategies with the global goal of limiting climate change, while ensuring transparency in their emissions reporting and recognizing the uncertainties that remain in carbon removal and offsetting,” concludes Greenly.
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