Which is Worse For Carbon Emissions, TikTok or Greece?
TikTok, owned by ByteDance, has rapidly grown into one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, with one billion monthly active users worldwide addicted to its short-form video content and highly engaging algorithm.
The platform’s heavy reliance on video streaming has made it one of the more energy-intensive platforms, contributing to a huge environmental footprint.
The GHG Protocol doesn’t require social media companies to report their full impact, which is why TikTok is staying quiet compared to other platforms like Google and Meta.
It has been recently found that the social media platform emits 50 million tonnes of carbon globally, creeping up to Greece’s emissions of 51.67 million tonnes.
TikTok’s carbon footprint
In countries like the United States where energy production heavily relies on fossil fuels, social media platforms generate significantly higher aggregate emissions.
Users spend longer on TikTok than on most platforms, with more than 95 minutes per day on the platform, opening it 19 times on average.
Combining the high energy consumption per minute with the non-sustainable fuel usage, it makes TikTok one of the most emissions-intensive social media platforms.
Due to the use of fossil fuels in the US, Facebook generates approximately 107.43 million kg of CO₂e annually – equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of roughly 6,800 average US residents.
Even though TikTok has a smaller user base, it still produces 64.26 million kg of CO₂e annually, comparable to the emissions from about 4,000 people in the US.
When analysing the data, it works out that the average TikTok user’s annual carbon footprint is equivalent to driving 123 miles in a gas-powered car.
Despite these numbers, TikTok hasn’t publicly made emissions data available, unlike Meta and Google.
While the platform pledges carbon neutrality by 2030, it’s dragging behind due to only having one renewable data centre in Norway.
Will TikTok meet its net zero goals?
ByteDance has committed to achieving net zero emissions in business operations by 2030, focusing on reducing operational emissions and transitioning to renewable energy.
To reduce its carbon footprint, the company plans to reduce its operational emissions by 90% and transition to 100% renewable energy for its data centres – a goal that seems very far away.
The use of renewable energy sources in data centres is critical, as electricity usage accounts for the vast majority of TikTok’s carbon footprint.
In 2023, ByteDance established its data centre in Norway, due to run on 100% renewable energy that will boast a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of less than 1.2 – making it among the most efficient in the industry.
However TikTok still lags behind other major tech companies in terms of transparency around its climate goals.
TikTok’s primary environmental challenge arises due to its video-heavy platform; this consumes a lot more energy than text or image-based platforms.
The platform’s reliance on video streaming, autoplay features and the continuous delivery of algorithm-driven content, creates a vast energy demand that is difficult to mitigate.
TikTok’s Project Clover
To address its accelerating environmental footprint, ByteDance has launched Project Clover, an initiative aimed at combining security, privacy and environmental goals.
A key part of Project Clover is to build more sustainable infrastructure in Europe where data centres, like the one in Norway, will serve as a benchmark for renewable energy use and operational efficiency.
Project Clover operations have begun at a center in Dublin, Ireland, with two more to soon follow in Ireland and Norway.
The project focuses on improving energy efficiency, specifically in data centres, whilst also addressing broader sustainability concerns.
The overall aim is to provide greater data security for more than 150 million European TikTok users.
Although TikTok is attempting to tackle its environmental impact, ByteDance has yet to release a comprehensive sustainability report detailing how it plans to tackle emissions throughout its entire supply chain.
TikTok faces a series of significant hurdles in achieving its net-zero goal by 2030, particularly given its high user engagement and reliance on energy-intensive video content.
Sustainable efforts are critical for ByteDance’s contribution to China’s national climate targets of peaking GHG emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
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