What is the carbon footprint of an email?
What is the carbon footprint of an email and how can we make them more performant?
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Using some recent data by Basil Fighiera on Carbon Footprint of an Email we can see a breakdown of the carbon impact of sending an email in 2023.
| Length | Attachment | Device | Network | Recipients | Carbon footprint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | No (10 kb) | Smartphone | 4G | 1 | 0.4 g CO2e |
| Short | Yes (10 MB) | Smartphone | 4G | 1 | 1.8 g CO2e |
| Short | Yes (1 MB) | Computer | Wi-Fi | 1 | 3.3 g CO2e |
| Short | No (10 kb) | Computer | Wi-Fi | 10 | 4.9 g CO2e |
Keeping emails short with no images, no attachments, and around 10 KB is the goal! This would produce around 0.4g CO2e (around 20 farts worth of CO2e) per email.
If you're thinking about the performance of the emails you send, then there are a few top tips to think about (similar to keeping a website nice and performant too):
- What is the goal and value? Wheater it's getting more clicks to your website, showing your latest range, or sending a receipt, sending time on the "why" is a good way to get the most out of the emails you send.
- Is it easy to read? Making sure you've picked a lightweight simple font can really help email engagment. Thinking about heading hierarchy can snap users attention. Especially when they spend 10 seconds on each email.
- Does it look nice without images? Designing your emails without images is a great way to start. Many email accounts block images by default so designing your email with this in mind ensures you keep consistancy in your layout and key to legibility.
- Are your images well optimized? Using formats like jpg and webp over formats like png would be a great instant saving. You can also use wonderful free tools like pixelied to convert our images to different formats.
See why we added email notifications.
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