Don’t blame bananas! Reduce your carbon footprint in email marketing instead.

Is there something we marketers can do? Do we actually contribute to gas emission? What about fossil fuels – that’s nothing to do with us, right? Should we plant a tree or two? Strive for net zero carbon emission by mid century? Is it even possible or even worth trying?

Well, yes … it is everything to do with us and we can rise to challenges of climate change by doing our bit, too. 

Firstly, did you know that emails actually produce a lot of greenhouse gas ! This is not only because of electricity a PC uses, but also the energy needed to power all the data centres, which all should be considered.

The carbon footprint specialist Mike Berners-Lee in his book “How Bad are Bananas: The Carbon Footprint of Everything” has estimated the environmental costs of emails as:

• Spam Email – 0.03g CO2e
• Standard Email – 4g CO2e
• Long Emal (takes 10 minutes to write) – 17g CO2e
• Attachement Heavy Email – 50g CO2e

What counts is not that one email you have sent this morning, but the sheer volume of emails sent every day. According to Statista, it is estimated at 320 billion emails sent every single day … which emit a whopping one trillion two hundred eighty billion grams of CO2e !

Or to put it another way, Berners-Lee estimates this is the equivalent of every person on the planet “driving 321 km in an average car” each year.

Let’s not even begin to talk about streaming videos or game consoles (which on a small note you should switch off, not leave on standby, nudge nudge). 

Instead, why not try to create green marketing campaigns?

As marketers and email users, we can rise to the challenges of climate change by working together. We might think that we are a small fish in a big sea, but we can definitely contribute to the clean technology revolution.

Here’s how we can make our emails greener:

• Make sure the emails you send are not too long and consider all the attachments. Content is a Key – remember?
• Think about the frequency of your email campaigns. Too much too often…you know the feeling.
• Segmentation will help – know your audience better.
• Have your list of email addresses updated for better performance of your bulk email campagins. 
• Let your customers, colleagues and friends know of your intention of ‘going green’ – maybe they will join? Create awareness – use your superpowers.

An increasing number of companies and investors are adjusting to the global shift towards a net zero economy and are making more sustainable choices. 

So do your bit for sustainable marketing practices – and be your clients choice for all the green reasons.  

P.S. don’t print this email….