A 30 MB email generates 145g of CO₂ in complete lifecycle. FileVert reduces this impact by 99.8% through temporary storage and optimized infrastructure.
Hidden critical impact
An email with attachment stored long-term emits 400× more CO₂ than an equivalent FileVert link.
Challenge
The carbon impact of email is massive and largely invisible. In Europe, each message generates approximately 19 g of CO₂, attachments multiply this impact. Millions of large emails travel through our infrastructures daily. FileVert: measured transfer, ephemeral, hosted in Europe, renewable energies.
Hidden pollution of heavy emails: 145g CO₂ for 30 MB in complete lifecycle (based on real architecture vs ADEME theoretical calculations). 400× more than an equivalent FileVert link.
30 MB email = 145g CO₂ (complete cycle: sending + 4-year storage + redundancy) vs 0.36g FileVert
0.24 g CO₂e/GB/year (ADEME Base Carbone) + perpetual accumulation = carbon explosion
PUE 1.8 vs 1.2 FileVert + non-renewable energy mix
No visibility on real impact of transfer methods
Through heavy email alternative and intelligent temporary storage
💡 At FileVert, we use a methodology based on real architecture of modern email systems to calculate your true carbon savings.
ADEME/NégaOctet estimates attribute 92% of the impact of an email to the depreciation of manufacturing computers that send and receive it, and only 0.5% to storage ¹.
Result: An email is counted as having the same impact as using your PC, completely ignoring cloud infrastructure.
What these calculations omit:
Current regulatory frameworks struggle to cover transnational hyperscale infrastructures, which can lead to a transfer of responsibility to users rather than infrastructure ³.
Clarification: ADEME methodologies focus on user usage (0.11g for simple email), while our calculation includes complete real infrastructure over storage duration.
These methodological differences highlight the complexity of measuring digital impact and the importance of transparency.
[1] Basile Fighiera, NégaOctet expert, detailed analysis on Sami.eco (2022)
[2] HelloCarbo.com (2023): "An email can be duplicated up to 20 times on different servers"
[3] ADEME-Arcep Study, Ministries of Ecological Transition and Economy (2020-2022)
30 MB stored 4 years
145g CO₂
1 GB stored 1 year
500g CO₂
30 MB stored 2 days
0.36g CO₂
Per transfer
-99.8%
Concrete features to drastically reduce your carbon footprint
Everything you need to know about email carbon impact and ecological alternatives
With FileVert: ecological alternative to heavy emails