Digital Decarbonisation
Source: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/digital-decarbonisation/ Parent: https://features.lboro.ac.uk/shaping-global-policy-on-sustainable-ai-at-the-highest-level/index.html
Reducing our Digital Carbon Footprint. Together
Most people aren’t aware, or forget, that digital technology consumes vast quantities of electricity to keep huge data centres running – capturing and storing every click, search, list and image.
Digital data is generated by humans in every corner of the world. Every second of every day, of every week. The creation and consumption of digital data is growing rapidly. We will miss our global 2050 net zero targets if we don’t decarbonise our digital infrastructure and our behaviours.
We want to help governments, businesses and organisations to minimise carbon emissions by adopting best practices in optimising how data is generated, processed and stored, ensuring that it aligns with sustainable practices. In short, Digital Decarbonisation.
By promoting digital best practices, organisations can reduce the carbon footprint associated with data management and make a big contribution to the UN Race to Zero and a more eco-friendly digital ecosystem.
### What is Digital Decarbonisation?
[## Digital Decarb Design Group
A pioneering research cluster comprising a transdisciplinary team of academics and seven fully funded PhD studentships investigating ecosystem solutions for digital decarbonisation to help meet net zero by 2050.](https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/digital-decarbonisation/design-group/)
Latest news and events
News
[### Loughborough experts help shape landmark World Economic Forum reports on digital decarbonisation
2 February 2026](https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/business-school/news/2026/digital-decarb-policy-wef/)
[### Digital Decarbonisation representative joins leading voices to discuss environmentally sustainable digital transformation at COP30 Virtual Pavillion
18 November 2025](https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/business-school/news/2025/digital-decarb-cop30/) [### Loughborough Business School academics contribute to DESNZ report on the energy impact of digitalisation
10 November 2025](https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/business-school/news/2025/digital-decarbonisation-desnz-report/)
Events Discover more events
Digital Carbon Footprint
One person creates 1.7mb of data a second. That equates to 10 full DVDs in a working day.
Data and CO2
The data industry is predicted to account for more carbon emissions than the automotive, aviation and energy sectors combined.
Dark Data
Up to 65% of data generated is never used and up to 15% is out of date.