How many companies have received notifications from suppliers, financial institutions, etc. that they are emailing documents to reduce their carbon footprint? Many service providers have made the decision to switch from the printed version of communication to a digital version, on the basis of unsupported environmental claims. 

Two Sides, which represents The Graphic Communications Industry, is concerned that incorrect and damaging impressions are being perpetuated by these initiatives. While we clearly see the efficiency of electronic communications and encourage the reduction of waste in these initiatives, they are being promoted as ‘green’, and seek to gain credibility by purporting to aid environmental sustainability.

The linkage made between reducing the carbon footprint to the use of paper and helping the environment creates a false impression about the sustainability of print and paper, and creates a concern among the many companies that Two Sides represents.

It is increasingly clear that electronic communication, and in particular the energy requirements of the increasing worldwide network of servers, which are necessary to store information, has a significant and growing carbon footprint. Did you know that ‘one email with a 400k attachment sent to 20 people is equivalent to burning a 100W bulb for 20 minutes’ and that ‘it is estimated that the information and communications technology sector equates to two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, similar to the airline industry, and this is expected to double by 2020’? Electronic document storage must be recognised as delivering efficiency but not sustainability.