A new analysis of TikTok’s annual carbon footprint by Paris-based carbon accounting firm Greenly suggests it now surpasses that of countries like Greece, Norway, or Portugal. The social media platform’s average user is responsible for emissions equal to driving 123 miles in a gasoline-powered car each year.
TikTok’s carbon footprint surpasses that of developed nations
The calculations done by Greenly take into account TikTok’s operations in the United States, United Kingdom and France. Given that these three countries equate to just under 15 percent of TikTok’s global user base, Greenly estimates that “the platform’s overall carbon footprint is likely around 50 million tons of CO2e.” However, this is likely an underestimation, given that Greenly did not take into account the emissions associated with TikTok’s office spaces or commuting by its employees.
In comparison, Norway and Portugal’s carbon footprints stand at around 35 million tons of CO2, while Greece’s emissions amount to approximately 50 million.
In Latin America, Colombia’s carbon footprint stands at around 73 million tons of CO2, higher than the estimate for TikTok. However, emissions from the social media platform would surpass those of other nations in the region, including Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Uruguay.
Addiction fuels carbon footprint
The addictive nature of TikTok helps to explain why it has such a high carbon footprint, which likely exceeds that of entire countries. While the average Instagram user spends 30.6 minutes per day scrolling through the app, the average TikTok user spends 45.5 minutes looking at their feed.
“Addictiveness […] has consequences in terms of incentivizing people to generate more and more of a carbon footprint on an individual basis,” explained Greenly’s chief executive, Alexis Normand.
TikTok’s carbon footprint is also so high because its users generate the second-highest rate of emissions per minute of use, just behind YouTube. According to Greenly, one minute on TikTok will burn 2.821 grams of CO2e on average, whilst a minute on YouTube will burn 2.923 grams.
Greenly estimates that TikTok’s emissions across the U.S.A., U.K., and France amounted to nearly 7.6 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2023. The app’s carbon footprint is also reported to exceed that of X and Snapchat in these regions.
Notably, Greenly’s findings indicate that TikTok’s emissions outpace Instagram’s, even though Instagram boasts nearly 2 billion users, nearly double TikTok’s current user base.
TikTok users generate highest yearly emissions
Combined, these numbers have a significant impact on the environment. Given the amount of content that currently exists on the platform, as well as the longer average times users spend on the platform, TikTok users will burn almost 49.49Kg of CO2e every year. TikTok is followed by YouTube at 40.17kg of CO2e per user, and Instagram, with 32.52kg of CO2e.
While most tech giants and social media platforms release reports detailing their annual carbon footprint, this is not the case for TikTok. Currently, the platform does not make its emissions data publicly available.
Many big tech corporations have committed to becoming carbon neutral in the near future. TikTok aims to reach this goal by 2030 and has launched “Project Clover” as part of this objective. However, to date only, one renewable data center has been built: a facility in Norway that runs on 100 percent renewable energy.