Creating a research strategy to green the Internet

Research Question

1. How can the Internet Society Foundation (and other funders) build a portfolio of high-value research on the energy and environmental implications of the digital economy, which can provide benefits to the research, funding, and policy-making communities?

Media and Publications

• xdb xdb is used to host data required for the calculation of “footprint scores” for background activities, (i.e., activities in the economy indirectly connected to consumption activities such as the generation of electricity)
• oryx oryx is used to host “foreground models,” detailed descriptions of how specific products or activities generate or cause environmental impacts
• The Carbon Footprint of Airbnb This project addressed the lack of research on the climate impacts of the sharing platform Airbnb.
• What Happens to My Product Returns: The Hidden Environmental Cost of Online Sales This project quantified the full life cycle environmental impacts of product returns and reveal how they might affect the environmental performance of e-commerce more broadly.
• Research on the Environmental Impacts of Artificial Intelligence — Gaps and Opportunities The project conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications, citations, and keywords to identify trends and gaps in research on the environmental impact of artificial intelligence
• The sharing economy is not always greener: A Review and consolidation of empirical evidence An extensive review of peer reviewed publications and white papers, and dataset covering 152 papers that reported on the environmental impacts of the sharing economy.
• Conceptualizing the Digital Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainability The article conceptualizes the sustainability implications of today’s sharing economy.
• Assessing Energy and Climate Effects of Digitalization: Methodological Challenges and Key Recommendations This paper summarizes and discusses the outcomes of an expert workshop on methodological challenges and opportunities for improved analysis.
• Can Quantum Computing Really Save the Planet? Outlines the potential for quantum computing to both improve environmental outcomes and negatively impact the environment through energy consumption and resource use.
• The sharing economy and sustainability – Assessing Airbnb’s direct, indirect and induced carbon footprint in Sydney Analyzes whether the change in Airbnb listings over the period of 2014-2020 resulted in an increased carbon footprint.
• Opening Up Environmental Footprint Calculators for Transparency and User Privacy Presents a data and computing architecture for privacy-forward online computation of environmental footprints.
• Bibliography Database of articles and resources on the energy and environmental impacts of the digital economy