Here are my seven top tips to start reducing the carbon footprint of your emails:
Unsubscribe
The first step is to de-clutter your inbox. Use an app to help you unsubscribe from any newsletters you don’t want. The best ones I’ve found are: CleanFox and Unroll Me (outside of EU and the European Economic Area)- I unsubscribed from 665 newsletters in one fell swoop.
Say goodbye to your childhood email address
Reducing the number of email addresses you use is an instant way to cut down your digital footprint. Do you have any 90s cringeworthy email addresses still in existence? I deleted my hattie_jellytots@hotmail.co.uk after over a decade of ignoring it…
The eco-spellcheck
Carbon Capper by Ovo is the first Chrome extension that gives you a ‘planet-friendly prompt’ every time you might be about to send an unnecessary email. It tracks your word count, flagging emails under four words. According to OVO, “each UK adult sending one less ‘thank you’ email a day, would save over 16,433 tonnes of carbon a year – the same as taking 3,3343 diesel cars off the road.”
To CC or not CC
Each time you copy in a colleague, you’re adding to their to-do list of unread’s. As well as starting a new energy trail. If you streamline the number of people copied in your emails, you’re saving colleagues from another lump of inbox dread and its carbon footprint.
Shrink those attachments
What you send in your emails affects the email’s carbon footprint. If you compress email attachments, adopt lighter file formats or replace the attachments with a hyperlink it uses less energy.
iCloud is for essentials
Try to back up only what’s essential. One stored email is equivalent to 10g of CO2 per year. That’s the same CO2 emission as a plastic bag. So, with your spring clean, why not delete all those emails that are uselessly taking up space?
Home energy
At the root of all this, is the energy that powers your inbox screen. The biggest step you can take to reduce your digital footprint is to choose a renewable home energy supplier and ask if your office can do this too.
Follow these five simple changes to make your businsess plastic free.
Looking to lower your carbon footprint at home too? See our pick of low carbon hobbies.
Discover how to make the most of your lunch break at work.