A new study by the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Design Informatics reveals that websites built for the UN’s annual climate summits, including COP30 in Belem, Brazil, emit up to seven times more carbon than the average webpage. The findings highlight a major irony — platforms advocating for climate action are themselves contributing to rising digital emissions.

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•  COP websites’ carbon output has risen over 13,000% since 1995
•  COP30 website (2025) not hosted on renewable energy infrastructure
•  Average COP page emits 2.4g CO₂ per visit vs 0.36g for normal sites
•  Internet use contributes nearly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions
•  Between COP1 and COP29, total emissions jumped from 0.14kg to 116.85kg per page view
• That rise equals what 10 trees absorb in one year
•  Increase driven by heavy multimedia, live streams, and interactive tools
•  Study used archived web data — first to track digital carbon footprints over 30 years
• Researchers urge institutions to include digital sustainability in climate strategies
• “Digital presence has a cost,” said Professor Melissa Terras, calling for greener web design