How to Make Your Emails More Eco-Friendly

Hey there!

In our super-connected world, emails are a must for planning, running events, managing a household and frankly almost everything now!

But have you ever thought about the environmental impact of all those messages flying around, especially when they come with hefty attachments?

This is something I’d never really thought of, until we were joined by Tai Ryan from Sustainable Events in Community Leaders Academy. Since then I've been thinking more and more about the carbon footprint of our ever expanding digital lives and how making our organisations greener, needs to shine a light on this impact filled space.

From the massive amounts of data we keep, the duplicate photos, the stored file systems of years gone by, the videos we will never use again. It's frankly an overwhelming pandoras box to crack open. So let's start with one simple step we can take to start reducing the carbon footprint created by our digital lives…. Is there a way ditch email attachments? And how we can make this change smooth.

Why Email Attachments Aren't Eco-Friendly

Every email—whether sent, stored, or received—has a carbon footprint because of the energy needed to power servers, data centres, and our devices.

When you add attachments, those file sizes grow, and so does the energy required to store and transfer them.

The Events Council Sustainability Action Deck says using links instead of attachments can cut down your email's carbon footprint significantly.

And I think it's a great, simple, actionable place to start within our organisations.

Before we dive more into solutions, let's get into why your attachments are a big deal:

Mike Berners-Lee's book "How Bad are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything", a 1MB attachment in an email adds 15g CO2

Here's why:

• More Data Storage: Bigger files mean more storage space, which eats up more energy to maintain. Data centres (where all this info lives) use a ton of electricity, often from non-renewable sources.

• Higher Energy Use: Moving large files around the internet uses more energy. Every step—from uploading to the cloud to downloading on someone's device—adds to this consumption.

So, how can we make our emails more eco-friendly?

Tips for Greener Email Practices

• Use Links Instead of Attachments: Share links to documents and files through cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. This keeps your email sizes small and makes updating files a breeze without sending multiple versions.

• Optimise File Sizes: If you must send attachments, make sure they're as small as possible. Use compression tools and convert files to formats that reduce size without losing quality.

• Educate Your Team: Spread the word about the environmental impact of email attachments. Get your team on board with sustainable email habits as part of your event's green initiatives.

• Monitor and Report: Keep an eye on how many emails you're sending with attachments and their sizes. Set goals to reduce these numbers and track your progress as part of your sustainability metrics.

It's these simple small tweaks, like reducing email attachments, that can not only help us reach our organisational sustainability goals but also set a great example for others in the industry.

Making your emails greener by avoiding attachments and adopting sustainable practices is a simple but powerful way to help the environment. Every little action counts in our journey towards more sustainable events.

Sustainability is all about taking steps forward and living in a space of continuous improvement. We simply won't be perfect but if we can all start shifting our habits one at a time, over time, we really can have a huge impact on a better forever. Let's make our emails as eco-friendly as possible and pave the way for a more sustainable future together!