Console
Carbon
Footprint
With 21 gaming companies pledging to reduce their carbon footprint by more than 30 million tonnes by 2030 through greener features and offset emissions, Console Carbon Footprint reveals why reducing plastic packaging is crucial to combatting climate change...
Global Plastic Waste
91% of the 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic that has ever been produced isn't recycled
If current trends continue, there will be 12 billion metric tonnes of plastic in landfills by 2050
Physical vs Digital
When looking at the materials used to produce physical games and the electricity used for digital downloads, it reveals that physical copies emit more than 23 times the CO2 of downloads.
Popular Game Emissions
Looking at the most popular game titles over the last year reveals FIFA 19 is responsible for 912,581kg of CO2, based on physical sales and digital downloads.
FIFA 19
No. of Physical Units Sold
1,889,401
No. of Digital Downloads
9,224,723
Total CO2 Emissions Footprint kg
912,581
Red Dead
Redemption 2
No. of Physical Units Sold
1,757,212
No. of Digital Downloads
8,579,329
Total CO2 Emissions Footprint kg
848,733
Call Of Duty:
Ops 4
No. of Physical Units Sold
1,172,855
No. of Digital Downloads
5,726,292
Total CO2 Emissions Footprint kg
566,489
Marvel's
Spider-Man
No. of Physical Units Sold
676,621
No. of Digital Downloads
3,303,503
Total CO2 Emissions Footprint kg
326,808
Mario Kart
8 Deluxe
No. of Physical Units Sold
458,675
No. of Digital Downloads
2,239,413
Total CO2 Emissions Footprint kg
221,540
Playing Time
Comparing the average completion time of popular games against their CO2 Emissions footprint reveals that Assassin's Creed Odyssey is the most environmentally damaging game to complete.
Plastic Waste
Measuring game sales against the packaging used reveals that 128,479kg of plastic could go to landfill if FIFA 19 players threw their old games away when buying FIFA 20.
Console Comparison
Based on the CO2 emissions resulting from power usage,the PS3 Original is the least eco-friendly console.
Nintendo consoles are the most environmentally friendly, with average emissions of 0.008kg p/h.
Xbox consoles are the worst for the environment, with average emissions of 0.031kg p/h.
Upcoming Releases
A substantial portion of consoles' energy use is determined by graphics processing.
Based on that alone, the PS5 could be the eco-friendliest PlayStation since the Classic.
Xbox
Series X
PS5
1.5x performance-per-watt compared to earlier
Graphic Processing
Units (GPUs)
Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) will be double that of the Xbox One X
Estimated CO2 Emissions per hour
Estimated CO2 Emissions per hour
0.022kg
0.07kg