Jennifer Holmes, CEO of the London Internet Exchange, argues that smarter routing, broader emissions measurement, and shared skills investment can reduce the hidden carbon cost of digital growth without slowing innovation.
The digital economy is expanding at an unprecedented pace. Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, streaming services and real-time virtual collaboration now underpin how we work, communicate and innovate. Yet while digital services feel intangible, the infrastructure that powers them is anything but. As global data volumes continue to rise, so too does the environmental impact of the networks carrying them.
The carbon cost of digital growth remains largely hidden. Data moves invisibly, but it travels through a very specific ecosystem of fibre, routers, switches and data centres, all drawing energy every second of the day. If the digital sector is to remain a positive force for technological, economic and social progress, it must confront this reality with greater transparency and intent.
Growth without visibility
Much of the environmental impact of digital infrastructure sits beyond the immediate view of end users and even service providers. Emissions are distributed across facilities, suppliers and partners, often falling into the difficult-to-measure category of Scope 3, referring to the indirect emissions generated across the entire value chain. This spans the manufacture of network equipment, the operations of data centre partners, and the energy used by vendors and service providers. This makes digital carbon easy to overlook, even as traffic volumes accelerate year on year.
Across the digital infrastructure and connectivity ecosystem, there is growing recognition that understanding this impact is the first step towards reducing it. Measuring direct operational emissions is no longer enough. The wider network ecosystem, including equipment vendors, interconnection partners and data centre operations, must also be considered if sustainability commitments are to be meaningful.
The shift towards fuller carbon accounting represents an important cultural change for digital infrastructure. It signals a move away from treating sustainability as an add-on and towards embedding it into core operational decision-making.
The carbon cost of distance
Every digital interaction is a journey. Data travels through networks that have been optimised for speed and resilience, but not always for energy efficiency. When traffic takes unnecessarily long routes – a phenomenon often referred to as tromboning – energy consumption increases and emissions multiply.
As demand grows for low-latency services such as video conferencing, online gaming and AI-driven applications, this inefficiency becomes harder to justify. Performance and sustainability are no longer separate considerations; they are increasingly aligned. Shorter, more direct local routing paths reduce latency while also cutting energy use.
Designing networks that minimise distance is one of the most practical ways the industry can address the hidden carbon cost of growth.
The infrastructure layer as a climate lever
Network infrastructure operators sit at a powerful leverage point in this conversation. Internet exchange points, in particular, enable networks to interconnect locally rather than sending traffic through distant transit routes. This localisation reduces both technical complexity and environmental impact.
By keeping data closer to where it is consumed, local interconnection lowers energy demand across the network layer and improves resilience at the same time. These benefits are often invisible, but they scale quickly as traffic volumes increase.
Beyond routing efficiency, infrastructure operators are also examining how their own operations contribute to emissions. Increasingly, this includes working with sustainability experts to measure Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, while collaborating with partners to better understand Scope 3 impacts across supply chains and data centre environments. This collaborative approach reflects the interconnected nature of the internet itself. No single organisation can solve the problem alone.
Transparency as an enabler, not a burden
One of the most significant challenges facing digital sustainability is the lack of consistent, comparable data. Without shared frameworks for measuring emissions across networks and facilities, it is difficult to benchmark progress or identify where efficiencies can be gained.
Encouragingly, parts of the connectivity ecosystem are beginning to address this gap. Organisations are committing to publishing ESG reports, disclosing full carbon footprints and improving the visibility of their environmental impact over time. These efforts create a foundation for accountability and informed decision-making.
Transparency should not be seen as a regulatory burden, but as an operational advantage. When infrastructure choices are informed by clear environmental data, sustainability becomes a driver of efficiency rather than a constraint on growth.
The human dimension of digital sustainability
Environmental responsibility does not exist in isolation from social and governance considerations. A sustainable ecosystem is also one that invests in people, skills and shared knowledge.
Capacity-building and technical education play a crucial role here. Training initiatives that help engineers and operators understand how networks function and how to optimise them contribute directly to more efficient, resilient infrastructure. They also help ensure that the benefits of connectivity are more evenly distributed, particularly in underserved regions where local expertise can transform long-term sustainability outcomes.
In this sense, social value and environmental impact are deeply linked. A network designed and operated by informed, empowered communities is more likely to be efficient, resilient and responsible over the long term.
Designing growth with intent
Digital growth is inevitable, and it is essential. Connectivity enables innovation across healthcare, education, energy and climate science itself. But growth without efficiency risks undermining the progress digital technologies can deliver elsewhere.
The hidden carbon cost of digital growth is not a reason to slow innovation, but a call to redesign it. By shortening data journeys, improving transparency, measuring emissions more comprehensively and investing in shared capability, the digital infrastructure sector can significantly reduce its environmental footprint.
The networks we build today will shape the digital economy for decades to come. Ensuring they’re efficient, resilient and sustainable is not just a technical challenge, but a responsibility to the societies and environments they serve.
