A few years ago, I was sitting at a UX conference and heard a sentence that has stayed with me ever since:

“Data traffic will soon cause more CO₂ emissions than air travel.”

I sat there, coffee in hand, and thought: Hang on. What?

Social media was exploding at the time. TikTok was devouring vast amounts of data. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ – everyone was streaming for all they were worth. And nobody – absolutely nobody – was talking about what that meant for the environment.

I was stunned. Mainly because there was no awareness of this. No discussion. No headlines. Nothing.

Why do so few people know this?

That was my first question. And it has stayed with me ever since.

Then came Bitcoin. Then came AI. And once again: silence.

A few years later: the crypto boom. Bitcoin. Ethereum. NFTs. Everyone was talking about returns, about ‘the future of money’, about decentralised systems.

But what about resource consumption? What about the data centres running day and night to validate transactions? Hardly anyone.

I thought: Here we go again. Dollar signs in their eyes – but not a thought for the consequences.

So what now? AI.

ChatGPT. Midjourney. Claude. Perplexity. Everyone’s using them. Every day. In every company. And that’s perfectly fine – I don’t want to put anyone off using AI. AI is here to stay – just like the internet (ok, we could do without Bitcoin mining, couldn’t we?). We all use it – and that’s a good thing.

But there’s one thing I want: to raise awareness.

The figures that nobody talks about – it’s all too abstract.

It was already so complicated and abstract back then: a tonne of CO2. What on earth is that? How much am I actually consuming through my actions?

I asked myself: What has the greatest positive impact on my personal carbon footprint? Streaming a film on the sofa or taking the train to the cinema? Buying five second-hand items of clothing on Vinted and having them delivered, or ordering one new item online once a year?

Ever since I spent two days doing some research after that conference, I’ve had a sense of my carbon footprint. Here’s something everyone can bear in mind:

1. At the end of each year, everyone has roughly ten tonnes of CO₂ on their personal carbon clock.
2. Our trees offset around 6kg of CO₂ per year.
3. So, personally, I’d need to plant around 1,666 trees a year to offset my carbon footprint (or reduce it through my behaviour)

So I now have a rough idea of how much CO₂ I produce by watching a film on the sofa (around 50g of CO₂ – that wouldn’t even get me a kilometre in my diesel car, given that it emits 20kg of CO₂ per 100 km). And now I was curious about the actual carbon footprint of my AI usage:

Did you know that a ChatGPT query uses 2.9 watt-hours? That’s about ten times more than a Google search. 

Too abstract. Nobody understands that. And besides, I’ve always used Ecosia for searches, of course. It’s actually climate-positive – including for AI use, by the way (see “Curtain up for the world’s greenest AI”)

But we’re talking about the other 99 per cent of GenAI applications. Here, we need a different way of converting the figures to make the CO₂ emissions more tangible: “How about tokens?”, I thought, and started my research. In the process, I came across a provider who had already put my exact idea into practice:

A calculator that works out the carbon footprint of average AI usage. Voilà, the CO2 AI Footprint Calculator from Launchbot:

Trees4AI: Not as compensation, but as a visible symbol

I recently posted on LinkedIn: “Ecosia isn’t just the greenest search engine in the world, it’s also the greenest AI.”

The response was huge. Lots of people wrote to me saying: “Thanks, I’m switching to Ecosia now – at least for my day-to-day searches.” Just like back when people switched from Google to Ecosia and planted trees whilst searching, almost as an afterthought.

And just as with our other ideas for planting trees, such as #Trees4Christmascard or #Trees4Leads, it occurred to me: why not plant trees for AI usage too?

We’ve been doing this with our 1-euro trees for years – as a marketing incentive with Trees4Leads. The ideas come naturally – because a tree for one euro is simply tangible.

So why not do the same for AI?

Trees4AI isn’t a perfect carbon offset solution. It isn’t a form of indulgence. It isn’t a technical answer to a complex problem.

It’s a visible symbol that you can communicate both internally and externally – honest, concrete, affordable.

Here’s how it works:

1. 10 million tokens = 1 tree (equivalent to approx. 6 kg of CO₂ per year)
2. Calculation examples: An average team (10 people, 750,000 tokens/month) generates around 5.4 kg of CO₂ per year = 1 tree for 1 euro – planted in our GreenAdz forest in Zambia (or you can use the AI-CO₂ footprint calculator to work out your AI CO₂ emissions)

This isn’t greenwashing. It’s a statement: we use AI consciously. And we take responsibility.

Three lessons I’ve learnt over the last ten years

1. Nobody cares about abstract figures – but everyone understands a tree

Back when I was sitting at that conference and heard about the internet’s CO₂ emissions, I thought: Surely everyone must know that! But the truth is: abstract figures don’t move anyone. 2.9 watt-hours? 6 kg of CO₂? These are terms that don’t stick in people’s minds.

But a tree? You can picture that. You can count it. You can give it as a gift. It grows in Zambia and turns an invisible figure into a tangible impact.

2. Awareness is more powerful than a wagging finger

I don’t want to put anyone off using AI. Just as I don’t want to ban anyone from streaming or surfing the web. But I want people to know what they’re doing.

If you know that generating an AI image uses ten times more energy than a text chat, and that a video emits up to 6 kg of CO₂ – perhaps you’ll then consider whether you really need to repeat the refinement loop ten times. Or whether three times is enough.

This isn’t about giving things up. It’s about using technology mindfully. And that starts with information, not bans or a wagging finger.

3. Raising awareness for #responsibleAI early shapes the future

Ten years ago, hardly anyone was talking about the internet’s carbon footprint. Today, it’s taken for granted that we discuss it – at least in some circles.

With AI, we’re now at exactly this point. The technology is here. Its use is skyrocketing. And the question of responsibility is now being raised – keyword #ResponsibleAI

Those who start thinking now about how we can use AI more consciously will shape how we deal with it in ten years’ time and build trust. And that is precisely why now is the right time to take action.

How could you use Trees4AI?

I’m keen to hear your ideas. Experience has shown that the best ones just come naturally.

A few ideas to get you started:

• One tree a year for every AI team?
• As a symbolic gesture for every major AI project?
• As part of your CSRD or VSME sustainability strategy?
• One tree for every AI-generated campaign?
• Or something completely different?

You can find all the details about Trees4AI here:

👉Trees4AI: Using trees to promote the responsible use of AI. Visible. Tangible. For 1 euro.

Or send me your idea directly – I look forward to hearing from you: Trees4AI@greenadz.de

Let’s work together to break the 200,000-tree mark in our forest in Zambia – and make AI use a little more responsible. 🌱