88 Thousand Tonnes of CO2 Produced by Gaming Per Week

A new study has revealed that gaming produces more than 88 thousand tonnes of CO2 per week.

The US is the biggest offender with the most CO2 produced through gaming globally, with an astonishing 20,917 tonnes of CO2 produced per week through Steam alone, this is equivalent to the weight of 3,843 elephants and is 3.3 times more than Poland in second place (6,303 tonnes). Approximately 4% of the US have Steam accounts, and each user produces 1.53kg of CO2 a week. 

In second place, Poland produces a whopping 6,303 tonnes of CO2 per week which equates to roughly 6,814 return flights from London to New York City. With 2.4M Steam users, each Polish user produces 2.63kg CO2 per week, the joint third-highest in the study, tying with India. 

Germany takes third place, with 3.6 million gamers producing 5,750 tonnes of CO2 per week equal to roughly 19 rocket launches. Each user emits 1.6kg a week, far less than the top offenders in South Africa who produce 2.94kg each per week. 

Out of the 58 countries in the study, Iceland proves to be the lowest CO2 producer, with 9 tonnes per week which equates to roughly the same weight as 1.65 elephants. With only 75,600 accounts registered on Steam, the average weekly CO2 production per user stands at a relatively low 0.12kg, the joint second lowest in the study, tying with Norway and only Narrowly skimming the lowest CO2 producer Albania at 0.10kg per week. 

Digging into which top-rated games produce the most CO2 per completion reveals that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim creates the most CO2, with a lengthy completion time of 125 hours on average, this creates a startling 26.85kg of CO2 per person. 

Taking the title for second place is 2022’s Persona 5 Royal with a completion time of 122 hours, subsequently creating 26.31kg of CO2 per player. The RPG, Baldur's Gate 3 lands in third place with 107 hours required to complete the game, producing 23.08kg of CO2.

Other big names land in the top 20, including the fan favourite Grand Theft Auto V which generates 11.83kg of CO2 in the 55 hours of playtime, placing in 9th.