Zattoo is the first certified climate neutral TV streaming provider

Zurich, 9 March 2021 – TV streaming provider Zattoo is now climate neutral. Working together with ClimatePartner, an expert in climate action in companies, Zattoo has calculated its carbon footprint. Emissions of 692 tonnes of CO2 were produced in 2019. Zattoo will offset this in full by supporting certified carbon offset projects, and is also planning offset for 2020, making it effectively climate neutral. With targeted projects such operating a data centre in a wind turbine, Zattoo is working on the climate neutral television of the future.

Video streaming content is gaining in popularity. The data quantities generated during streaming require a lot of electricity, which goes on to produce CO2 emissions. This also applies to TV streaming providers such as Zattoo. Here alone, 80 million hours of TV content is streamed. Since a long time, Zattoo has been using green electricity in the operation of its own data centres. Nevertheless, the streaming of content on the platform, but also the operation of the company itself, generates around 700 tonnes of CO2 annually. 

Zattoo has professionally investigated this figure together with ClimatePartner. The carbon footprint is always prepared based on all the available documents and has therefore been calculated retroactively for 2019 in this instance. During this period, Zattoo was responsible for emissions of 692 tonnes of CO2. The biggest sources of emissions were air travel, the daily commutes of employees in companies, along with emissions from data centres operated by suppliers and business customers.

“For us, the future of television is climate neutral.”, says Stefan Lietsch, Chief Technology Officer at Zattoo. “We will achieve this initially by compensating our emissions. This means supporting certified carbon offset projects in which CO2 is demonstrably saved. In addition, we will gradually reduce our CO2 consumption to a minimum. We want to set a good example and encourage other companies to join in”.

With the windCORES project by the wind farm operator Westfalenwind, Zattoo is the world's first TV streaming provider to use a data centre directly in a wind turbine. This not only allows CO2 savings, but the electricity is consumed right where it was generated. Zattoo is also a member of the Leaders for Climate Action initiative, making a genuine contribution to climate action together with other digital decision-makers and companies. Further solutions aimed at reducing CO2 consumption are set to follow over the next few months. With their many years of expertise in the fields of climate action and neutrality, ClimatePartner supports Zattoo in the implementation.

Tristan A. Foerster, Co-CEO of ClimatePartner, says “The proportion of digital technologies such as streaming on global emissions volume is currently estimated at around four per cent, with a tendency to increase. This is why it is all the more pleasing that Zattoo, as one of the market leaders, is taking on this challenge and not only consistently and continually reducing emissions, but offsetting them. We are delighted to support and accompany Zattoo on this path and are pleased to apply our digital expertise from the digital sector”.

The 692 tonnes of CO2 consumed will be completely balanced out by certified carbon offset projects with an additional 20 percent safety margin, making a total of 830.4 tonnes of CO2. Zattoo supports the reforestation of German woodlands along with the “Plastic Bank” project, in which people in Haiti, Indonesia, Brazil and the Philippines can exchange plastic waste they have gathered for money, food or drinking water at local collection points. The CO2 offset takes place through a wind farm project in the Philippines as well as an internationally-recognised forest protection project in Brazil. This means Zattoo is now climate neutral. Zattoo’s CO2 offset is recalculated each year, ensuring that the success of the measures selected for reduction can be checked and optimised if required. 

You can find further information here: www.zattoo.com/de/en/stream-carbon-neutral

An explanatory film on Zattoo’s data centre in a wind power plant can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkwo1ExvCOw

Image material for the press release can be downloaded here.

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