Online advertising CO2e emissions are 10% of the total infrastructure emissions and therefore a significant contributor to the environmental impact of the Internet ecosystem. Advertising fraud can be considered a total waste of resources, both economically and environmentally.
Strikingly, uBlock Origin has the potential to save the average global Internet user more than 100 h annually. The energy conserved if everyone in the United States used an open source ad blocker would save over 36 Americans lives per year if it were to offset coal-fired electricity generated-based pollution.
Pearce, J. M. (2020). Energy Conservation with Open Source Ad Blockers. Technologies, 8(2), 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies8020018
PΓ€rssinen, M., Kotila, M., Cuevas, R., Phansalkar, A., & Manner, J. (2018). Environmental impact assessment of online advertising. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 73, 177β200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2018.08.004