• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 4, 2024

Do you have a clue as to which countries send the most spam emails, polluting the environment with CO2 emissions?

After the United States, which sends 8 billion spam emails per day, the countries with the most spam are China (7.6 billion), Germany (7.4 billion) and France (7.2 billion), according to a study by ZeroBounce.  

But the real surprise is the Netherlands, which sends 7.1 billion emails per day, beating the UK, which accounts for 6.9 billion. Belgium is high, at 6.3 billion, followed by Australia with 6.1 billion.  

The Netherlands also has a high carbon footprint of spam emails in tons: 2347.9. The country has a population of 17.6 million, 90% of whom use email.  

The United States, which is home to 341.8 million people, has a carbon footprint of 2645.5 tons, while China has 2543.2 tons. Germany is also high, with 2447.1 tons and France with 2381 tons. 

Ireland has the highest carbon footprint per user at 367.6 grams, versus 133.9 grams for the Netherlands. Roughly 5.8 billion spam emails are sent in Ireland per day. 

Spain has a carbon footprint of 2116.4 tons.  

Despite coming in third on spam volume, Australia has the lowest carbon emissions per user: 93.9 grams. That probably is because only 73% of the Australian population uses email, ZeroBounce says. 

In Denmark, where 98% of its citizens use email, there are 6 billion spam emails being sent per day. The carbon footprint is 309.2 grams per email user. 

 "Spam emails are not just an annoyance; they have a significant environmental impact as well,” says Liviu Tanase, founder and CEO of ZeroBounce. “Each spam email contributes to CO2 emissions, and the cumulative effect is substantial when billions are sent daily.”

ZeroBounce analyzed 27 highly internet-consuming countries. The study is also based on numbers from the World Population Reviews, the percentage of email users per country from Statista. The number of spam emails per country was from Talos Intelligence.