The role of e-mail in increasing our carbon footprint

Authors

  • Michal Beno Prague City University, School of Business, Hybernská 24, 110 00 Nové Město, Czech Republic https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2869-2646
  • Dagmar Caganova Faculty of Management, Odbojárov 10, 820 05 Bratislava 25, Slovakia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/23361964.2025.10

Keywords:

carbon footprint, digital footprint, e-communication, e-mail, workplace

Abstract

Digital technologies are part of our daily lives, and they have a carbon footprint. This paper explores the effect of sending e-mails for business purposes, a supposedly green means of communication, in two workplaces, home and office. Quantitative data of the e-mailing activities of staff was collected and the CO2e calculated. The survey included the perceptions of the uses of the cost in terms of CO2e. Based on the data collected, e-mail is an integral part of modern communication within an organisation. A statistically significantly higher percentage of e-mails were sent/received in the office (p < 0.001) and the percentage of long e-mails with attachments/images is statistically significantly higher in the office than from home (p = 0.0194). The number of standard e-mails is statistically significantly higher in the office than from a cubicle within an office (p = 0.020). E-mail seems to be a relatively eco-oriented business and private channel, but the results of this study indicate that it results in the emission of CO2e.

Author Biography

Dagmar Caganova, Faculty of Management, Odbojárov 10, 820 05 Bratislava 25, Slovakia

a full professor in Business Economics and Management, acts as Dean's Ambassador for grant activity at the Faculty of Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. She co-founded the European Alliance for Innovation in Slovakia, is an International Advisory Council member of Danubius University, a management committee member of E-COST TN 1301 Sci Generation, and an executive committee member of Danubius Academic Consortium. Her professional interests are in Intercultural and Innovation Management, Managerial Skills, Communication in Management and Marketing, International Relationships and Diversity, Mobility, and Smart Cities. Her h-index in WoS is 9, and her SCOPUS h-index is 12.

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Published

2025-12-17

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2025)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Michal Beno, Dagmar Caganova

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