Mario is killing the planet with his giant carbon footprint, say scientists - Vg247

The Console Carbon Footprint study has revealed that gaming is a major contributor to sky-high levels of C02 emissions

Did you think that the only thing Mario was killing was a goomba or two? Think again.

Brand new research revealed by a new study this week suggests that the carbon footprint of popular Super Mario games over the past year is way more impactful than you might have thought.

New research shows that the CO2 produced by playing best-selling games Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Super Mario Odyssey exceeds a staggering 475 tonnes.

The study, named Console Carbon Footprint, also looks at the CO2 emissions for every console released to date, following the news that 21 gaming companies have pledged to reduce their collective CO2 emissions by more than 30 million tonnes by 2030.

It also delves into the environmental impact of the materials used to create boxed games vs digital downloads.

Console Carbon Footprint found that total sales of the popular Super Mario titles equalled 5,785,529 units in 2019 (83% of which were digital).

According to the study, digitally downloading a game results in 0.017kg of CO2, while creating a physical copy emits more than 20 times that at 0.39kg.

This means that between digital and physical sales, games featuring everyone's favourite stomp-happy plumber racked up an impressive 475 tonnes of CO2.

The actual carbon footprint of Mario is much higher when the energy consumption of consoles are taken into account, with the Console Carbon study revealing that the average C02 produced across all consoles is 0.025kg per hour.

Extrapolating that data, and knowing that over 164 million adults in the US playing video games and players spending an average of 7.1 hours (seven hours, seven minutes) per week on games consoles, video game CO2 emissions could reach a staggering 29 million kg, or 29,110 tonnes each week.

Things are better now than they have been, though.

The research also found that the most polluting consoles released to date are the PS3 original with a carbon footprint of 0.054kg per hour, followed by the Xbox 360 with 0.051kg.

Current-gen machines fare slightly better – and next-gen machines are committed to being particularly eco-friendly – but Microsoft's current Xbox One X averages at about 0.035kg of CO2 released every hour.

With 21 gaming companies having pledged to reduce their collective CO2 footprint by more than 30 million tonnes by 2030, it’s crucial that major console companies continue to prioritise sustainable power usage and quick download times moving forward.

Here's hoping the next generation of video games consoles can mitigate some of the damage gaming is doing to the environment.