How to measure emissions from Digital network

What counts as Digital network

Digital network and content-viewing activity attributable to the organisation's own operations — for example internet search usage, video streaming, and website dwell time by device type. Excludes network-operator infrastructure activity for products or services the organisation sells (see Digital network operator) and general IT hardware purchases (see Electrical items or Computers).

Digital network covers the organisation's own consumption of network services — search, streaming and website usage — as an operational, purchased-goods-style activity. It is distinct from Digital network operator, which is used by organisations that sell network services and need to report the operator-side infrastructure supporting sold data traffic (Scope 3 Category 11), and from IT hardware entries, which cover physical equipment rather than usage. Device-specific website dwell-time sub-types let you reflect that a desktop session and a mobile session carry different energy intensities.

What activity data you need

Collect the most specific physical unit available. Unit definitions are in Appendix I — Description of Units.

• minute
• Unit

Which emission scope it falls under

Digital network activity data typically maps to Scope 3 Category 1 under the GHG Protocol. Confirm organisational boundary and ownership before reporting.

Sub-types available in the platform

All 9 sub-types available in the platform.

• Internet Seach: Google: Global average
• Video streaming
• Video streaming: Malta
• Website dwell time: Desktop
• Website dwell time: Games console
• Website dwell time: Smart TV
• Website dwell time: Smartphone (mobile web)
• Website dwell time: Tablet
• Website dwell time: Unknown device

Common questions

Is this entry for our own website's traffic or our organisation's general internet use?

It can cover either, depending on what you are trying to measure — website dwell-time sub-types are for traffic on properties you own, while search and streaming sub-types can reflect general staff digital activity if that is the boundary you have chosen.

How is this different from Digital network operator?

Digital network operator is for businesses that operate network infrastructure supporting products or services they sell to customers (Scope 3 Category 11); Digital network is for an organisation's own use or hosting of network-dependent content, typically Scope 3 Category 1.

Do we need device-level breakdowns, or is a total minutes figure acceptable?

A device breakdown (desktop, mobile, tablet, smart TV, games console) gives a more accurate result since intensities differ by device; use the "Unknown device" sub-type only for the portion of traffic your analytics cannot classify.

Does video conferencing count under Digital network?

Video conferencing platform usage is a form of digital network activity and can be recorded here using session minutes from your conferencing platform's admin reporting, following the same device-type logic as streaming where available.

What if our analytics platform only reports page views, not minutes?

Convert page views to an estimated dwell time using your platform's average session duration metric if available, and document the conversion; alternatively, record page views as a Unit-based proxy and flag the limitation in your methodology.