Friday, April 7, 2023
"When we ponder, 'What is the next great thing in climate adaptation technology?' it is because climate issues now influence everything," she wrote. "Metaverse and cloud computing are the solutions once more."
In a March 2023 white paper published by Bloomberg Law and titled "ESG in the Metaverse: An Opportunity to Rethink Sustainability," Preetha Chakrabarti, Helen Ogunyanwo, Felicia Isaac and Tiffany Aguiar from the law firm Crowell & Moring build a case for using the metaverse as a platform to explore environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles due to its inherently high-speed, high-capacity data consumption requirements. The metaverse's carbon footprint will expand proportionately with its growth, they stated, urging lawmakers and regulators to consider striking a balance between environmental protection and society's needs.
"To truly understand the scope of the metaverse's environmental footprint, we must untangle the coils of fiber optic cables, look up to cellular towers, and feel the heat emanating from computer servers and data centers," the authors wrote. "We must look to the electricity, water, air, heat, metals, minerals, and rare earth elements that support and bear the burden of the metaverse. Assessing these individual elements helps to uncover the metaverse's potentially enormous environmental impact."
Chakrabarti et al. further noted cloud-based technology's current carbon footprint is greater than the airline industry. Going forward, Intel predicted, the metaverse will require 1,000 times more computing power as well as additional infrastructure. The authors noted the unsustainable infrastructure and energy requirements for creating virtual twinning platforms and mirroring "the nearly infinite diversity of the real world" create an ecological plight.
"The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy estimated in 2012 that it takes 5.12kWh of electricity per gigabyte of transferred data," they wrote. "The Department of Energy estimates that the average U.S. power plant expends 0.855 pounds of carbon dioxide for a single kWh generated."
The authors praised big tech companies for implementing ESG initiatives, including those that are leveraging renewable energy sources and reducing the volume and frequency of blockchain transactions. They also commended the Playing for the Planet Alliance for reducing emissions and levels of plastic used in their products and for planting millions of trees.
Zaveria, recalling earlier iterations in the gaming industry, noted nascent computing technology lacked the necessary information processing capability to support three-dimensional virtual reality experiences in the growing Metaverse ecosystem.
"Our most recent encounter with the metaverse, if we go back in time, was Second Life, which debuted in the video gaming industry in 2003," she wrote. "Technology was one of many factors that contributed to the gradual decline of this 'grandfather' of the virtual metaverse."
Sharing ETLA Economic Research predictions that the tech sector's energy consumption may rise by 14 percent before 2030, Zaveria claimed these projections do not account for additional energy requirements of emerging technologies and devices. She further noted the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030 addresses accessible and environmentally-friendly energy, stating, "[I]f there are any ethical questions regarding the metaverse, sustainability will be the most vocal opponent." 
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