Low-carbon web hosting
About 15 kg CO₂e per server per month, manufacturing and electricity included, on Quebec’s hydropower and France’s grid. And for every yearly plan, a tree planted and a solar lamp donated.
7 times less than the average Canadian grid
CO₂e per server per month
Manufacturing, electricity and operations included, calculated by our provider.
Of revenue to the planet
Every year, as a member of 1% for the Planet, 1% of our revenue funds environmental projects.
Planted per annual plan
With Tree Canada, for forest preservation and restoration across Canada.
Given per yearly plan
A solar lamp to a family without electricity in Africa, via SolarAid.
Green hosting starts by admitting the web made things worse
The internet feels weightless. It isn’t. Every page view runs on servers that draw power around the clock, on networks that carry the bytes, and on devices that had to be mined, manufactured and shipped. Add it up and digital technology emits as much as the airline industry — and unlike aviation, it is still growing fast, pushed by video, cloud and now AI.
We’re a web host. A share of that is ours. Talking about a low carbon footprint only means something if we measure it, cut it and show you the figures — which is what the rest of this page is about.
- 1.5–4%
of global greenhouse-gas emissions come from digital technology — on par with or above aviation’s 2.5%.
- 415 TWh
of electricity used by data centres in 2024, about 1.5% of the world’s total.
- ×2 by 2030
Data-centre electricity use is projected to roughly double, to around 945 TWh.
- 30%
of the digital footprint is embodied: mining, manufacturing and shipping the hardware.
Sources: ITU & World Bank, Measuring the Emissions & Energy Footprint of the ICT Sector (2024); Freitag et al., Patterns (2021); IEA, Energy and AI (2025) and aviation tracking (2023).
Our carbon footprint, measured
Every month our data-centre provider calculates the emissions of the servers it rents us: manufacturing, electricity and its share of operations. The rest of Ex2 weighs little next to it: we work from home and rarely travel.
- 0.025 kg CO₂e per kWhQuebec’s hydropower, against 0.19 kg on average in Canada.
- PUE of 1.21 to 1.30Water-cooled servers, no air conditioning. Industry average: 1.56.
- Counted at full load, around the clockThe calculation takes maximum consumption: actual use is lower.
The same servers, on another grid
Manufacturing and operations stay the same. Only the electricity changes from one grid to another.
- Manufacturing, over 5 years
- Electricity, cooling included
- Running the data centres
15 kg of CO₂e is about…
- 80 km by carA third of a drive from Montreal to Quebec City.
- 3 meals with beefAbout 5 kg CO₂e each.
- 1 pair of leather shoesMaking them, from the leather to the box.
- 8 hours of life in CanadaThe average emissions of a person: 47 kg a day.
Method and sources
Our provider’s carbon report for all our servers, September 2026, all scopes included: manufacturing spread over 5 years; electricity at full load, weighted by each data centre’s PUE, market-based (17 kg per server location-based); operations (scopes 1 and 3) shared among its servers. Comparison: electricity recalculated with the average grid intensity in 2025 (Ember: Canada 191 g, United States 384 g CO₂e/kWh). Equivalents: car, Natural Resources Canada (2.3 kg CO₂ per litre of gasoline, 8.05 L/100 km on average); meals and shoes, ADEME (Impact CO₂); emissions per person, National Inventory Report 2025 (694 Mt CO₂e in Canada in 2023, for 40.1 million people).
What does green hosting mean?
Your site lives on a server somewhere. That server draws electricity around the clock. Where the electricity comes from, how much the building wastes, and what happens to the hardware afterwards — that’s the whole question.
What does “green” mean at Ex2, exactly?
Not “no impact”: a server always emits. At Ex2, “green” means four specific things. We measure: about 15 kg CO₂e per server per month, manufacturing included, published above. We pick frugal data centres: hydropower in Quebec, France’s low-carbon grid, water-cooled servers with no air conditioning, and a PUE of 1.21 to 1.30. We make hardware last: servers are repaired and refurbished rather than scrapped. We give on top: 1% of our revenue through 1% for the Planet, a tree and a solar lamp for every yearly plan, without subtracting them from our figures.
Does where I host really make a difference?
Yes, and it’s one of the few climate choices that costs you nothing. The same site draws the same power wherever it runs; what changes is the grid behind the plug and how much the building wastes on top. A server on hydro power in a water-cooled facility can emit a fraction of what an identical server does on a coal-heavy grid under air conditioning.
Does green hosting cost more?
No. Our green hosting plans are priced like any other hosting — a smaller footprint costs you nothing extra.
Where are the servers, and what powers them?
In France and in Quebec, in water-cooled data centres with no air conditioning. The Quebec campus sits beside a hydroelectric station: its electricity is renewable. In France the grid, mostly nuclear and renewable, is one of Europe’s lowest-carbon: low-carbon electricity, at 0.026 kg CO₂e per kWh.
Do you offset your emissions?
No. Buying carbon credits takes nothing away from what our servers emit, so we publish our actual emissions instead, further up this page, and we don’t call ourselves “carbon neutral”. Our 1% for the Planet giving and the tree and solar lamp of every yearly plan come on top; we don’t subtract them from our figures.
Who checks this?
Ex2 is listed in the Green Web Foundation’s directory of green hosts: you can check ex2.com there yourself. Our 1% for the Planet giving is certified every year, and the projects we funded are listed publicly.
Low-carbon electricity
Electricity is the biggest lever a host has, so we host where it emits least. Efficiency comes next: the less a building wastes, the less energy there is to source in the first place.
Hydropower in Quebec
Renewable energy: the Quebec campus sits beside a hydroelectric station.
A low-carbon grid in France
Mostly nuclear and renewable, one of Europe’s lowest-carbon grids.
Listed by the Green Web Foundation
An independent non-profit keeps a directory of green web hosts; ex2.com is in it.
We only rent space in data centres that waste little
Every kilowatt-hour a server uses, a building spends more on cooling, lighting and power conversion. PUE measures that overhead: total facility energy divided by IT energy, where 1.00 is perfect. The industry has been stuck near 1.56 for five years. We host in France and in Quebec, in facilities that do noticeably better — and that run on low-carbon electricity.
Water-cooled servers, no air conditioning
Heat is pulled off the chips by a closed water loop and shed through dry coolers — the single biggest reason the overhead stays low.
Hydropower in Quebec, low-carbon power in France
The Quebec campus sits beside a hydroelectric station; the French sites are on France’s low-carbon grid, with low-carbon energy contracts: 0.025 and 0.026 kg CO₂e per kWh.
Servers built, repaired and reused in-house
Hardware is assembled locally and refurbished rather than scrapped — that’s how we go after the 30% of emissions that come from manufacturing.
Energy overhead (PUE)
1.00 = every watt reaches a serverOperator figures for Sept 2023–Aug 2024, measured per ISO/IEC 30134-2 (PUE) and 30134-9 (water). Industry average PUE: Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2024; water: US Department of Energy estimate.
What we claim here, someone else lists
Our emissions come from our data-centre provider’s calculation, detailed above. The rest you can check with the organisations we work with.
Every yearly plan plants and lights
Two partners, two concrete gestures — counted per plan, not per promise.
1 tree for every annual plan
Planted through Tree Canada for forest preservation and restoration projects across the country. Reforestation is one of the few carbon-removal methods that already works at scale.
1 solar lamp for every yearly plan
Given to a family in Africa without access to electricity, via SolarAid. Those families already live with the effects of a warming climate — a lamp changes evenings, homework and safety overnight.
Green starts at the office
Data centres are the big number, but an office has a footprint too. Here is what the Quebec City team actually changed.
Paperless
Invoices, orders, specs — everything stays on screen.
No disposables
Ceramic mugs, real cutlery, an espresso machine without capsules.
Meetings by video
Whenever possible — no flights or drives just to talk.
Low-power hardware
Modern, efficient computers, the same tech we deploy on our servers.
Work from home
Why take the road to sit in front of the same screen?
E-bike credit
A credit toward a bike or any electric means of transport.
Our partners
- Tree Canada
- SolarAid
Ready for low-carbon hosting?
Same price, about 15 kg CO₂e per server per month. Pick a yearly plan and we plant the tree.