# University of Pretoria researcher, professor Hanlie Smuts, says the cost of storing the world’s constantly growing dark data, which is data that is stored but never used, is creating a significant carbon footprint. Globally, data centres already account for approximately two-percent of carbon or greenhouse gas emissions, and this is expected to double by 2030 as digital adoption accelerates. Smuts says she has developed a socio-technical framework and guideline for people in organisations to master dark data management and contribute to digital decarbonisation.
UP researcher says storing unused dark data has heavy carbon cost