The transmission of video in all its forms (broadcast, streaming, social media, teleconferencing, etc) represents a very significant portion of all internet trafic - estimates hover around 80% of all transmitted data. In addition, much of this data is for human consumption, and as such will be displayed on a screen. Studies have shown that IP-based video transmission (IPTV) and over-the-top streaming (OTT) use more energy per programme than digital terrestrial television (DTT) [1, 2]. The display used by the consumer matters significantly, with phone screens taking the least energy, laptops an intermediate amount, and television screen being the most energy-hungry. Televisions may use as much as 50% or more of the total energy consumed to deliver and display a programme [3]. The trend is that televisions are becoming larger, with higher resolutions, wide color gamuts and a high dynamic range, which means that televisions may end up using more energy in the future [4]. Given that the internet is a large heterogeneous system with many actors each having only partial responsibility, understanding the energy consumption, let alone controlling it, is proving a dificult problem. Standardisation can and should play a major role in this. Standardisation activities are currently ramping up with several standardisation organisations looking at how they may get involved. The following presents a brief overview of current activities in this area. For video transmission the oldest sustainability standard, informally known as Green MPEG, is part of the MPEG specification [ 5]. It has components to reduce the power consumption of decoders, the power consumption of displays, and a method for energy-eficient media selection. This standard has been revised in 2023. It is unfortunate that this standard is not currently in active use. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has ITU-T Study Group 5 devoted to the environment and climate action. This study group is active in producing recommendations to help guide the energy consumption of telecommunications infrastructure, notably including data centres. These are described in the L-series of documents with numbers ranging between 1300 and 1399. ICT assessment methodologies
and CO2 trajectories are described in the L-series documents in the range between 1400 and
1499. ITU-R Study Group 6 works on broadcasting technologies. In the context of programme
production and interchange, they have an activity looking at energy aware broadcasting. Within
this context, they have produced an opinion document giving advice on sustainability strategies
incorporating carbon ofsetting policies [
Regarding displays, power measurement standards are set by CTA [
At the level of individual standardisation proposals, JVET is currently considering a proposal
for an SEI message that would allow a sender to attach metadata to a video stream that at the
receiving end can be used to modify the image so that it requires less energy to be displayed [
Finally, two industry forums dedicated to sustainability in streaming have been created: DIMPACT and Greening of Streaming. The United Nations hosts an initiative entitled “ECCA - Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action” (formerly known as the UN Entertainment Net-Zero Accord).