Your iPhone may have contributed to the deadly hurricanes that battered the US this year, experts reveal.
Researchers have found that smartphones generate 580 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, nearly 100 million more tons than the global aviation industry.
These emissions warm Earth’s oceans, fostering conditions for storms such as Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm that struck Florida in October.
‘Each step of cell phone production involves significant energy consumption,’ Ravi Sawhney, CEO of global design and innovation consultancy RKS Design told DailyMail.com, ‘and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn exacerbate extreme weather events.’
Experts warned that as smartphones become more advanced with power-hungry features like AI and the tech ecosystem continues to expand, the world could see more profound environmental and weather effects unfold over the next few years.
Sawhney expects future devices to place ‘more strain on data centers’ and ‘require substantial electricity’ that could come from nonrenewable energy sources.
‘The increase in emissions from the expanding tech ecosystem contributes to global warming,’ he said.
‘As a result, we may see more pronounced climate changes, potentially leading to an increase in extreme weather events over time.’
Experts revealed that your iPhone may be contributing to deadly weather events due to carbon dioxide emissions released from every state of its manufacturing process and use
This stark warning comes after an intense hurricane season, with much of the Southeastern US still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The storm resulted in at least 100 deaths, potentially up to $100 billion of damage and locals just recently had access to clean water.
Meanwhile, a bomb cyclone — thought to be the worst for a decade — caused devastation across multiple states on the West Coast.
Hurricane Milton unleashed rare tornadoes through Florida, leaving around 2.6 million Floridians without power.
At least 32 Americans lost their lives during the storm.
‘The link lies in the cumulative effect of carbon emissions from various sources, including the tech industry, which influences the overall climate system,’ Sawhney said.
Climate change increases atmospheric moisture, which can heighten the intensity of rainfall and storms.
Hotter ocean temperatures, another effect of climate change, are thought to cause high-speed tropical storms. And rising sea levels can flood coastal areas.
Smartphones generate 580 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. These emissions warm Earth’s oceans, fostering conditions for storms such as Hurricane Milton , a Category 3 storm that struck Florida in October (pictured)
Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane are the drivers of climate change, which results in the heat of the sun getting trapped in the atmosphere. This warms up the planet.
And experts have found that your iPhone plays a role in climate change even before it hits the production line.
Data has shown that for each smartphone produced, around 155 pounds of natural resources are consumed that are shipped off to electronics makers.
Extraction and processing of natural resources are considered one of the largest sources of carbon emissions globally, responsible for over 50 percent of total emissions.
Then nearly 180 pounds of carbon dioxide is emitted when a single iPhone is manufactured, which is equivalent to driving a car for 26 weeks.
Using the iPhone starts another stream of emissions.
Hurricane Milton unleashed rare tornadoes through Florida (pictured), leaving around 2.6 million Floridians without power. At least 32 Americans lost their lives during the storm
Nirav Chheda, CEO at Bambi NEMT, told DailyMail.com that streaming content on phones, charging them, making phone calls and sending text messages rely on large amounts of electricity that, in many cases, still comes from fossil fuels.
Researchers said that once users are finished with their smartphone and upgrade to the latest model, additional damage to the planet — and, subsequently, bad weather — can occur.
That’s because billions of phones end up in landfills yearly, which Chheda explained can result in toxic chemicals from smartphone batteries leaking into the soil and causing serious pollution.
Chheda described the situation of electronic waste as ‘bad’ and ‘getting worse’.
‘The amount of e-waste is staggering—millions of tons every year, and smartphones are a big chunk of it,’ he said.
‘Many of the materials used in phones are toxic and hard to recycle, so when devices are thrown away, they often end up leaking harmful substances into the environment.’
