Since servers and any form of interaction with websites, mobile apps, and APIs has an energy cost, it is inherently negatively impacting the environment. Particularly with any use of crypto, AI, or computationally heavy operations.

Therefore, I am requesting that Proton commit to becoming carbon neutral. Not merely via purchasing carbon offsets which have questionable effectiveness, but by directly powering all infrastructure with renewable energy. There are also optimisations that can be made to source code to reduce the footprint by boosting efficiency and reducing resource usage.

Proton has been a shining example of ethics in computing via respecting and championing for privacy, security, and open source software. I have no doubt that Proton can do the same with respect to their environmental footprint.

Here are a few resources to get started:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/
https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/co2-js/

I find that there are two posts on reddit that addressed the same request of using green energy. And the admin of the protonmail subreddit did reply.

Here is the reply in 2019:
"Yes, we care about the environment as much as we care about privacy. We look to always choose the most eco-friendly option for our energy needs. As a matter of fact, we’ve used only hydro energy for a long time in our initial data-center. With time we couldn’t keep the percentage 100% hydro and had to diversify, but we are constantly working towards this direction. Needless to say, all our offices recycle everything we use. Planting trees is not a bad idea either, we will think about ways to implement this in our company’s culture. ProtonTrees maybe? ;)"
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/axoo99/comment/ehwnw92/

Here is the reply in 2021:
"Hi, thank you for your interest in ProtonMail! Our Frankfurt and Zurich data centers are
ISO standard 50001 certified and run on 100% green energy. We’re also working to further reduce our carbon impact where possible, as we care about the environment as much as we care about privacy."

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/pa76za/is_protonmail_green/

Great Point Ana,
Proton - PLEASE!
Power your operation with 100% Renewable energy - It's a no-brainer to do so.
Happy to help

using tutanota for this reason. Once you made the switch, I will make Protonmail my main inbox!

Hello, I just received 1GB extra because I am a paying customer. I think that's good, but does your company supply itself with clean energy? Have you studied a way to offset your carbon footprint? Do you have a charter of best practices regarding the energy your facilities need?
If you use nuclear electricity, do you know that spent nuclear fuel is still dangerous for 200,000 years? What are you doing for your electricity?

What is the status on green Proton business developments? Having a green operation is becoming nearly as important as being the securest on the market.

Once you made the switch, I will switch too and make Protonmail my main inbox!

It would be great if protonmail would use 100% renewable energy (no nuclear power) to run its servers. We just cannot continue the way we are running things right now.

Totally agree, I work in this space and to switch a company over to using green or renewable energy is a little more expensive than regular energy but it would be well worth the investment:
1) it’s the right thing to do
2) several other services including posteo and Tutanota already run on renewable energy. Protonmail don’t want to be left behind on such a basic feature

I think Protonmail should do this asap, it's not that hard or expensive!

It would be great if ProtonMail would use sustainable energy sources for their servers just as Posteo and Tutanota provides it.

Time to get into the 21st Century.

On the verge of climate change, I believe if I am going to pay for an email service, it has to be green! I searched if PM has a plan to do such a change but couldn't find anything on the internet. So I am asking/suggesting here that PM should use a supplier which is 100% renewable. There might be existing commitments, so the change cannot be tomorrow but from what I (can't) see on the internet there is no such a plan.

There already are secure 'and' green alternatives on the market which are 1$/month instead of 4$/month...

On top of green data center, a green electricity supplier is necessary! We are supporting ProtonMail because it is good and it pass the favour by supporting good! For the interested, here is a conference lecture https://youtu.be/XOIf6yb7q5A?t=563

Hi, I was 1 of the first protonmail user but in 2017 we should all be worried about ecology and I turn mysel into ntymail that is the only green mail I know.
BUT it is far away from a good UX and safety so I'd like to know if you consider to have a (very) green IT policy by using green datacenters.