2nd January 2025

Is your website contributing to global warming?

Did you know that if the Internet was a country, it would be the 4th largest polluting country in the world?

Digital technologies currently contribute to 4% of global carbon emissions.  Compare this to the much-maligned global aviation industry which actually only accounts for 2.4% of carbon dioxide emissions!  More concerning is the energy consumption associated with the production and usage of our diverse range of web-connected devices is increasing at a rate of between 7-10% annually. Due to a boom in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum computing, the National Grid has predicted that the power demand of data centres in the UK could see a six-fold increase in the next decade.

Your digital footprint contributes to global warming?

So the Internet is consuming a lot of electricity – from the data centres to transmission networks to the billions of PCs and mobile phones around the world – all that data transfer is producing a LOT of carbon emissions.

All over the world, we are consuming far higher amounts of online than we did 10-20 years ago.  Just remember what your monthly data allowance used to be for your mobile phone contract 10 years ago and compare to what it is now. The proliferation of social media, online streaming channels like Netflix, and online shopping has transformed our digital lives.  Similarly in business, websites have also seen massive changes, transforming from simple information providing pages to flashy multi-faceted marketing platforms. Interhacktives take an amusing look through the archives of the BBC’s website history from 1996 to now  – the change in design, content and build architecture is staggering!  Wind forward to 2024 and it is standard (and desirable) to have websites with stunning design, cool graphics, autoplay videos, widget add-ons…but perhaps not so desirable to also have the content and code bloat with unused scripts slowing down your website’s performance that may also accompany these sophisticated website designs.

Why does this matter?

On the surface of it, it doesn’t, since our devices have enough processing power to load complicated websites and our data connections via 5G or fibre broadband are fast enough to handle the increased data load. However, as a company, your website and other digital outputs make up part of your overall carbon footprint, and a website, just like an item of clothing you may sell or a service you may offer, contributes to your CO2 emissions that the Government is asking you to count and report on. 

We are all obligated by law to reduce our company’s emissions by 90% by 2050, allowing us to offset the final 10% to achieve carbon net zero status.  Finding ways to save CO2 emissions can come in the obvious places you would expect – like changing to a 100% renewable energy provider – but after that, choosing your suppliers with care and ensuring that all of your outputs, including your digital strategy, is sustainable is paramount.  Happily, the internet is also undergoing a green revolution and initiatives like the Sustainable Web Manifesto and Tech Zero are leading the way.  Reuben Digital is proud to be part of this leading edge in future website design and build, cutting the bloat and reducing websites’ carbon footprints!

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