Digital Sustainability: Actionable steps to reduce your websites environmental impact

Why Digital Sustainability Matters

In the modern digital landscape, the environmental impact of the internet is rapidly growing. It has been reported that the digital industry now accounts for up to 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions [1], exceeding even the aviation sector [2]. With ever-increasing internet usage, cloud computing, and streaming services, the energy demand of digital infrastructure is rising exponentially. Businesses that rely on heavy content and inefficient web infrastructure are not only increasing their carbon footprint but also running less efficient and slower websites that cost more to maintain. 

At Reading Room, we are a carbon-neutral digital agency, committed to helping businesses reduce their digital carbon footprint through smart digital choices. The good news is that a sustainable website is not just an ethical choice—it also has measurable business benefits. Energy-efficient websites perform better, cost less to run, and convert more visitors into customers. A one-second delay in page load time can reduce conversions by up to 20% [3], while faster websites benefit from higher SEO rankings, increased user retention, and reduced infrastructure costs. Beyond performance, businesses are facing increasing regulatory pressure to report and reduce their environmental impact. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) compliance is becoming a necessity for organisations working with clients in the EU, and businesses that fail to address their digital carbon footprint may struggle to meet these requirements. 

By investing in sustainable web technology now, businesses can ensure compliance, improve efficiency, and stay ahead of changing regulations while enhancing their brand’s reputation as an environmentally responsible organisation. 

Assessing Your Website’s Environmental Impact 

Before making improvements, businesses must first measure the sustainability of their current website. Identifying which aspects of your website are performing the least sustinably, allows you to prioritise which aspects to improve first. We recommend checking out several tools that can help provide a baseline assessment: 

• The Green Pages – A directory of digital sustainability resources, produced by The British Interactive Media Association (BIMA). The resources cover everything from sustainable advertising, content production, and web design, to internal awareness and education.
• Web Environmental Sustainability Guidelines (WES-G) – A comprehensive set of guidelines for web developers to follow, to ensure all aspects of the website building process are as sustainable as possible.
• Website Carbon Calculator – A tool that estimates the CO2 emissions generated by a website, and identifies key areas for improvement. 

These resources and assessments highlight inefficiencies and help create a roadmap for reducing the environmental impact of a website. After this stage, you will be well equipped to begin exploring and implementing improvements. 

Improving Website Sustainability – Actionable Steps 

Sustainable Data Storage:

Web hosting plays a crucial role in a website’s sustainability rating. Traditional data centres are among the biggest contributors to digital carbon emissions, but more energy-efficient options are available. For example, using Content delivery networks (CDN), such as those offered by Cloudflare, can significantly cut energy consumption by delivering content from the nearest server rather than relying on a single, central data centre. This reduces unnecessary data transfer, improves load times, and lowers energy use. 

Another important option to keep in mind is cloud hosting. Many leading cloud providers, including Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, now offer carbon-neutral data centres powered by renewable energy. 

Sustainable Web Development Practices: 

Poorly written code, unnecessary scripts, and excessive third-party plugins all contribute to higher processing power requirements and increased energy consumption. We recommend start optimising your website by:

• Reducing unnecessary JavaScript and CSS to ensure pages load efficiently. Breaking JavaScript into smaller chunks, means only necessary code is loaded, and unnecessary code is left inactive until needed.
• Using lightweight frameworks instead of complex, resource-heavy libraries. These frameworks focus on installing only the most necessary functions and designs, to ensure no energy is used unnecessarily.
• Optimising database queries to lower processing power requirements, to improve website speed and performance, and reduce energy usage. 

Remember that every kilobyte saved reduces energy consumption, making even small code optimisations beneficial. 

Reduce Unnecessary Data Loading: 

Loading excessive content at once is inefficient. Therefore, we recommend lazy loading as it ensures that images, videos, and other large assets only load when needed, reducing bandwidth usage and lowering energy demand. Video content, in particular, is a major contributor to digital emissions, accounting for nearly 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses that rely on video-heavy content should prioritise compression, adaptive streaming, and minimising autoplay to improve sustainability. Consider optimising image formats, compressing files, and ensuring that media is used purposefully rather than excessively. This can drastically reduce your website’s digital footprint while improving load speed and user experience. 

Choosing Sustainable CMS and Hosting Providers:

Platforms and providers used for web development and hosting significantly influence a website’s sustainability. Open-source content management systems such as Drupal and Umbraco allow for greater customisation and efficiency, ensuring that websites can be optimised for sustainability. Free tools such as Umbraco’s ‘Umbraco.Community.Sustainability’ package, allow content editors to view the environmental ratings of a page in real time, as they are editing. This makes it easier for non-developers to easily make sustainability improvements, with no technical knowledge needed. We recommend incorporating regular performance audits to ensure that updates, new content, and integrations do not gradually increase a website’s carbon footprint. 

More and more companies are turning to carbon-neutral hosting providers that power their data centres with renewable energy. Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure are leading the way in offering carbon tracking tools and renewable-powered infrastructure. Choosing a sustainable hosting provider ensures that a website operates with the lowest possible environmental footprint.

 

As businesses face increasing scrutiny over their environmental impact, digital sustainability is becoming a core consideration in corporate strategies, and in some countries, is even a requirement by law. Websites that are inefficient, slow, and energy-intensive will not only suffer from higher operational costs and regulatory risks but also fall behind competitors who prioritise efficiency and sustainability. 

At Reading Room, we are committed to driving sustainable digital transformation. As a carbon-neutral agency, we help businesses optimise their websites for sustainability without sacrificing performance. From energy-efficient hosting and smart content delivery to streamlined cloud solutions and sustainable development practices, we help organisations reduce their digital carbon footprint while enhancing speed, security, and user experience. If you’re ready to take action towards digital sustainability, we're here to help.