Most companies have focused on data centres in their efforts to achieve digital sustainability, but are neglecting the need to also ensure their websites are not leaving an unnecessarily large carbon footprint.
In Singapore, for instance, the average website has scored 49.5 out of 100 for digital sustainability, with more than half underperforming.
These findings are in a whitepaper released by Climate UX in February, detailing the sustainability scoresheet of Singapore websites. The analysis is based on 564 audits conducted from September to October last year.
Founded last June, Climate UX is a consultancy that aims to help companies design and run more sustainable websites. It is headquartered in Singapore and is also incorporated in Seattle, USA.
It is working with a number of customers in Asia-Pacific, including a food and beverages company in Japan and a logistics company in China, according to Julie Schiller, CEO and founder of Climate UX, who authored the whitepaper. The startup uses a number of industry standard tools and factors to measure sustainability scores, including Green Software Foundation and Google Lighthouse.
With the average webpage emitting 11.35 grams of CO2 per view, a website with 100,000 visits a month generates some 13.6 tonnes of CO2 per year, noted Climate UX.
Smaller organisations using hosting platforms, such as Squarespace and Wix, typically achieve higher sustainability scores as these services run on cloud architectures by default.
Larger organisations, especially those in public, finance, and telecommunications sectors, often run more complex systems that result in heavier pages, hence, higher emissions. Such sites, on average, are scored between 30 and 40 in the study.
Websites that run on renewable energy source will score better than those that do not, Schiller said in a video call with FutureCIO.
She noted that website often are seen as marketing assets, rather than operational infrastructures, even though they have a measurable carbon footprint that is driven by decisions involving design, content, and performance.
No compromise in user experience
The structure of a website can make a difference not just to its carbon footprint, but also overall user experience, Schiller said. Large complex images, for example, can be cumbersome when loaded on a mobile device.
Such design considerations are similar to those deployed in developing markets, where websites are designed to be less bandwidth-intensive, have less clutter, and consume less storage, she noted.
Companies can improve their sustainable footprint through some straightforward tweaks, she added.
For instance, moving to green hosting and lighter site designs can slash more than 500 tonnes of CO2 a year. Hosting sites on renewable energy alone can cut an estimated 180 tonnes of CO2 annually.
“It’s a misconception that sustainable website is ugly and non-usable,” Schiller said. “Have clear design intent and know what you want to deliver as an experience. Load only the most important context and content. You can reduce load by reducing unnecessary [web] trackers.”
“We want to ensure there’s no degradation in user experience. There’s just so much waste,” she said, pointing to websites that have too many features, which often end up distracting users.
She noted that such issues will only increase as AI use becomes more pervasive.
As it is, there are rising concerns that the influx of data centres will strain power grids and push up energy costs.
Some 75% of consumers are worried that AI data centres may lead to higher household power bills in their neighbourhood, according to a survey by SambaNova, which polled 2,525 respondents in the US and UK.
Some 71% believe AI data centres will strain their country’s power grid, while 83% think AI vendors should prioritise energy efficiency, even if it means slower rollout of new AI capabilities, the survey found.
“AI itself will be transformative, but it should be used judiciously,” Schiller said.
For one, avoid using AI to generate frivolous pictures and multiple copies of one video, she urged. “We need to be responsible for our use,” she said.
Climate UX currently provides a free audit of websites, scoring the website against an overall sustainability score of up to 100 and measuring the carbon footprint of each visitor. It can inform companies whether a change it implemented has made an impact. However, an audit cannot be generated if the website has security blocks.
Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in January also unveiled a new playbook and carbon calculator to help companies adopt green digital solutions and simplify sustainability reporting.
The Digital Technologies for Sustainability Playbook provides “clear actionable guidance” on how organisations can reduce operating costs while going greener, through technologies such as automation, AI, and Internet of Things (IoT), IMDA said.
The playbook includes case studies from local businesses and “practical advice” on investing in digital sustainability solutions, the government agency said.
The carbon calculator lets users track emissions by service types, configurations of cloud services, and service duration. The data can help organisations with their mitigation strategies and better plan their digital infrastructures, for instance, comparing carbon emissions between different vendors and services, and choosing between on-premises and cloud deployments, IMDA said.
