What Carbon Footprint Does Your Digital Presence Really Have?

When it comes to sustainability and climate change, we’re all pretty aware of the obvious contributors such as coal-powered electricity and fossil-fuel heavy transport. But what about your online presence?

If the internet was a country, it would be the sixth biggest polluter in the world, but most of us aren’t aware of the carbon emissions our digital presence is contributing.

This lack of understanding is something True Green founder Ray Pastoors is on a mission to change. An environmentalist from a young age – Ray started selling stickers to raise money for koala conversation at the tender age of 7 – he’s now committed to helping founders and small businesses in Australia reduce their online carbon footprint.

“The average carbon footprint for an average small business website is 211kg of CO2 a year – the equivalent of around 26,000 smartphones being charged. And that’s for a site following best practice principles – so most sites are even higher,” says Ray.

“Most of us think about obvious things like vehicles using petroleum and the energy we use in our homes, but we forget about the impact we can have online. Every online file, image and video needs to be stored, and datacentres consume huge amounts of water and electricity, especially offshore facilities that don’t rely on green energy.”

Unfortunately for most of us, it’s out of sight, out of mind. If we could see the amount of energy being chewed up by every single online activity, we might be more committed to auditing our digital footprint.

“This isn’t about shaming or blaming. Most people simply aren’t aware of the impact of their digital activity and it’s complex to fully capture all the factors involved. As someone who’s worked in tech for years, I get it. Small businesses and startups in particular, don’t have time to explore every option for their online presence; it’s about getting online at speed. But small tweaks can make a big difference,” says Ray.

The good news is, there are simple steps we can all take to reduce the amount of energy our website and online activity is producing.

How to reduce your digital carbon footprint

• Clearing out website files and deleting files you no longer need
• Sizing images correctly – use a free tool like tinypng to compress any images on your website before you upload them
• Host videos on platforms like YouTube and Vimeo, rather than directly on your website (bonus – this will also improve site speed and user experience)
• Delete unnecessary emails and unsubscribe from emails you no longer read
• Choose a web hosting service that uses green energy, local datacentre locations and offers transparency around its sustainability policies

“Be wary of greenwashing,” says Ray.

“Many web providers out there make claims around being carbon neutral, but they just plant a tree and hope that will be enough, rather than investing in green energy, educating their customers on how to reduce energy consumption, or giving back in any way. So try to do your research and find a provider that is transparent about their sustainability credentials.”

As a business on a mission to champion all aspects of sustainability, True Green is also committed to donating 1% of all revenue to the Solar for Schools program as part of the Its Time Foundation – helping remote schools ditch fossil fuel generators for solar energy.

Find out more at www.truegreen.au