As awareness of environmental issues grows, we are all looking for ways to prioritise sustainability. The good news is that there are simple and actionable steps you can take to reduce your website’s environmental impact.
How do websites affect the environment?
You may be asking yourself “How on earth is my website affecting the environment?” It’s not as obvious as recycling, turning off the lights, or sharing lifts to work but your digital presence is most likely having a bigger impact than you realise. Websites need servers to keep them running 24/7 and data is transferred every time someone visits or clicks on your site, and all of this uses energy.
According to the Sustainable Web Manifesto, if the internet were a country, it would be the world’s fourth largest polluter. And as our love for scrolling, streaming and shopping online keeps growing, so does the impact on the environment.
What are the benefits of having an eco-friendly website?
If you’re a business looking for ways to reduce your environmental impact, having a sustainable website is a great place to start and here are just a few reasons why:
- Lower your carbon footprint - Every little change makes a difference and you can contribute to reducing global emissions.
- Attract more customers - A sustainable website shows your commitment to the planet which can be an excellent selling point and it makes your brand more appealing to like-minded customers.
- Retain and attract the right employees - A forward-thinking, eco-friendly approach says a lot about your company’s values and people want to work for companies that care.
- Cost savings - Eco-friendly websites use fewer resources and are therefore cheaper to run.
How to make your website greener
And no, we don’t mean making it the colour green! There are plenty of actionable tips that you can put in place to make your website kinder to the environment:
- Choose green hosting - Choose a hosting provider that uses renewable energy to power their servers, such as Webflow.
- Image optimisation - Compress images for faster loading and lower energy use. It's better for your users and the planet - a win-win!
- Minimalistic design - Keep it simple! Removing unnecessary elements means less data to load, reducing energy consumption.
These are just a few ways to make your website a little friendlier to the planet. Over the next few months, we’ll be taking a closer look into each of these areas so keep an eye out!
