Digital Carbon Footprint Audit

A more sustainable website benefits people and planet. It’s a no-brainer.

The internet is responsible for approx. 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020, the internet and the aviation industry had a similar level of greenhouse gas emissions – now the internet has tipped that balance and is a more polluting industry.

We, like most companies, are not perfect and would never claim to be! We are still learning about sustainability and how we can reduce Footprint Digital’s carbon footprint – but we do know that we can use our tech skills and desire to innovate to help others with their sustainability journey.

Our digital carbon footprint audit and consultancy helps you to reduce your website’s carbon impact whilst creating a better user experience.

The time to act was yesterday (but today works too…so let’s get going!)

What’s my website got to do with sustainability?

The online world doesn’t impact the planet, does it? (spoiler alert – yes it does!)

All the information that we exchange online requires electricity to travel between physical data centres, networking infrastructure, and end-user devices in the physical world. All of this requires a huge amount of energy, and water.

The problem is that about 80% of electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels. Therefore, our digital actions contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions. Every video we upload, every song or podcast we listen to, every article we publish, every meme that goes viral, every photo we store on the cloud, every search that’s made for our business, every ‘like’, every tweet… all of this has a carbon footprint and your business will be having an impact. It’s vital that you understand what this impact is and how you can reduce it.

Yikes, that’s scary! How can I find out if my website is contributing to climate change?

Our Digital Carbon Footprint Audit will show you how much CO2 your website is producing.

Our SEO Manager, Joe Ketteridge, will collate all of your relevant data, input this into our Carbon Reporting Tool (something that we worked on initially with Wholegrain Digital) and then analyse the results, working out which of your pages are the biggest offenders (thus giving you an understanding of where the quickest and biggest sustainability wins can be made). He will then create core recommendations for reducing your carbon emissions. Our team will talk through all of these recommendations with you, and put together a plan of action for making your online presence greener.

The SEO benefits

Reducing waste on your website will not only help make it more sustainable, it will help make it faster, too. Faster websites perform better in search – because search engines like Google want their users to have the very best user experience so are more likely to show them a speedy website than a slow one. So, improving your website’s green credentials can also make it more visible to your customers.

What process will your team go through to help me reduce my website’s carbon impact?

After an initial discussion with one of our business development managers (Dave and Bailey) to determine whether this service is right for you, you’ll be introduced to our SEO tech wizards who will hold your hand throughout the whole process. The process doesn’t have to end once your site has been audited and recommendations have been provided. There are a few different avenues you can take:

One Off Digital Carbon Footprint Audit – £500 + VAT: A One Off Audit – If green’s the dream for you, then just pay for the one audit and set of recommendations.

Dual Digital Carbon Footprint Audit – £800 + VAT: You’ll be getting greener with an initial audit and recommendations followed by a second audit 6 months later to see how much your website has improved compared to your original benchmark. Depending on the level of improvement we will provide you with a bronze, silver, or gold badge for your website and collateral.

Dual Audit + Retainer Work – POA + VAT: Go supergreen with our Dual Audit plus retainer for ongoing tech support to make your website as sustainable as it can be. The Dual Audit, two sets of recommendations, badge for your website, and individually scoped work completed by the Footprint Digital tech team (much easier than trying to implement the recommendations yourself).

What's included:

Use of Carbon Reporting Tool to determine your CO2 output

Analysis of resulting data

Digital Carbon Footprint Audit document to takeaway

Core recommendations for improvement provided in face to face session

Second Audit 6 months later to note progress

Badge of recognition for your website if improvements have been made

Why is this audit important?:

It's everybody's responsibility to do what we can for the planet

The online world contributes to climate change - that means every website has an impact

A sustainable website is often an SEO friendly website too - a win win

Reducing waste on your website helps the planet, and it creates a better user experience

A sustainable website is a faster website - speed matters to Google and your users

Who is it for?:

Marketing professionals who want to boost their CSR efforts

IT experts and those who want to reduce the waste and improve the speed of their website

Businesses who care about their impact on the planet

Business owners who want to provide a better user experience

Anyone with a large website who is worried that it might be wasteful