Your website has a CO2 footprint

You may not have realised it before, but your website has a carbon footprint.

The internet, including websites and other digital technologies, is estimated to emit more CO2 than the entire airline industry (around 3.7% of global emissions). Worse still, this is expected to double by 2030. If the internet was a country, it would be the 4th most polluting country in the world - and yet, most of us aren’t even aware this is an issue.

250,000 websites are published every day. They all use energy. From the energy used by the datacenters and global infrastructure that power the web, to the energy consumed by phones and laptops when people view them. This results in huge CO2 emissions globally.

According to Website Carbon, an average website with 10,000 monthly views emits 54kg CO2e each year. That’s similar to me taking a short-distance flight to Edinburugh from my home town of Belfast. For websites with higher monthly views, emissions can be much larger.

So, what can you do about it?

Aside from deleting your website, abandoning technology, and moving to the mountains - what are your options to reduce the CO2 emissions of your digital presence?

At SPROUT we’ve built a sustainable website builder for creating sites that emit up to 99% less CO2. This isn’t through shady offsetting, but instead through optimised code, intentional design, and hosting powered by renewable energy.

By reducing the amount of data that needs to be transferred each time someone visits your site, SPROUT ensures your website loads faster, performs better, and uses far less energy. We optimise your website code, automatically compress all media uploaded to your site, and provide a CO2 calculator which shows your site emissions as you build.

Every SPROUT site is published to energy-efficient servers powered by 100% renewable energy.

Through these measures we can reduce the carbon footprint of your sites.

The web doesn’t have to cost the Earth. By choosing sustainable tools and intentional design, you can create a digital presence that’s fast, accessible, and planet-friendly.