This article was originally published in Freelancer Magazine, issue 18, summer 2025. To read the digital back issues and get the printed mag delivered to your door, become a subscriber.
I see you. Beavering away, running your business on your sweet little computer. So digital, so slick. So eco. That wastepaper basket in your office hasn’t needed emptying since 2015!
Ah. Sorry to be the harbinger of doom, but everything you’re doing has a carbon footprint. Every email you ping back and forth, every contract you send, every shared doc you accidentally duplicate, every beautifully crafted sales post you pop on social media. Each one uses up energy to create, store and travel down the wires and through the sky.
The cloud isn’t a cloud. It’s a network of huge warehouses across the world, full of hot computers, guzzling energy and water. Loads of it. As with all emissions, it’s hard to calculate exactly, but the amount of bad guffs made by all the world’s communication technology is more than the whole of the UK or the aviation industry. And don’t get me started on AI.
Obviously, each individual email or post is only responsible for the tiniest speck of carbon. These tiny actions have teeny weeny footprints, like the tooth fairy. But like those of the tooth fairy, they are very real. And there are heaps of them. Imagine all the digital activity of your business over the year. Then multiply it by all our businesses. Adds up to quite a lot.
Wait! Before you throw the magazine down in despair and convert all your electronics into elaborate coasters, allow me to be the harbinger of good news. Or at least slightly less doom. Because you can do something about it.
It’s the same as when you try to reduce your car use or your food waste: you need to get more strategic and efficient.
If you put your energy into the right new client acquisition strategy for your business, it’s better spent. It’s no good shouting on Instagram if your ideal customers aren’t there. That’s just wasted carbon. While you’re saving your own time, you’re saving electricity too. This doesn’t mean you’re only allowed to promote your business by cycling round the town singing about it. Just make sure every digital action pulls its weight. It’s got to be effective enough to justify the energy spent on it by you, your audience and the power station.
Get your client processes super tight, and you can slash the carbon footprint of your onboarding. Imagine sending one email to a new client, with all the info they need, all the stuff you need from them and a link to one place to put it all. If you’d previously sent four emails back and forth and used two shared drives – well, you don’t need to get your calculator out again to see the impact.
I know, I know – because they’re small actions in a small business, you’ll only get small gains. But (actually – where did you put that calculator?) those all add up. And if every Freelancer Magazine reader does it, and tells other people to do it too (psst – tell them to subscribe while you’re at it), then those gains are really gaining.
Put in place all the great advice given in the rest of this issue. Then sit back, basking in the smug glow you get from knowing your business is running like clockwork. And enjoy the soft green glow that comes from knowing it’s a win-win for sustainability too.
