Your website is part of your environmental footprint
If you’re working towards B Corp certification, you’re probably already thinking about your energy use, your waste management and your travel policy. But there’s one part of your environmental footprint that a surprising number of mission-driven organisations overlook entirely: their website.
It might not feel like a big deal. It’s just a website. And it’s better for the environment for everything to be paperless, right? Soz, wrong. Information and communication technology, including the internet consumes around 4% of global electricity, and that share is growing. Every page load, every video autoplay, every bloated image on a slow-loading site is pulling energy from a data centre somewhere. And if that data centre isn’t running on renewables, it’s generating carbon emissions. They also use up shedloads of water.
For small organisations like yours, this is actually good news. Your website is one of the easiest places to make a real, measurable difference, and this maps directly onto what B Lab is now asking for.
What the new B Corp standards actually want from small organisations
B Lab’s updated standards include two Impact Topics that are directly relevant here: Climate Action and Environmental Stewardship & Circularity.
The Climate Action topic is pretty reasonable when it comes to smaller companies. Rather than requiring full greenhouse gas measurement and science-based targets (like they do for larger companies), it asks littler organisations to have a climate action plan with measurable targets that demonstrate a real commitment to limiting warming to 1.5°C. The key word is measurable. You need to show progress, not perfection.
The Environmental Stewardship topic asks smaller businesses to consider the environmental impact of their procurement decisions, which obviously includes who hosts your website and the other digital tools and platforms you pay for.
Both of these are areas where reducing your digital carbon footprint can genuinely count.
So what does a ‘greener’ website actually mean?
Not everything has to literally be green, like my website. Use any colours you want. You can get the full details on what a sustainable website actually is, but here are some key things you need to do to reduce the energy used.
Switch to a green hosting provider
Likely the single biggest action you can take. Think about it: the exact same site will have a fraction of the footprint if it’s hosted in a data centre running efficiently on renewablesrather than coal. Fantastic evidence of action to include in your Environmental Stewardship topic evidence.
Switching host should be a lot easier and smoother than you might think, too. I recommend Krystal when I get asked, and also use them for my maintenance clients. Their helpful customer service people can help you shift over, or you can talk to your current web developer. Or me!
Audit your content and user journeys
If your visitor can get the info they need in 3 clicks instead of 6, you’ve halved the energy use. If they’re confused and clicking round wildly, you’re guffing out carbon for no reason (and potentially losing customers!). Going through your website to check for extra clicks, redundant pages and waffle and then making changes will get it working more efficiently for you and for the planet.
Please consult an SEO before you start, though. I’ve seen organisations wreck their search appearances because they beganmerrily deleting stuff without getting advice.
Optimise performance
Essentially you want the file size of the website to be as small as possible, while still having all the content you need to reach your business goals. This means another audit: this time of videos and images to see what’s pulling its weight and what isn’t. Then you need to optimise those images and serve up your contentin the lightest way possible.
Lean, efficient code will ensure the site uses less energy, as well as speed up load times. This in turn will have a positive impact on user experience and conversions. We love a win-win.
Check integrated tools
The code added to your site by third-party plugins and integrations might be adding bloat to your site. Sort through to decide if there are any you don’t need, and look for greener alternatives to the ones you need to use.
All the digital tools and software you’re using arepart of your supply chain. Think things like email marketing, CRM and project management platforms. This is important to dowhether or not they’re integrated with your website. Checking the sustainability policies of each of these companies is doing your due diligence. And switching to better suppliers shows your commitment to lessening the environmental impact of your procurement: part of the B Corp Environmental Stewardship topic.
Measurable improvement
You can’t just vaguely say you’re doing good stuff. B Lab needs to see data on the concrete action you’re taking. Luckily, this is easily done for your website improvement project.
You can measure the carbon footprint of your site with calculators like Website Carbon and Beacon. While these can never be perfectly accurate, as there are so many factors that play into it, it’s perfect for benchmarking. You can compare your original score with the one you get after making changes. Multiply this by your average number of monthly visitors and you get some juicy numbers thatclearly demonstrate your positive impact.
Why this is the perfect project for smaller wanna-B Corps
The standards, requirements and process for B Corp certification can feel very overwhelming. If you’re a smaller organisation with limited resources, it’s hard to know where to start. Improving your digital footprint is a great place to begin as it’s focussed on one clear area of your business with a measurable outcome.
It might be something you can do relatively quickly, too. Depending on the size of your website and the skills of your team, it might not require a big budget and lengthy approval process to get moving.
And because the new standards specifically ask service-based companies with a minor physical environmental footprint (is that you?) to think about where their real impacts lie, digital should be a focus. Data centres. Business software. Your website loading thousands of times a month, possibly on coal-powered servers. That’s your footprint. That’s your key area for improvement.
A checklist to get started
- Run your site through Website Carbon and Beacon and note your score, plus the file size of each site element
- Check whether your hosting provider is listed on the Green Web Foundation
- If not, research green hosting alternatives and consider Krystal
- Check your top five digital tools/platforms and their sustainability policies
- Set a target: e.g. move to green hosting by [date], reduce your carbon per page view by X% by [date]
- Document all of this in your climate action plan
None of this is going to save the planet on its own. But it’s concrete, it’s achievable, it’s measurable, and it’s exactly the kind of action the new B Corp standards are designed to encourage. And really, if you’re going to the trouble of applying, it’s worth making sure your website isn’t quietly undermining the story you’re telling. Even if you don’t end up pursuing certification or making the cut, the action you’ve taken will have a positive effect on the world around us, which is what B Corp is all about, anyway.
Need help auditing your website’s carbon footprint or want some zig-a-zig-ah for your B Corp strategy? Send me a message.
