Katie Gale
Emissions are typically thought of in connection with manufacturing or transportation, but what about the carbon footprint of something as intangible as a website?
That question came up during a recent client conversation: “If you build us a new website, what will its carbon footprint be?”
This got us thinking more seriously about the energy behind the web – what drives a website’s carbon footprint, and how we can design and build sites that deliver more for users while using less power in the process.
What contributes to a website’s carbon footprint?
Your website is stored on a server that runs 24/7. If the data centre is powered by fossil fuels, every visit adds to your carbon output. Switching to a hosting provider that uses renewable energy is one of the simplest ways to reduce impact.
The more content your site has, the more data needs to be transferred. Large image files, background videos, moving graphics and third-party tracking tools all increase the load. That data travels across networks and every step uses power.
When your content reaches a user, it still needs to be processed and displayed. A lightweight website puts less strain on devices, which means less energy used overall.
Behind the scenes, there’s the environmental cost of manufacturing and maintaining the physical infrastructure including servers, cables, cooling systems, and the devices we all browse on. It’s harder to measure, but still part of the bigger picture.
In short, websites run on energy. From loading a page to playing a video, everything online has a power cost. And the more energy your site uses to function, the higher its carbon footprint.
It might not seem like much at first, but across thousands of visits and high-traffic pages, the impact adds up fast.
Organisations focused on digital sustainability have already developed clear guidance for calculating and reducing website emissions. One of the most useful resources is Sustainable Web Design, which outlines the key principles in detail.
At the core of it is this: a website’s carbon footprint is closely linked to the amount of data it transfers. Every image, script, and line of code sent from your server to a user’s device consumes energy and the more data you send, the higher the energy usage.
We tested the carbon footprint of several websites we’ve built, and the results were reassuring. Our smaller sites averaged between 0.008g and 0.974g of CO₂ per page view, while larger, content-rich websites came in between 0.170g and 1.905g.
That might not mean much on its own, so here’s a comparison:
A reasonably optimised website with 10,000 visits per month would produce around 3.23kg of CO₂ per month. That’s roughly equivalent to driving 4.7 miles in a Tesla Model S, or streaming two hours of HD Netflix
(Source: Digital Beacon)
The less data your site sends between server and user, the less energy it needs to run. That means fewer emissions and a smaller carbon footprint. It’s a simple chain reaction with big environmental benefits.
So, how do you reduce that data load?
The good news is, this kind of optimisation already sits at the heart of modern web design. A lighter, faster website doesn’t just save energy, it gives your users a better experience and helps your site perform better in search.
Here’s what we focus on:
To reduce file sizes without losing visual quality
To keep everything running efficiently
So that interfaces stay clean, intuitive, and low on unnecessary extras
To avoid repeating the same data transfers
Sustainable web design isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a key part of building a more responsible digital world. Every decision we make online has an environmental impact, and as websites continue to grow in size and complexity, so does their energy use.
But here’s the good news: doing better for the planet often means doing better for your users, too.
Optimising your website for sustainability goes hand in hand with improving performance, user experience, and SEO. Faster load times, cleaner code, and streamlined content don’t just reduce your carbon footprint – they help your site rank better, convert more effectively, and feel more intuitive for every visitor.
Whether you’re launching something new or looking to improve your existing site, we can help you make it faster, more efficient, and easier to manage without compromising on design or functionality.