‘Digitally sustainable' is a big claim – and an even bigger responsibility. It spans a wide range of topics including CO₂ emissions, water usage, and the broader environmental impact of our activities, products, and services. While it’s often discussed in the context of manufacturing or transport, the digital world also has a growing environmental impact that we can’t afford to ignore.
Every click, scroll, and download requires energy. Behind the scenes, data centres are working constantly to store, deliver, and process online content. These data centres, along with the networks that power our digital lives, now account for an estimated 3-4% of global carbon emissions (similar to the aviation industry!), and that number is rising rapidly.
The growing demand for streaming services, AI tools, cloud storage, and 24/7 online access has placed increasing pressure on electricity grids. Technologies like large language models (LLMs), for instance, require enormous amounts of power to train and run. Meanwhile, water is often used to cool the servers that keep the internet alive, adding to the environmental burden.
While digital experiences may feel “invisible,” their impact is very real. And that includes websites – whether it’s a local business site, a global brand’s homepage, or a non-profit campaign platform.
So how can we make websites part of the solution instead of part of the problem?
What makes a website sustainable?
A sustainable website is one that’s been thoughtfully designed and managed to minimise its environmental impact. This doesn’t mean sacrificing performance or visual appeal – it means making smart choices about how your website is built, hosted, and maintained.
The 5 key things to consider are:
- Lower energy use – A sustainable site uses fewer server resources and less power overall (both during development and while it’s running)
- Less data to transfer – Pages load faster and require fewer downloads
- Green hosting – The servers that run the site are powered by renewable energy
- Longer lifespan – The site is easy to maintain, adapt, and reuse without needing a complete rebuild every couple of years
- Encourages eco-friendly behaviour – Through content and user experience, the site promotes awareness and positive action
These changes might seem small on their own, but when applied across millions of websites, the collective impact is huge.
How to build a sustainable website – 5 key steps
Creating a greener website doesn’t mean starting from scratch. Instead, it’s about making smarter, more intentional decisions at each stage of the process:
1. Clearly define the purpose and target users of the site
Start by clarifying the ‘why’ behind your website:
- What is the site for?
- What does success look like?
- Who are the priority users?
- What do they need to achieve?
- Which of those goals should the site help them meet?
By focusing on what truly matters, you can avoid unnecessary pages, features, and content. This keeps your site leaner, easier to navigate, and better for the environment.
2. Design with efficiency in mind
Design decisions have a big impact on a site’s footprint. Even small tweaks can reduce the amount of data that needs to be loaded every time someone visits.
- Streamline journeys – Help users achieve their goals in fewer steps
- Use media wisely – Only include images or videos that truly enhance the experience
- Avoid excessive effects – Animations and flourishes can drain power and distract users
- Use system fonts – Built-in fonts (like Aptos, Calibri or Arial) load faster. Added bonus, they are accessibility-friendly
3. Choose sustainable hosting
One of the easiest and most effective steps is to choose a hosting provider powered by renewable energy:
- Opt for providers that run on 100% renewable energy or are carbon-neutral
- Look for Green Web Foundation certification or similar initiatives
You can also ask your developers about using content delivery networks (CDNs), which help reduce energy usage by delivering content from the server closest to the visitor.
4. Write clean, lean code
Instruct your developers to build a website that runs efficiently. Encourage:
- Lightweight pages – so your site loads faster, even on slower connections
- Clean coding practices – to reduce server strain and improve sustainability
- ‘Lazy’ content loading – such as only loading images when a visitor scrolls to them
5. Measure and Improve
There are free tools that give you a snapshot of your website’s environmental performance. These include:
- Website Carbon Calculator
- Ecograder
- Google Lighthouse (for performance insights)
They’ll show you how much energy your site uses and suggest ways to reduce it. You don’t have to fix everything at once – pick one area to improve at a time and work your way through it all.
The 3 key takeaways
- Sustainability should be embedded throughout the process – from strategy and design to development and management
- Technical decisions like clean code and green hosting matter – but they’re just part of the picture
- A sustainable website starts with clarity: understanding your goals and your users’ needs leads to a more efficient and effective site
How can Web Usability help?
We specialise in helping organisations create user-centred, streamlined, and sustainable digital experiences. We can help you:
- Develop a tailored sustainability action plan
- Clarify organisational goals and identify priority users (stakeholder management)
- Understand user needs and prioritise key tasks (discovery research and top tasks surveys)
- Align content with user goals (usability testing and competitor analysis)
- Improve navigation and simplify journeys (information architecture and usability testing)
- Assess the impact of media, branding, and interaction design (usability testing)
Contact us or read more about what we can do for you on our website