Our
Methodology
Understanding the carbon footprint of digital activities, including websites, emails, and ads, presents a complex challenge that we've dedicated years to solving. Our goal is to foster greater awareness and drive the adoption of eco-friendly practices across the digital marketing spectrum.
After extensive research and development, we've created a comprehensive digital carbon calculator. This tool is the culmination of our efforts to standardize the process of calculating digital carbon emissions, offering clear insights and combating greenwashing in the digital space. In our latest iteration, we've collaborated with industry experts to refine our approach, ensuring accuracy and reliability.
Our calculator evaluates the environmental impact of digital content by considering the following datapoints:
1. Data Transfer:
The energy used correlates with the data transferred during website loading, email sending, and ad displaying. We assess the data transferred and apply energy usage figures to estimate emissions, adjusting for factors like cached data in repeat visits.
2. Energy Intensity of Digital Data:
Considering the energy consumed at data centers, through telecom networks, and by end-user devices, we apply average values to account for variations across different scenarios and users.
3. Energy Source of Data Centers:
We reference The Green Web Foundation's database to determine if a data center utilizes green energy. This allows us to adjust the carbon emissions for the energy used by websites, emails, and digital ads accordingly.
4. Carbon Intensity of Electricity:
Utilizing international averages for grid electricity's carbon intensity, we apply a lower carbon factor for renewable energy sources used within data centers.
5. Digital Traffic:
By synthesizing this data, we estimate the emissions per average user interaction (website visit, email opened, ad clicked) and extrapolate this to calculate total annual CO2 emissions for your digital footprint.
Our tool is designed to offer a snapshot of your digital footprint's efficiency, testing individual URLs for websites, specific email campaigns, and ad performances. While any digital content can be evaluated, our rankings focus on publicly accessible, search engine-friendly content that provides value to human audiences, excluding illegal or explicit content.
For a detailed breakdown of our methodology and to enhance your understanding of digital emissions, visit https://sustainablewebdesign.org/calculating-digital-emissions/.
This approach ensures that our digital carbon tool is not only grounded in rigorous research but also evolves with ongoing industry advancements, providing you with the most accurate and actionable insights for reducing your digital environmental impact.