For years, we have treated digital as weightless.
Websites were clean. Apps were efficient. Carbon doesn’t live on the internet; it hangs around in factories, on roads, and in the air above runways.
That assumption is now quietly doing real damage.
The Nation of The Internet is a Major Polluter
According to a report by the Global Carbon Project, if the internet were a country, it would sit between Mexico and Brazil as a global emitter ᵃ. Around 3.7% of global carbon emissions already come from digital activity, more than aviation, and rising fast ᵇ. And yet most organisations still treat digital infrastructure as if it has no environmental cost at all.
A better way to be sustainable
When famille worked with Urban&Civic to develop a greener, cleaner digital footprint framework, the starting point was mapping out all of the digital platforms and customer experiences. Urban&Civic are shaping physical places, homes and communities. Alongside low-carbon construction practices, digital footprints are considered to ensure all levels of a project are carbon-conscious.
The truth is that digital sustainability is not about one big technical fix. It is about hundreds of small decisions made early, then repeated consistently. The rules should be:
- What are you building?
- Why are you building it?
- Who are you building it for?
- How much do you really need?
Most businesses’ digital carbon is locked in at the design stage. This can include legacy websites, duplicated platforms, unnecessary animations, poorly structured journeys, and inaccessible content that forces users to work harder and stay longer. These are not just bad experiences. They are inefficient systems burning energy for no reason.
Sustainability supports accessibility
What surprises many teams we work with is how closely sustainability and accessibility align. A lean website is a big step to a more accessible one. Clear journeys reduce data transfer. Thoughtful content hierarchy reduces load. Designing for diverse users creates simpler, more efficient infrastructure for everyone.
The work is not about policing behaviour. It’s about developing a mindset and principles to support that journey.
The framework for a cleaner digital footprint
By developing a framework, businesses can begin to see digital sustainability as a discipline across procurement decisions, design briefs, hosting renewals, and content governance. It requires permission to think long-term rather than ship fast and move on.- Awareness: Many people have no idea that digital activity carries this kind of impact.
- Collaborate: The future of the planet needs everyone to play a part, from marketing and comms teams, agencies, developers, hosting providers and internal teams. We all shape outcomes.
- Continuous Improvement. Auditing once is not enough. Websites evolve. Content grows. Efficiency slips unless it is revisited.
- And finally, Measurement. What is not tracked is at risk of being quietly abandoned.
Sustainable marketing is often about doing less, and at every step, about doing better.
ᵃ https://www.sustainablewebmanifesto.com/ ᵇ https://ecofriendlyweb.org/
Developing a framework to support digital sustainability
We help organisations create practical digital sustainability frameworks that reduce impact and drive measurable change.