How your digital strategy can help fight climate change

CHECK OUT THE ’CLIMATE ACTION’ HUB!

Did you know that the device you’re reading this on could have a role to play in the climate emergency? Everything we use digital for – from the phone in your hand to your inbox – has a carbon footprint. 

According to the UN, the tech sector is responsible for 2–3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that average email usage is the same as driving a small petrol car for around 128 miles. And as deployment of emerging technologies such as blockchain and machine learning grows, our use of data centres is likely to increase exponentially.

The good news is that even the smallest action could have an impact in slowing climate change. This needs to be reflected in the priorities we set in our digital strategies. We are asking charities to share their views about tech carbon footprints as part of this year’s Charity Digital Skills Report survey, in which we are tracking digital skills, funding, and support needs across the sector.

Climate change is a huge and worrying topic. In this blog I’m going to start with simple, practical steps you can take before looking at bigger, ambitious aims. 

Start small

According to DEFRA, 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions from your device (smartphone, tablet, laptop) originate from its production, and 14% from its usage. If you think about the amount of devices that we all use for work, lowering their carbon footprint could make a big difference.

Helen Bowie, Head of Partnerships and Development of the Consortium of LGBT Voluntary and Community Organisations, has recently been looking at this issue. Bowie says: “When a piece of equipment reaches the end of its life cycle or becomes obsolete, it is recycled. Any funds obtained through the recycling of equipment are re-invested into the charity.” Consortium LGBT hold the minimum amount of hardware required to meet their team’s needs, including spares.

The same principle can be applied to software. Consortium LGBT keep software licenses to a minimum to meet the needs of the team. Bowie explains: “These can also be repurposed if a team member leaves, or reduced if not required, to keep costs down.’”

Similarly, you can also look for opportunities to reduce waste in your digital processes. When you do this, digital consultant Jasmine Nehme advises charities to look for small things that can make a big difference: “Start with just one of your processes. Just research that. See if there’s something you can do to make it a bit better without spending tons of time and energy.”

Making sustainability part of your digital strategy is about asking what you really need, and how that aligns with users’ needs. For example, a large, bloated website consumes more energy than a smaller, leaner one.

You could undertake a content audit to understand what users want and adapt your website accordingly. A smaller website is greener and it can also save you money on hosting costs and staff time. 

Review your supply chain

Being mindful about which tools, platforms, and suppliers you work with is another way to lower your carbon footprint. We can all take action on this, no matter what size of charity we are.

Avril Chester, Chief Technology Officer at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, says: “We buy, consume and partner with tech firms all the time, so refreshing and reviewing your procurement and supply chain policy is key.”

Chester highlights two helpful resources. The Chancery Lane Project is an organisation that has developed legal clauses that can be embedded into supplier contracts to improve sustainability.

The Sustainable Procurement Pledge is a not-for profit global group of procurement professionals who are developing resources and solutions to support organisations who want to be greener.

Bring it back to your mission

As you develop your digital strategy, you’ll be thinking about how to embed change and how to make it scalable. You can build in an extra win here by considering sustainability. Focus on the actions that will help your charity achieve its vision and mission, as much as what’s good for the planet.

Charlotte Newman, CEO of Carefree, and her team are working on this. Carefree transform vacant accommodation into vital breaks for unpaid carers. “From a service delivery standpoint, we’re using no-code tools to build digital pathways for organisations to more easily share their resources with people and communities that can use their excess capacity,” Newman says. “In our case, by enabling hotels to donate their unsold hotel rooms to unpaid careers who need a break to be able to continue their caring role, we can draw social value from carbon emissions they otherwise couldn’t offset and create more sustainable social care future.”

Achieving your organisational purpose and improving sustainability both need to be part of your decision-making criteria for digital.

Build sustainability into your approach to emerging tech

Chat GPT is just the start of the exponential growth of new technologies. However, blockchain, machine learning, and artificial intelligence use more energy than standard tools. 

Sam Zimmman, SVP platform partnerships at Blue State, argues: “The carbon cost of web innovation poses a fundamental problem that we must discuss frankly. Mission-focused organsations can play an important role in prioritising this issue in their web operations, choosing cloud providers who have committed to the most aggressive carbon neutrality milestones, and insisting that their agency partners attend to energy reduction in the work they provide.”

Learning and collaborating

To build sustainability into our digital strategies we need to do what we do best as a sector: work, and learn, together.

Chester is keen to see this. “We must share, not in silos but collectively as an industry. I know there are so many good initiatives out there I’m yet to hear about which I could implement.”

During COVID-19 we saw how much our sector can achieve when we collaborate. There is good work going on around the broader climate agenda driven by organisations such as ACEVO.

It would be great for charities to commit to reducing their tech carbon footprints as part of their sustainability agendas.

Making sustainability a core element of your digital strategy could be a vital weapon in our fight against the climate emergency. It will also help you embrace lean approaches that create better experiences for your audience and staff.