Digital’s physical

shadow
NEIL CLARK
manifesto
in/nrclark/
manifesto.co.uk Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
The climate crisis doesn’t
happen in a vacuum
Climate change isn’t solely an environmental
issue. It’s rooted in a web of ethical, political,
and systemic issues.
A lot of these issues overlap with tech, design,
and how we do business.

This slide has been taken with love from Sandra Pallier 🙏 Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
 Emissions sources and natural sinks

~59%
Remains in the
The atmosphere atmosphere

25% 24% 21% 14% 6% 10% ~24% ~17%

Electricity Food, Industry Land sinks Coastal &
Other
production agriculture & Ocean sinks
Buildings
land use
Transport

Current sources Current sinks

Source: Project Drawdown Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024

 Global progress across
sectors isn’t happening at
the pace and scale needed
to limit warming to 1.5ºC
On track

Off track

Well off track

Wrong direction

? Insufficient data

Source: State of Climate Action Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
 Global progress across
sectors isn’t happening at
the pace and scale needed
to limit warming to 1.5ºC

? Insufficient data

Source: State of Climate Action Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
 Global progress across
sectors isn’t happening at
the pace and scale needed
to limit warming to 1.5ºC
Public financing for fossil fuels
is now increasing, with
government subsidies almost
doubling since 2020 to reach the
highest level in nearly a decade.

Wrong direction

Source: State of Climate Action Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
 Global progress across
sectors isn’t happening at
the pace and scale needed
to limit warming to 1.5ºC
To sustainably feed a growing
population and reduce GHG
emissions, increases in crop
yields must accelerate more than
10x faster this decade.

Well off track

Source: State of Climate Action Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
 Global progress across
sectors isn’t happening at
the pace and scale needed
to limit warming to 1.5ºC
The share of solar and wind in
electricity generation has grown
by an annual average of 14% in
recent years, but this needs to
reach 24% to help get the scale-up
of zero-carbon power on track.

Off track

Source: State of Climate Action Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
 Global progress across
sectors isn’t happening at
the pace and scale needed
to limit warming to 1.5ºC
The share of electric vehicles in
passenger car sales has more
than tripled since 2020, and this
exponential growth puts this
indicator squarely on track for
2030.

On track

Source: State of Climate Action Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
What is the view of
the third sector?

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 “
“The digital industry is
responsible for around 4% of
global emissions; which is more
than the aviation industry…”
The real climate and transformative impact of ICT

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 “
…and since the Paris
Agreement, the average
web page size has increased by
79% on desktop and 155% on
mobile”
http archive page weight report

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Let’s get a little more
detailed… More peo
consumin
ga
ple are
overweigh lot more
t software
!

Global trends in digital and energy indicators, 2015-2021 2015 2022 Change

Internet Users 3 billion 5.3 billion +78%

Internet Traffic 0.6 ZB 4.4 ZB +600%

Data Centre Workloads 180 million 800 million +340%

Data Centre Energy Use (inc. crypto) 200 TWh 240-340 TWh +20-70%

Crypto Mining Energy Use 4 TWh 100-150 TWh +2,300-3,500%

Data Transmission Energy Use 220 TWh 260-360 TWh +18-64%

Source: IEA, data centres and transmission networks progress analysis Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
Why isn't the planet a
stakeholder in digital
projects?
● Lack of awareness
● Lack of breadth and depth of research
● No universally accepted standards
● Multiple different calculation methods
● Greenwashing from major stakeholders
● Sustainability isn’t a non-functional requirement as
per accessibility, privacy, security or performance

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But this isn’t just one
role’s responsibility
Engineering

Company Product
leadership Research Ownership

UI/UX

Content QA
Sustainability
team Infrastructure
Marketing

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Low carbon software
actions

Energy Hardware Carbon Inform and

efficiency efficiency awareness educate

Actions taken to make Actions taken to make Actions taken to Raises awareness of
software consume software need fewer understand how much why digital things
less electricity when physical resources carbon is on the grid cause emissions and
performing its when performing its and react accordingly, how that is being
functions. functions. to use less fossil addressed.
fuels.

Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024

 🤖 Prevent bad bots (and people) 🗛 Strip back and minify JS, CSS, font
files, CMS templates etc
✔ Ensure people can find what they’re
looking for efficiently and leave 🔠 Streamline font variations on the site

Energy 👍 Meet the accessibility needs of your 🎨 Use colours that reduce power
efficiency users consumption on devices
Actions taken to make
software consume
💽 Aggressively use caching and CDNs 💾 Minimise data capture
less electricity when
performing its 🌆 Think differently about images and 🏭 Measure the carbon footprint of code
functions. video
📈 Server side analytics tagging instead
🌆 Use modern image formats of client side

📼 Use a fake video embed

👩💻 Only load what a person needs

Join the conversation on Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024

Energy
efficiency
Think diffe
rently
Actions taken to make about ima
ges
software consume and video
less electricity when
performing its
functions.

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Energy
efficiency
Small is
Actions taken to make
software consume beautiful
less electricity when
performing its
functions.

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Energy
efficiency
The lighte
st
Actions taken to make weight mo
de r n
software consume website
less electricity when
performing its
functions.

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 🤖 Prevent bad bots (and people)

🏢 Architect to minimise resource use

🔌 Shut down what isn’t being used

Hardware
efficiency ❌ Delete what is no longer needed
Actions taken to make 🦨 Remove of any ROTN content
software need fewer
physical resources
when performing its 📎Use a digital-first content approach
functions.
🏭 Assess the impact on the planet, not
just cost; utilisation, maintenance,
refurbishment

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 🍃 Choose a renewable energy
powered hosting provider; additional,
deliverable and timely

⚛ Practice carbon aware design

Carbon
awareness ⚛ Practice carbon aware development
Actions taken to
understand how much
carbon is on the grid
and react accordingly,
to use less fossil
fuels.

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Inform and
educate

Raises awareness of
why digital things
cause emissions and
how that is being
addressed.

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 Human centred design is no
longer enough; it’s about being
planet centred - the nature, the
biodiversity, the water, the air and
the societies that inhabit it. This
has to be our focus from now 🌍
showyourstripes.info | Arctic Ocean temp 1892-2021
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conversation on Twi;er
Twitter @TheResAlliance #FRO2024
Key takeaways
● The emissions from individual parts of an
organisation’s digital estate will not be significant.
● Therefore, they might not attract the attention of
central teams looking at emissions reduction.
● But, every team must be empowered to do reduce
the emissions from the work they do; including
digital and fundraising teams.
● So, make the planet a stakeholder in your projects.
● Don't accept weak sustainability claims. Challenge
your suppliers on how they’re making energy and
hardware reductions. Dig deeper into the types
of organisations you want to work with.
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 THANK YOU
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complete the short feedback poll

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