The internet is responsible for more carbon emissions than the aviation industry
Website hosting refers to the service that allows individuals and organisations to make their websites accessible on the internet. While this digital infrastructure has undoubtedly transformed our lives and working practices, the environmental toll it takes is often overlooked.
Huge Data centres, where the servers hosting websites are housed, consume enormous amounts of energy to operate and cool the equipment. The power demands of these data centres contribute significantly to carbon emissions, impacting the environment on a global scale. In fact, a study by Lancaster University claims the internet has a digital footprint on a similar scale to the aviation industry, and one that is constantly increasing with demand for online services.
As a B Corporation agency who specialise in website development, digital marketing and hosting, the environmental impact of the internet is something we have been acutely aware of for a while. Verve has been carbon neutral for a number of years, choosing servers powered by renewable energy sources and offsetting our own carefully constrained carbon footprint. In fact, if you currently use Verve for your website hosting then your site is already on carbon neutral servers which were specifically chosen for the environmental credentials. However, we were surprised at how many of our family, friends and clients simply had no idea about the environmental toll of website hosting or the impact of their own digital presence.
We decided it was time to act, and that is why Green Hosting has been born.
What is Green Hosting?
If you are already hosting your website with Verve then you will enjoy the additional benefits of Green Hosting at no extra cost. We have recently found even greener servers and are in the process of moving websites across when current servers expire. Once you are moved, your website will begin to plant trees.
Green hosting is our new game-changing website hosting service, and it comes with a prestigious accreditation. It’s worth noting that the costs of hosting a website with Verve have not changed; we are doing this at our cost because we are passionate about making the internet greener.
We have sourced new, even greener servers that are incredibly fast, secure and 100% powered by renewable energy sources. This ensures our website hosting is carbon neutral, so the limited emissions will be offset. Verve offset all of our own carbon emissions so any work we do on your website hosting is carbon neutral too. These new servers are registered on the Green Web Directory, meaning they are more transparent about their impact.
All of this helps to reduce the carbon footprint of your website and reduce its environmental impact – but what if your website could be a force for good?
Verve are excited to have partnered with Ecologi, a fellow B Corporation based in Bristol who help companies to invest in the planet. When we move you onto our new servers, you will begin aiding tree planting efforts around the globe. The beauty of this collaboration comes in the transparency of the system; we have a virtual forest which displays how many trees we have planted and gives detail ranging from the locations they were planted in, to information about the projects and even serial numbers. Within our ‘virtual forest’ each of our Green Hosted Plus clients gains a subforest: this means we can track how many trees your business has planted and you will also have access to project information and images. We want to plant over 50,000 trees a year, and you could be a part of this.
What’s in it for my business?
We believe there should be an element of pride attached to making climate-conscious decisions like committing to Green Hosting. This is why we have decided to make it an accreditation, which we hope will increase recognition of your green credentials. The logo can be featured on your site and you gain access to a full brand kit of draft press releases and social media kits. In addition we will receive your unique ‘green trophy’ that you can proudly display in your office.
Thanks to our collaboration with Ecologi, we will send you updates on how many trees you have planted and how much carbon your hosting choices have saved. You’ll also gain access to view our virtual forest and your very own subforest if you are on our Plus package. With this comes all of the great content, images and insights on Ecologi so you can see and share the real impact of the tree planting projects you have aided.
If you are already hosting your website with Verve, we will be in touch regarding your subforest and accreditation. If not, now is the time to become a part of a better internet.