Low impact ๐ฟ
Optimize storage of data according to what is most important, relevant, and required in service to visitors. This will help to avoid unnecessary storage of data that may not be useful or valuable, which will reduce required infrastructure, power, and data transfer.
Remove unnecessary and redundant data from your servers, whether it is single-use (dark data) or abandoned.
Create data with an expiration date. Excess data is a form of technical debt, and routinely cleaning up old data needs to be normalized.
Use a data classification / tagging policy to make it easier to find, handle, and remove.
Store data only when it is difficult to recreate.
Optimize log collection, storage (off-site), and rotation; scheduling during low-activity hours and using carbon-neutral backup providers.
Enable storage compression both on the fly (Brotli or GZIP) and with long-term assets made available for download.
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High impact ๐ฟ
Create a publicly available statement in an easy-to-find location on your website that outlines a clear commitment to prioritize ethics and sustainability ESG standards which align with the organization's mission, vision, and values and includes statements specific to digital products, services, policies, and programs. This should be done while actively promoting such efforts (with evidence) using social channels.
The organization has published a publicly available Code of Ethics, Product Guidelines, Sustainability, or ESG Statement that includes language specific to digital products, services, policies, and programs.
List achievements, features, compliance, and anything beyond the scope of these guidelines and publish it in a sustainability section of your product or service.
The organization can show how it effectively governs implemented digital sustainability, climate policies, and related ESG practices over time.
The organization has training decks and workshops it uses to onboard new team members on how it implements more sustainable product strategies.
Raise awareness with your visitor's by documenting your methodology, through impact storytelling, documentation, and helping individuals make more informed decisions.
The organization can show how it powers digital products and services with renewable energy.
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Medium impact ๐ฟ
Having someone within an organization who represents sustainability as a core agenda makes good sense due to the accessibility, performance, financial, and other benefits which can occur from following best practices.
Choose and assign an ecological referee (with specific digital expertise) for the product or service within your organization.
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Medium impact ๐ฟ
Businesses should not only reference their own materials showcasing how they are working towards becoming sustainable, but cite existing sustainability best practices to help others looking to make similar changes within their own work or personal environments.
Make sure that all project stakeholders, including product teams, colleagues, and organizational decision-makers (managers and clients) are informed about and trained in your business's use of sustainable technology.
Encourages stakeholders to actively reduce their environmental impact by providing resources on sustainable design, practices, and concepts.
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Medium impact ๐ฟ
Allowing the visitor to take action to reduce their emissions is key to helping them play a part in becoming more sustainable. By helping them identify when choices they make could have an environmental impact (and by how much) and then providing them with the tooling choices to reduce their footprint, you can empower them to make a lasting difference.
Clearly communicate the ecological implications of visitor choices and allow visitors to configure settings based on those choices.
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Medium impact ๐ฟ
Being able to identify key issues with your website or application is essential, and while not a foolproof method, using tooling can help you achieve an overall idea about the state of your product or service's environmental state (as such tools can do for accessibility).
Conduct a full life-cycle Analysis based on the functional unit defined in Guideline 5.15.
Estimate the environmental impact of your or your competitor's current service to inform decision-making (as a potential target goal).
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Low impact ๐ฟ
Define sustainability goals for the organization to meet and incorporate into its business model. Pair each goal with at least one clear, achievable metric or Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
The organization has defined and published a clear set of sustainability goals. It publicly communicates how it will meet these goals, including which performance metrics are important to help the organization and its various stakeholders thrive.
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Medium impact ๐ฟ
Business certifications can fill the gaps left by incomplete sustainability legislation. Ensuring a business complies with third-party certifications will help verify and apply an objective level of rigor to an organization's sustainability efforts.
The organization has achieved one or more business sustainability certifications and incorporated operational policies and practices to support them.
The organization maintains its certification through evolving policies and practices over time.
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